Piano Lessons

Since early childhood, I’ve been an avid music listener. There are many different genres of music that I like, such as classical, some jazz, blues, rock and roll, dance, country, zydeco, children’s, seasonal, soundtrack/themes, and hymns. My main musical interest and “mental catalogue” resides in the area of rock and roll. In spite of this, I have for my whole life been a listener and not a performer. Well, I’ve just decided to change that. I have now begun to take piano lessons. My goal is nothing less than to be able to play any song that I can remember, as well as master playing sheet music in any key. I believe this is totally within my capabilities, and if there is any uncertainty with me about this, it is in answering to myself why I didn’t do this earlier! In learning how to play the piano proficiently, I will emphasize two principles that I picked up a while back from self-improvement guru Anthony Robbins: one, I will keeping trying until I succeed (giving up is not an option), and two, I am committed to unconscious competence rather than cognitive understanding. In other words, like any other skill, piano playing involves persistent determination and the commitment to unconscious habit (without thinking). I am supremely confident of my eventual success. It might be noted, though, that I am starting at the very beginning! Unlike Bill Murray in Groundhog Day, I won’t become a virtuoso pianist in a day, and it will be a bit humbling for a while at first. But I have everything in place to make rapid progress. Now I just have to take the time to practice rigorously. I’m using the same teacher who has been teaching piano to my two children, and they’ve done quite well by her. She holds her students accountable for learning the assignments and practicing them, and also knows what to say that can encourage and inspire them to transcend previously believed limitations and to achieve a higher level of skill and understanding.