So often in life we consciously or even sub-consciously compare ourselves to others and think that just because someone is more skilled than us, we may think that we are not able to achieve anything.
Take myself for example. I started learning the piano at the age of six and knew by the age of seven that I wanted to be a piano teacher. I always did well in my piano exams and I was often admired for my piano playing skills. I taught my first piano lesson at the young age of 18 when I had started to study music at university. I sound wonderful don’t I? Here is the bit that don’t make me look quite as good – I failed a theory exam when I was about 14 and had to re-sit the exam 6 months later. I broke my left wrist when I was sixteen and it was very painful to play the piano for the next year.
As I am so busy with family and work (my kids are not grown up yet), I don’t have much time or energy to sit down and play the piano myself. I have also recently been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis which means that my hands are sore in the mornings. As a result of the stuff that is happening in my life, I don’t enjoy playing the piano in front of other people. I am a bit embarrassed that my piano playing these days, is not as good as I was in my teens and twenties. I very much enjoy piano teaching and encouraging others to explore their own musical ability and this also includes encouraging people to enjoy and appreciate their personal skill level, no matter what it is. This is my motivation for writing this blog.
So even though I might look like a really skilled piano player, I still think that I could or I should play better than what I do.
Please do not compare yourself to others and what they can do on the piano – they have their own journey and while they may play better than you, it does not negate the fact that you either can learn to play the piano or that you can still play the piano. Life is not about being the best at something, it is not a competition and its certainly not about the black or white scenario of that you can play the piano really well or it is not worthwhile to learn. Life, in many ways has a lot of gray areas and let’s face it, almost no-one is utterly brilliant, but that doesn’t mean that ‘not brilliant’ translates into ‘not worthwhile’.
Even if you are a basic or mediocre piano player but you truly enjoy playing the piano and maybe (or maybe not) improving over time, then this is a perfectly acceptable reason to keep playing the piano. The most important thing is that you enjoy your time playing the piano. Forget about how you compare to other piano players because it will either steal your joy when playing, or it will convince you to give up. Neither of which is a good outcome.
As the younger generations say, you do you and don’t concern yourself and compare yourself to others’ piano skills.