My interest in piano and piano lessons continues to wane. This past week I managed to practice even less than the week before, accounting for an all time record low. It’s as if the piano is invisible in my living room.
So I told Julia, my piano teacher, about this recent malaise. “I’m still in a slump,” I said, “and I’m not sure what to do about it.” Julia smiled.
“My younger students go through this too,” she said. “And this is the point where parental intervention, or lack of it, makes the difference. If parents agree when their children say they want to quit, then it’s all over. But if the parents hold firm and say the child must continue, the mood usually passes. It does take a couple years though.”
I wasn’t encouraged by her words. I don’t have any parents to prod me, and a couple years is a long time to prod myself. At the same time, I have invested a tremendous amount of time, money, and energy into this endeavor; so giving up seems impractical.
Taking a couple weeks off sounds like a good idea, but there is the danger than two weeks will become five or ten or a half year or forever. I’m not sure I can chance it. So I’ll continue to toss the issue over in my mind and hope that my interest in learning to play piano will reappear on its own accord. Failing that, I may need to become my own parent.
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