We are all mature adults here and have gained knowledge over the years, even if it has not been our experience, we understand. So, because pretty much everyone here understands what it takes to play a sport well, I thought I would explain just how much learning to play the piano is just like playing a sport.
The most obvious place to start is that to play a sport or to play the piano, there has to be a desire to play. I am not talking about wistful musings, I am talking about a strong desire to play. For instance, someone might say that they would like to play golf, but really doesn’t enjoy walking and only wants to play golf because someone they know plays golf. It is the same for learning to play the piano – there are some people that think it would be impressive to play but really they don’t have a real longing to play the piano.
The equipment is another area of similarity. If you want to play a sport, you need to have the right equipment to get maximum performance and that has a financial cost. The same with playing the piano. You need to have an instrument and it doesn’t have to be the best or even new. In both circumstances, second hand will often do quite nicely. The interesting thing is that no-one seems too fussed about the financial costs involved with playing a sport, yet will complain about the cost of playing the piano.
What is also the same between playing a sport and playing the piano is that to be at your best, you have to put in regular practice. Could you imagine if a team decided that part way through a season that they would no longer train? Not practicing doesn’t work with playing a sport and it doesn’t work with playing the piano, or any other musical instrument.
Another similarity is that in doing the regular practice, whether it is a sport or playing the piano, there might be techniques that should be practiced but are not necessarily enjoyable. Take practicing scales, not many people like practicing them but they are a part of getting a really good standard. Using golf again as an example, people might not enjoy putting but they do need to practice in order to get a decent score.
One last similarity that I would like to point out is that getting good at a sport and playing the piano well takes time and effort and while you might be able to shorten the time a little, it is still going to take a significant amount of time to become good and patience would be required while the person is getting to that ‘good’ stage.
So hopefully you now have a better understanding of what it takes to learn to play the piano.