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Mindset. Practice. Technique.
If you are looking for a way to intentionally take time for yourself to relieve stress and disconnect from daily tasks through a creative outlet, Music may be your key! Whether it’d be completely new to you or picking up an old hobby, playing music has many incredible benefits that are equally beneficial for your mind and body.
Whether you are a current student, a parent of a current student, or you are interested in enrolling in piano lessons soon, I'm sure you have a lot about how piano lessons work with STL Piano Lessons.
Worry not. We have answers for you and here they are!
When does the Spring semester begin:
January 11th, 2021
What are some other important dates for the fall semester:
Enrollment opens: December 6th, 2020
Enrollment closes: January 4th, 2021
Vacation: April 26th - May 2nd
Recitals: TBA
How do I enroll:
If you ARE NOT a current student, you will be able to enroll a month before the next semester.
If you ARE a current student, you will be automatically enrolled.
What if I want to enroll after enrollment closes? Can I enroll mid-semester:
No. Once enrollment closes, we will not be taking any new students until the next semester opens for enrollment. If you do not enroll by January 4th, you will have to wait until our next semester to get in.
How much is tuition:
We are excited to now offer simplified tuition! No more variable tuition. The rates are as follows:
60 Minute Lessons
Pay Up Front For Semester: $1040
Monthly Payments: $285
30 Minute Lessons
Pay Up Front For Semester: $720
Monthly Payments: $190
How do I pay my tuition:
You now have two payment options. You can either pay upfront for the semester at a discounted rate or you can make monthly payments. When you enroll you will have the option to choose which one you want to do. Tuition will be auto-charged to your account just like our monthly tuitions are now. Once you enter your payment method into your account (credit card, debit card, or checking account), you are all set. All billing will be done automatically. Semester payments will be billed when the student enrolls or on the first day of the new semester. Monthly payments will be billed on the first of every month.
Do I need to re-enroll every semester:
No. Current students will be automatically enrolled in the upcoming semester unless they give written notice (via email) that they want to cancel lessons.
What if I want to drop out mid-semester:
We ask all of our students to commit to a full semester of lessons. If a student wants to drop out mid-semester, that is their prerogative, but they will still be responsible for paying for the entire semester. No refunds. If you want to cancel at the end of a semester, you can do so by sending us an email.
What if I want to take a vacation during the semester:
Students, and teachers, will get a one-week vacation at the end of each semester. If you want to take a vacation during the semester, you will have to cancel your lesson(s) with your teacher that occur during that time. If you let your teacher know 4 hours or more ahead of time they will send you a video lesson through your online account for the week(s) you miss.
Are there any other changes to the school policies due to the change to semesters:
Not many. Most of our policies will remain the same, but there are a few that will change. Please CLICK HERE to download a PDF of our new school policies.
What if I have more questions:
If you have any other questions, please visit our Frequently Asked Questions page by CLICKING HERE. You can also hit reply with any questions you have and I am happy to answer them for you.
We could not be more excited to have you on board this spring!
Part 1: Video Games, Athleticism, And The Keyboard
Growing up I was into sports…and video games. From basketball to martial arts, I always proceeded to balance it out with a healthy dose of Mario Bro’s or Ninja Turtles. For every minute spent sweating on the court or in the dojo, I had equal if not more time invested seated on a rug with a controller in my hands, my gaze riveted to a TV screen, my body contorting in hopes to make the characters on the screen move with me to avoid imminent death. One was three dimensional and the other quite two dimensional, but both were very much mentally stimulating, so I rarely, if ever, saw much difference between them, nor saw a need to discern between the two.
They were the Ying and Yang of my day until eventually there came a point where I continued to improve at videogames but plateaued at sports. Much to my chagrin, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't force myself to jump higher, or run faster (and the more I strained, the worse it got), but in videogames, I could always refine my movements to be quicker and more accurate, and so a disparity arose that grew with time.
My young mind didn't have the insight or analytical skills at the time to realize something that was not revealed to me until much later, after graduating from college: in videogames, it is not so pivotal how you press the buttons physically—what your legs are doing, whether your shoulders are raised with static tension if you’re breathing well—as the game/avatar does the majority of that work for you, but in sports, the how of running, jumping, passing, kicking, or what have you, is where the true skill lies, what the majority erroneously call “natural talent”.
