Most people think that to be good at playing the piano, you have to be talented. The reason why I have come to this conclusion is because I have met so many people that when they find out that I teach the piano, basically indicate that they are not musically talented and could never learn to play the piano.
As I have stated in previous blog posts, I started learning to play the piano when I was just six years old. Back then, no-one could have predicted that I would become a music teacher. I was just plain old ordinary but I did practice.
A snap shot of me at the age of twelve and you would have seen a very awkward, almost teenager who was somewhat known as good at playing the piano by her friends. I was better than my peers simply because I practiced because it was a means to try and hide myself. I figured that when I was practicing, nothing was ever wrong and the rest of the world melted away and no-one could bother me.
At age eighteen, I was at university studying music. I felt very intimidated and I honestly thought that I was a bit of a fraud being there because I thought everyone else could play their instrument so much better than me. Again with effort, I passed and earned my degree, so I must have been alright.
The point of me telling you about what was going on in my head, you can see that I was never confident and that is probably the reason why teaching music was so much more appealing than performing.
It is only now, after a few decades of experience, that I am confident enough in my ability to teach the piano. As I describe it, that I have been around the block a couple of times and I have learned a thing or two. This doesn’t mean that I know everything, because that is impossible, but I do know a reasonable amount.
To be really honest, I don’t particularly rate my skills very highly. It is probably because of my personality and life experiences that has made me not see myself as someone who can play the piano well, when the truth is that I can play the piano better than the average person.
The point of sharing all of this is that your own perceptions and opinions about your current and your future piano playing skills are possibly more than you actually think. In fact, you could have a great ability to learn, but you just can see it. So don’t allow your perceptions of yourself distract or dissuade you from learning to play the piano if you really want to.