The Piano
25/08/09 17:01
Before we had children we talked my wife’s mother into giving us their piano. Bonnie had taken piano lessons as a child but never stayed with it. I thought I would like to try playing. I attended music lessons with a group and found that all the supposed beginners were beginning with 3 to 4 years of lessons. I couldn’t keep up and quit. But we kept the piano for that fateful day when we had children. (Why do parents who don’t play put their children through all the agony of lessons?)
Becky, our first daughter, had a passion for the piano. Even as a toddler she would hold onto the keyboard with her hands over her head and twinkle the keys. She couldn’t stay away from the piano. We didn’t give her lessons until she was 8. Her twin brother started at the same time. Although he outshone her in ability, she had desire. He wouldn’t practise, she would. She couldn’t walk by the piano without stopping to play. We got wise and bought an electronic piano so that she could practise with earphones. When she was 12, she started lessons with a teacher who not only taught her to read music but also taught her to play by ear. By 14 she was leading groups in song from the piano.
Over the years I watched her develop into a great pianist. Other parents would ask her piano teacher to make their children play like Becky. He confided in us that the problem he had was their child didn’t have the talent that Becky did. She was his star pupil. I pondered this, as Becky six years earlier was not the more talented of the twins. What made the difference and did this have any application for my life? What made Becky star material when you wouldn’t have said it was so in the beginning?
It was desire and pleasure. Desire and pleasure worked hand in hand. She enjoyed the music and that fed the desire to play even more. Technically her brother was seemingly better but didn’t have the love for the music that she did. You see you can do something well technically but be outshone by someone who has the music in them. Two dancers can be equally competent in skills but one will out perform the other because of the rhythm or music within them.
Desire will increase talent. If you have a talent, it still needs diligence to flourish. Desire is the fuel to ignite the potential locked within a talent. What secret talent lies within my heart waiting for desire to arise and unlock its potential?
Becky, our first daughter, had a passion for the piano. Even as a toddler she would hold onto the keyboard with her hands over her head and twinkle the keys. She couldn’t stay away from the piano. We didn’t give her lessons until she was 8. Her twin brother started at the same time. Although he outshone her in ability, she had desire. He wouldn’t practise, she would. She couldn’t walk by the piano without stopping to play. We got wise and bought an electronic piano so that she could practise with earphones. When she was 12, she started lessons with a teacher who not only taught her to read music but also taught her to play by ear. By 14 she was leading groups in song from the piano.
Over the years I watched her develop into a great pianist. Other parents would ask her piano teacher to make their children play like Becky. He confided in us that the problem he had was their child didn’t have the talent that Becky did. She was his star pupil. I pondered this, as Becky six years earlier was not the more talented of the twins. What made the difference and did this have any application for my life? What made Becky star material when you wouldn’t have said it was so in the beginning?
It was desire and pleasure. Desire and pleasure worked hand in hand. She enjoyed the music and that fed the desire to play even more. Technically her brother was seemingly better but didn’t have the love for the music that she did. You see you can do something well technically but be outshone by someone who has the music in them. Two dancers can be equally competent in skills but one will out perform the other because of the rhythm or music within them.
Desire will increase talent. If you have a talent, it still needs diligence to flourish. Desire is the fuel to ignite the potential locked within a talent. What secret talent lies within my heart waiting for desire to arise and unlock its potential?