The new Michael Jordan documentary lays this out pretty clearly, as they make it evident that Michael was not innately good at basketball, losing often to his brother and performing averagely his first years of high school, but what Michael had on top of his unparalleled grit, determination, and competitive spirit was what dancers call “poise”. A graceful and elegant bearing to his person that promoted balance and equilibrium throughout his body which in turn gave him that suspended quality when he would jump through the air to dunk the ball (hence earning him the moniker “Air” Jordan).
Growth in any skill is always slow and steady, but it is poise (or rather, the continued maintenance of poise, for we all have this beautiful freedom of movement when we are young children) that gives us that extra lift after years of hard work and study, adding exponential growth to our skill curve and potentially catapulting one to be the best in their field. Great examples include Muhammad Ali, Serena Williams, and yes, pianists like Arthur Rubinstein. Poise is both physical and mental, and as a term applies so aptly to the world of piano and piano technique, as playing a keyboard instrument is, in my opinion, the ultimate hybrid between sports/martial arts and video games.
Such a statement begs the question: “what importance does poise have to an instrument that is seemingly so nonathletic?” and even more importantly, “how does one continue to regain poise that they may have lost through years of screen watching and reading/writing, while learning a new skill as complex as the piano keyboard?”
We have only just touched on this idea of poise as it relates to making music and playing the piano, but I hope this primer will set the stage to explore this concept in further detail in a way that is more relatable to a majority of people. I look forward to diving deeper into this concept in my next blog post and breaking things down!
Whether you are a current student, a parent of a current student, or you are interested in enrolling in piano lessons soon, I'm sure you have a lot of questions about how semesters will work once we begin them in September.
Worry not. We have answers for you and here they are!
When does the fall semester begin:
September 14th, 2020
What are some other important dates for the fall semester:
Enrollment opens: August 2nd, 2020
Enrollment closes: September 8th, 2020
Vacation: December 21st - January 3rd
Recitals: TBA
How do I enroll:
If you ARE NOT a current student, you will be able to enroll starting August 2nd. You can enroll via our Enroll page on our website by CLICKING HERE.
If you ARE a current student, we will contact you via email to get you enrolled in August.
What if I want to enroll after enrollment closes? Can I enroll mid-semester:
No. Once enrollment closes, we will not be taking any new students until the next semester opens for enrollment. If you do not enroll by September 8th, you will have to wait until our next semester to get in.
How much is tuition:
We are excited to now offer simplified tuition! No more variable tuition. The rates are as follows:
60 Minute Lessons
Pay Up Front For Semester: $1040
Monthly Payments: $285
30 Minute Lessons
Pay Up Front For Semester: $720
Monthly Payments: $190
How do I pay my tuition:
You now have two payment options. You can either pay upfront for the semester at a discounted rate or you can make monthly payments. When you enroll you will have the option to choose which one you want to do. Tuition will be auto-charged to your account just like our monthly tuitions are now. Once you enter your payment method into your account (credit card, debit card, or checking account), you are all set. All billing will be done automatically. Semester payments will be billed when the student enrolls or on the first day of the new semester. Monthly payments will be billed on the first of every month.
If I am a current student, do I have to make the switch over to semesters:
Yes. All current students will be converted over to semesters and will be asked to commit to a full semester of lessons starting on September 14th. When enrollment opens, we will contact you via email to get you enrolled for the fall semester. You will have your normal month to month lessons right up until the week of September 14th. Please note that you will have two separate charges in September. One will be a prorated charge for the first two weeks of lessons in September as you finish out your month to month lessons. The second will be your charge for the upcoming semester with your new tuition.
Do I need to re-enroll every semester:
No. Current students will be automatically enrolled in the upcoming semester unless they give written notice (via email) that they want to cancel lessons.
What if I want to drop out mid-semester:
We ask all of our students to commit to a full semester of lessons. If a student wants to drop out mid-semester, that is their prerogative, but they will still be responsible for paying for the entire semester. No refunds. If you want to cancel at the end of a semester, you can do so by sending us an email.
If I am a current student, will my tuition be changing:
Yes. All students will be paying the new tuition. When we contact you to enroll in the fall semester, you will have the choice to pay upfront for the semester or set up monthly payments.
If I am a current student, will my schedule be changing:
No. Unless you and/or your teacher would like to change your schedule before then, your schedule will not change from what it is now.
What if I want to take a vacation during the semester:
We are eliminating our current vacation allowance policy. Moving forward, students, and teachers, will get a two-week vacation at the end of each semester. If you want to take a vacation during the semester, you will have to cancel your lesson(s) with your teacher that occur during that time. If you let your teacher know 4 hours or more ahead of time they will send you a video lesson through your online account for the week(s) you miss.
