I’ve taken piano five and a half years now, and every day there’s a revelation. Sometimes it comes in the form of listening to a piece of music and realizing I can decipher the rhythm pattern. Sometimes it comes because my fingers know what to do, and my brain isn’t working so hard telling them. Finally, sometimes it comes when I sit down to play those pieces I learned a year, maybe two years, ago and find they’re not half as difficult as they were back then. Always it’s amazing. And satisfying.
I wouldn’t say I’m particularly musical. Although I know the words to many songs, I’ve never really focused on the melodies. But piano is about the melody, the swing and sway, the forte and the pianissimo, the march and the waltz. I’ve learned that much in five and a half years.
When we bought this house, the previous owners left behind a tired, out-of-tune piano they didn’t want to pay to move. Which got me wondering that maybe it was left for a reason. Maybe I should challenge my brain to learn something new, something totally outside the realm of my comfort zone. So I had the piano tuned and hired a piano teacher. She and I are still together, although the old piano has bitten the dust. In its place I own a brand new Kawai grand piano, with the thinking that I should learn on the piano I will play the rest of my life. If I waited until I was worthy of such a pricey instrument, I would still be plinking out tunes on the tired dinosaur we inherited with the house. The one that went out of tune right after the piano tuner came. That didn’t seem to be the best way to grow musically.
I will never be a great pianist; I probably started too late in life to accomplish this particular goal. But it was never my goal anyway. Instead, I’ve gained a greater appreciation of all types of music in general, and I can play a tune or two. It feels good.
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