Posted on by mgminer · 4 Comments

Expectations

I’ve been taking piano lessons for nearly two years after a long hiatus. It’s been a joy and a challenge that I may have written about before. Since I have a lesson on Monday, it’s on my mind again tonight.

I’ve always struggled to play fast passages. My teacher is so skilled in pedagogy and performance. She has taught me techniques and strategies that have helped me tremendously, but speed is still an obstacle for me. I wish I knew more of the brain science related to fast fingers. What does finger fluency look like? In reading, we called fluency work building to automaticity. How is that the same or different for playing the piano?

For now, I’m sticking with the old adage (attributed to the Navy Seals) that “Slow is smooth. Smooth is fast.” Slow practice allows me to attend to accuracy, posture, relaxation, fingering, touch, dynamics, form, and structure. It also lets me try different solutions to problematic passages.

The other principle I’m trying to remember is that “it takes as long as it takes.” If it takes me until I’m 80 to play Chopin’s Prelude No. 3 at tempo or if I don’t ever achieve that goal, the joy is in the effort.

As Mahatma Gandhi said, “Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment. Full effort is full victory”. 

Thank you to all who make this writing space
a place of safety, support, and beauty.

Posted on by mgminer · 5 Comments

Why I Continue

On my way home from my piano lesson today, I felt so happy, encouraged, and grateful. You see, last spring I asked a friend who is involved in local music educators activities if she might know a teacher who accepts adult students. She answered quickly, “I know the perfect teacher for you.” She took the time to help me connect with this teacher who has become such a bright light in my life. It was love at first lesson and at every lesson since.

I smiled as I thought of the many times I get asked why I still “need” to take piano lessons. The assumption is that I don’t need any help. After all, I started my piano journey nearly 59 years ago. I know how to read the notes–the dots and lines on the page hold meaning for me. I’ve learned quite a bit of piano literature. I have experience accompanying soloists and choirs. So, why would I want lessons?

I’m going to try to articulate a few reasons why:

  1. I believe in the magic that can happen when a student-teacher match is right. My current match with this teacher is definitely magic.
  2. I know the technique that I still need to learn and master to be able to play the music I want to play. In other words, I know what is still hard for me.
  3. At my first lesson, I learned one small thing about rotating my forearm that opened a new world to me when it comes to trills. (Think about how understanding a vocabulary word opens a whole text to the reader.)
  4. A teacher can introduce me to music I may never have found on my own. Already, I’m in love with literature that I had never heard before. (Just like matching books with readers, my teacher matches music to me.)
  5. Read here about the effort-driven rewards cycle. Working with our hands helps the brain.
  6. I know that practicing the piano puts me in a state of FLOW. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi wrote about this in his book, FINDING FLOW.

In other words, playing piano is my happy place.

Thank you to all who make this writing space
a place of safety, support, and beauty.