BLAAAHHHg Post #5
What Teaching Piano Lessons has Taught Me
Playing the piano for 40 years and instructing piano students for 20-plus years has taught me so many lessons that can be applied to writing. Over the next few months, I will broach this segment in my blog. Here is the first big lesson to chew on.
Practice really does make perfect, but…
The action of practicing anything one wishes to master is just that: an action. However, it is an action that is sloppily defined with varying interpretations, the outcome rarely meeting perfection. People interested in playing the piano want to be virtuosos after day 1 of lessons, but they do not have the desire or tenacity to put in the required time. If rigid discipline and instruction-following-humility are lacking, perfection will never be the final result.
There was a man who appreciated music and had the opportunity to compliment a successful piano virtuoso after hearing him play. He approached the piano professional and said, “That was amazing. I wish I could play like you.” The talented man replied. “Thank you, but no, you don’t wish that. You would never be willing to do what was required of me to play the way I do.”
Now, this seems rude and extreme, but the point, I’m sure, is received. Everyone would like to be as talented as one person or another—and some are!—but it is a rare human who will practice to perfection.
Whether you’re an aspiring writer or a published author, are you willing to put in the discipline and time required to practice until perfection or at least near-perfection? Are you willing to learn more, to meet and hear out others who share your passion but have different experiences and knowledge concerning the written word? If your answer is a firm “YES!” good for you! Attitude and its energy will keep you on a positive and fulfilling path. For those who are not so sure, or say, “Perfection is impossible”, don’t give up! Perfection will always hover and prod, asking you to reach for it. If you strive and fall short, chances are you have still created something beautiful, fulfilling, and, possibly, money-making. What matters is that you tried every path of every route of every mile.
“You only fail when you stop trying.”
—Unknown