Are there any other changes to the school policies due to the change to semesters:
Yes. Most of our policies will remain the same, but there are a few that will change. Please CLICK HERE to download a PDF of our new school policies.
What if I have more questions:
If you have any other questions, please visit our Frequently Asked Questions page by CLICKING HERE. You can also hit reply with any questions you have and I am happy to answer them for you.
We could not be more excited about this new direction and the way it will impact our students, our teachers and our school as a whole! We can't wait to see our students shine this fall!
There are so many things that go into being a great piano player. Patience. Discipline. Time. Energy. We could probably make a long list of things. But I think there is one quality that above all others is crucial if you want to be great.
We often talk about obsession like it is a bad thing and for sure it can be. Obsession has been ample fodder for many Hollywood tales of love gone wrong. Or how about that detective who forgets to eat because they are so wrapped up in catching the bad guy. You’ve seen the movies. You know what I am talking about.
But there is also a positive side to obsession and it is this positive side that creates exceptional individuals, whether it is in art, politics, fitness, or any other field. Obsession creates winners.
Have you ever hung out with an exceptional musician? You may notice they can be pretty obsessive about certain things. They only like certain kinds of music. They are very specific about the gear they use. They have to sit a certain way at their instrument. If you pay close attention, you will start to see obsession at it’s best.
There is a reason great piano players are so good at their instrument. It’s because they became obsessed with it. Ask any professional pianist and they will tell you the exact same story. It goes something like this.
When they were little, they heard someone play the piano. It may have been a parent, someone at church, or maybe they heard it on TV or the radio. Wherever their first encounter occurred, the results were always the same. They knew they loved what they heard and they knew that they had to figure out how to play like that.
They probably began tinkering at the piano before they ever took any lessons. They would sit there for hours trying to figure out songs note by note. Once they started taking lessons, they could fill in the gaps quicker which made it even more exciting.
Soon all they wanted to do was play the piano. They wanted to be the best. They wanted to play like their heroes. And as they began to learn more about music, they began to understand just how good they could be at it. It all made sense. And what didn’t make sense they were determined to figure out immediately.
This is what obsession looks like. But I think another way to put it is this is what love looks like. When you love someone, you want to spend all of your time with them. You want to get to understand them better. You want to be the best partner you can be. And you want all your friends and family to meet them so they can see how awesome they are too.
Music is the exact same way. When you know you love it, you want to spend all your time with it. You want to understand it better. You want to be the best at it. And you want to be able to share it with others so that it can bring the same joy into their life that it has brought into yours.
Whether you want to call it obsession or love, I am here say it is a beautiful thing. It has brought a lof of joy into my life over the years. It has also brought a lot of pain, but that’s how it goes with obsession just like love. Sometimes you get hurt, but it’s worth it in order to find the one who is going to bring so much joy into your life.
If you have the obsession don’t be afraid of it. Embrace it. Let it drive you to learn more. Let it take you to new places. It may not always be an easy road, but it will be one well worth traveling. And the world will be a better place because you did.
That’s right. I said it. The piano is way cooler than any other instrument on the planet.
That doesn’t mean I don’t love all types of musical instruments, because I do. I actually used to play trumpet in my younger years and I loved it.
I love my brother and sister musicians and have huge respect for anyone who learns to play an instrument well, so please understand this blog post is all in good fun.
I can’t play the guitar, at least not very well. And I sure can’t play the trombone, so hear me when I say that it takes time and dedication to be good at any instrument. Every instrument is needed to make the world of music the full and wonderful place that it is.
So that being said, here is why the piano is better than any other instrument.
The piano is the only instrument that is laid out horizontally instead of vertically. It is easier to see what you are doing and understand what is going on. The guitar is vertical. Wind instruments are either vertical or use valve combinations. Most instruments tend to be very confusing at first. But the piano makes sense. You can look at a piano and start to see the patterns. You can see the black note pattern of 2 and 3. That’s why I think the piano is the best instrument to learn first. It’s not just because I am a piano player. It’s because of the way it is laid out which makes it easier to understand and learn music theory.
It is super easy to play the piano. Anyone can do it. You don’t have to worry about the proper breathing techniques. Or proper mouth placement. You can just bang on the keys and music comes out. Now, that’s not to say it doesn’t take some time to learn how to make the piano sound good. But to create a sound on the piano is pretty easy compared to other instruments.
