I dreaded attending my piano lessons as a little kid. Piano lessons meant sitting still for an hour. Piano lessons meant studying theory and practicing all week. Piano lessons meant walking home from school with your friends, but telling them you couldn’t play outside this afternoon. Even as a little kid, I would beat myself up for hitting the wrong notes while practicing, usually snapping at my mom when she gently encouraged me to keep trying. My parents knew the value of learning music at a young age though, and reminded me that the best, and easiest, time to learn an instrument is when you have a young, fresh brain. I took their advice for as long as I could, but after three or four years, I closed the lesson books for good.
I ended up in those piano lessons in the first place because playing was something that came naturally to me. In early elementary school, I would sit down at my grandfather's piano, tucked into the corner of our living room, and play the happy birthday song at every birthday celebration, no music in front of me. The notes just made sense in my head, and all it took was a few moments of messing around to have it down. My parents saw the opportunity and so kindly found teachers for me to practice with, but piano for me was not something I wanted to be taught. It was something to explore blindly, to sit down and figure out for myself.
Just like my grandfather, I can play music on the piano by ear. I am by no means a musical prodigy or a piano wizard, but if I give myself the time to sit at the bench and unplug, I can play my favorite songs without reading or looking at any music. It sometimes is even easier if I have my eyes closed, because in a weird way, I have to just let myself feel it. Am I always playing in the right key? No. Do I make mistakes? Absolutely. Like I said, I am no Beethoven, but it is something that comes easy to me – my fingers often move before my brain can catch up. For me, playing the piano without sheet music takes the pressure out of it completely, and in my opinion, music should be pressure free - something to enjoy rather than something to master, but that’s just my take.
Our passed down piano bench is my favorite seat in the house. It reminds me of my Gramps, the man who gave me my musicality (and my sense of humor too) and reminds me of the importance of playing. Every adult needs a jungle gym, a place where they can adventure into the unknown with no directions or instructions. My little ol’ out of tune piano is mine. I feel like a kid again when I sit down on the wooden bench. My fingers lead the way as I explore the same 12 notes, over and over again, in new and unexpected ways. Playing the piano is one of the only things I get genuinely shy about though, it’s not something I love to do for other people because in a lot of ways, it’s just for me. The keys are my personal playground, a place to explore, not a place to perform. But per my parents' requests, they can usually get a tune out of me. After all, it is them I have to thank for claiming the family piano and placing it in our home, and it’s their encouragement that led me to the bench in the first place.
You’re amazing!