You can’t play the piano out of tune. As long as the piano has been properly tuned by a professional, you will play in tune every time. There is nothing you can do in your playing to make the piano sound out of tune. I can’t think of any other instruments like that. With the guitar, you have to make sure your fingers are placed right in the center of the tabs. With wind instruments, there are a million things that can cause you to play out of tune like breath support, proper embouchure, your mouthpiece, etc. But with the piano, you just sit down and play.
The piano makes you a one-man-band. More than any other instrument, you have everything you need in the piano. Your left hand can cover the bass and rhythm. Your right hand can cover the harmony and melody. You don’t need any other instruments to make a full sound. That’s why you see a lot of piano bars around the world. Have you ever seen a guitar bar or a drum bar?
Piano players can play two things at the same time. With piano you have two hands, each playing different parts. Piano players have to be able to read bass clef and treble clef. We can do it all. It’s true that guitar players use both hands, but one is only for strumming or picking. Drummers are for sure the kings of rhythmic coordination, but still, they don’t have to read notes, only rhythms. With piano, we do it all - rhythm, harmony and melody. Left hand and right hand. Bass clef and treble clef.
I could go on and on but my main purpose for this blog post is to show you all the wonderful qualities of the piano. If you are thinking of learning more about music, or you have a child that you want to expose to the world of music, I highly recommend starting with the piano. They may move on to other instruments down the road, but starting with the piano is going to give them a huge jump start.
The one thing that can be challenging with the piano, is buying and making room for an actual piano. But I have good news for you. With all the amazing technology in the world these days, there are some amazing keyboards out there that sound and feel just like a piano. These keyboards are easy to move, easy to make room for and always stay in tune.
I actually made a Keyboard For Beginners guide. It will give you my top 5 suggestions for really affordable keyboards that sound and feel great. Hit the button below to get the guide for free!
Whatever instrument you land on, I can’t wait to see where it takes you. There is nothing like being able to play a musical instrument. I may be partial to the piano, but the truth is you can’t go wrong. Just pick one and get started today.
We live in an amazing age. Anything we want to learn is just a Google search away.
Just last weekend I learned how to change the headlight lamp in my car. A simple task for a mechanic, but for me, it was a mystery until I watched two and a half minutes of a YouTube video and suddenly I was an expert.
I think it is amazing what we can learn at the drop of a hat. You used to have to at least get into a car and go to a library. But now all the answers we need are in our laps. Pretty cool.
There are some things, however, that still require some human interaction. Especially if you want to get really good at something.
For instance, to figure out how to fix my car headlight, I just needed to watch a video. But if I wanted to become a mechanic and open my own garage, I would need something more. I would need a mentor to teach me and show me the ropes.
I would also need a guide to help me sort through the information overload that is the internet. Sure there are videos for everything I want to learn, but to become an expert, what order do I watch the videos in? What do I do first? Who do I trust? Which videos are giving me correct information and which videos are creating bad habits in me?
So when people ask me “Why do I need a piano teacher?” here are the 5 reasons I give them:
You need a guide. To learn something so complex as piano, you need a guide. There is so much information out there, how can you possibly know where to start? You need someone who can make sense of all the noise out there and show you exactly what to do. They can give you a step by step plan and help you figure out what your musical goals are.
You need a mentor. An expert who knows their craft inside and out, can teach you all the subtle things along the way that videos can’t teach you. You can watch them do their thing, in person. You can literally look over their shoulder and see how they do it. Then you can ask them questions and have an instant dialogue instead of hoping some YouTube creator answers your comment when they get around to it.
You need accountability. We all have done it. We say we want to do something, we may even start, but usually, we give up quick. We get distracted and make excuses. A teacher keeps you accountable. When you know you have a lesson on Tuesday, you are much more likely to sit down and practice.
You need motivation. A teacher is more than just a human YouTube video. They are an actual person. And since they are a person, they can tell when another person needs a push. Your teacher is there to encourage you, to remind you why you started taking piano lessons in the first place. You can think of your piano teacher as a personal trainer. They are there to give you the push you need when you need it. They will keep you focused and headed towards your goal.
You need a chance to perform. This may be the biggest thing a YouTube video cannot give you - a chance to actually perform in front of people. A really important part of learning any instrument is being able to show off your hard work. Knowing that you are going to perform a piece in front of people will drive you to work harder. It makes you a better musician. You get to perform in front of your teacher weekly. And then, as a student of your teacher, you get to participate in student recitals where you can perform in front of your friends and family. The feeling of accomplishment you get after performing something in public that you have worked really hard, is truly an amazing feeling. And I promise, once you do it once, you will want to do it again.
The bottom line is if you are serious about becoming a piano player, you need a piano teacher. With all the amazing strides in technology, there is no substitute for the real thing. The tried and true mentor to apprentice relationship still wins every time.
And surely there are some videos you can use along the way to help you learn certain things in more detail. The combination of YouTube and a teacher can make you anything you want to be. And if you want to be a piano player, we have got some amazing teachers just waiting to meet you!
Learning to play piano is not just about showing up to your piano lesson and playing some scales. Most of the learning actually happens at home when you practice. And really, the majority of your learning happens in your brain when you are sleeping.
Let me explain.
Have you ever had the experience where you are trying to learn something really hard on the piano. You figure if you just practice long enough, you will be able to do it, right? After an hour or so, you start to hit the wall. You start actually making more mistakes than when you started?
When you practice, you can only practice for so long straight until your brain starts to shut off. We’ve all experienced it. We start getting sloppy, making more mistakes.
It’s because your brain has not had time to process everything you just practiced. Our brains are busy keeping us a live during the day. Telling our lungs to breathe, our heart to pump blood, taking in information, telling our hands and feet to move.
When our brains shut down for the night, that is when they finally have a chance to process all the other information, like all the practicing you did.
Most of our real learning happens in our sleep. Your brain needs some peace and quiet to connect all the dots. To create new nuero-transmitter connections and to solidify into your body and soul all that you practiced.
That is why when you come back to something the next day, you feel refreshed and you can play what you practiced just a little better than the day before.
Yes it does take a lot of repetition to get good at something. But it also takes a lot of downtime. There is no way to rush that process. Well, there is one way.
The answer is Spaced Repetition. All this means is having multiple shorter practices spread out over time instead of one long practice. It means doing 10-15 minute practices followed by breaks. These breaks can be minutes, hours or days, but the breaks are crucial. The breaks allow your brain to process all the information and in doing so, they actually speed up your progress.
You could compare this to a HIIT workout. These are all the rage in the fitness world right now because they work great and take a fraction of the time of a “normal” workout.
In a HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training) workout, you do short bursts of high-intensity training followed by short bursts of recovery time. Each burst lasts 30 seconds to a minute. You do this cycle 4 or 5 times and your workout is done in 15-20 minutes.
And here is the best part - these workouts work! They have been proven to do just as much for your fitness if not more than a lower intensity, longer workout.
Practicing piano works the exact same way.
When you do hard cardio for shorter intervals, you are tricking your body into thinking you have worked out longer than you have. When you practice piano in short bursts more often, you are tricking your brain into thinking you have practiced more than you have.
Instead of practicing for hours and hours on end, try practicing something for 15 minutes. Then walk away for 15 minutes. Come back and practice it again for 15 minutes. Break. Repeat.
This process over a few days will trick your brain into thinking that more time has gone by than actually has. It will make the connections quicker. And suddenly you will be able to play that thing like you have been playing it for weeks or months. You basically sped up the process by getting your brain to process more in smaller chunks.
Say you are getting ready to play a recital and you only have a few days to get a very hard passage down. Is that even possible?
If you beat your head against the wall with super long practices, you will just get frustrated and you won’t be able to play it that well. But if you practice smart, and give your brain the rest it needs, you can absolutely learn something hard in only a few days.
It totally works.
Don’t get me wrong, I am a fan of hours of practice sometimes. But you just need to know when to walk away and give yourself a break. This is especially true if you are just practicing one little part of a piece or a riff over and over. If you practice for hours, that is fine, just make sure you mix up what you are practicing. Take breaks. And get some sleep.
I am giving you permission to practice less. I am giving you permission to take more breaks. Now it’s up to you to try it and see if it works. I think you are going to like the results.
And your brain will thank you for it.
A few weeks back, we talked about why you should practice piano with your eyes closed. If you haven’t checked it out yet, be sure to give it a read HERE. Now let’s talk about another technique I’m a big fan of.
Practicing the piano while watching TV.
I don’t know how many piano teachers will tell you to practice in front of the TV, but I’m going to go out on a limb and tell you to do it. Maybe not every time, but there are some times it is appropriate. Let me explain.
A big part of learning any new skill is repetition. With piano, we need to do some things over and over and over again. The reason for this is that we are training our muscle memory to kick in. If we do something enough, it becomes automatic. When it becomes automatic, we don’t have to think as much about what we are doing. Once we are free to think of other things, we can focus more on the other parts we are playing.
We see this show up a lot with left-hand techniques. There is a chord progression I teach my students called The Dance Progression. The biggest hurdle to overcome when playing this progression is the syncopation between the left hand and the right hand.
The left hand is just playing a repetitive bass line of constant eighth notes. The key to getting this whole progression down is to practice the left-hand part a lot. I mean a lot a lot. Like obsessively. If your family or your roommate doesn’t hate you yet for playing it so much, you aren’t practicing it enough.
Once you get the left hand down and muscle memory kicks in, then you are free to focus more on the right-hand part and start getting the syncopation down. But that won’t happen until the left hand is on auto-pilot.
A great way to get this left-hand part down is to practice it while watching TV. This does two things.
It is a monotonous thing to practice, so the TV distracts you and keeps you entertained as you play this left-hand part over and over again
Playing this left-hand part while watching TV trains you to play it consistently while focusing on other things. It helps kickstart your muscle memory. When it’s time to add in the right hand, you will be much more prepared because your mind is already used to keeping the left hand going while you do other things.
I highly recommend this TV technique for super monotonous passages that you are having a hard time getting down. Don’t get me wrong, at first, you need to focus on the part to make sure you are playing it right. But once you have the idea down, turn on the TV and take the repetition train to obsession town!
Repetition is the answer to 90% of the questions I get from my students. If you can’t play something it’s only because you are trying to play it too fast or you haven’t practiced it enough. That’s pretty much it.
I get it, though. Sometimes it’s hard to sit down and practice something over and over and over again. It gets boring and frustrating. It’s definitely not easy and that is why everyone is not a great piano player. It reminds me of one of my favorite quotes from A League Of Their Own:
“It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great.”
But there is good news. There are a couple of things we can do to make it a little more manageable. One is to practice in small chunks of time. And the other is to turn on the TV while you practice the most repetitive stuff.
This week in your practice time, try it and see if it helps. And at the very least, you will be able to get caught up on all your favorite shows. If you can get better at the piano at the same time, then it’s a win-win!
I have a confession to make.
I used to work at Applebee’s.
Man, it feels so good to say it out loud.
Anyhoo, it was actually a pretty fun job. I made a lot of friends there and learned a lot about people.
I learned a very valuable lesson while working there too. It is actually the answer to one of our most Frequently Asked Questions about the piano and piano lessons.
This is a short story about one of my Applebuddy’s. I honestly don’t remember her name so let’s call her Sarah.
Sarah had just started working at Applebees and she had to spend a little time with me while she was being trained. At first, we totally hit it off because we both played the piano.
You know how it goes at a job where you don’t know anybody. You try to find anything in common so that you have something to chat about to make the time go faster. Sarah and I were chatting about playing the piano that day. And I asked her if she still played. This was her response,
That response floored me. For so many reasons. Done? A real musician would never be “done.” There is always so much more to learn. There is always another level to get to. Even the most incredible piano players in the world are still learning new things. They would never say they were “done.”
No real musician would say they could play everything. What does that even mean? Can you play every Rachmaninoff piece to perfection? Do you know how to play every jazz standard ever written? Do you know how to play all of the harmonic modes and use them in a solo improvisation?
Of course, she didn’t. She got done with her first-year method book and got bored. She gave up and quit. And then told herself she “knew everything” to make herself feel better about quitting.
Either that or she really doesn’t get it. I’m guessing it’s a little of both.
My point is that if you want to be a real musician, you need to buckle in for the ride. It is a lifelong journey that never ends. You never get “done.” You never know everything. Every time you sit down at the piano, it’s a chance to learn something new.
That is the magic of music. It is never-ending. Sure there are milestones along the way that you want to celebrate like learning a big piece or being able to play a song from memory. But if you truly have the heart of a musician, you will never want to stop learning and growing. You won’t be able to because once you start you are hooked.
Is that you? Do you dream about learning the next song or getting better at some run or lick? BTW, It’s ok if that’s not you. You can be a casual music lover and still really enjoy playing the piano.
But if you’re like me, and you have the fire within you, I’m here to tell you that you can be the player you dream of being. Matter of fact, you will be, if you never quit, and embrace the lifelong journey that is being a musician. It’s quite a ride.
Just remember what you signed up for when you get into a new song and it’s harder than you want it to be. Remember why you started this in the first place. You are capable of amazing things including playing this new song that has you stuck. Take a deep breath and dive in.
Most people quit right before they get to the good part. The good part is coming on the next page and you are going to get there because you don’t quit.
I would much rather be one of the few piano players who can’t “play everything” than one of the many who decided they were “done.” I hope you will join me.
