I get it, I went a little overboard with the alliteration in the title and while the title of this blog sounds something quite frivolous, the actual topic is not frivolous at all, in fact I think it’s quite a serious topic to explore.
Aiming for perfection in playing the piano is somewhat futile. Sure, being precise with reading the notes is important and getting the timing and rhythm exact is also necessary but getting every element absolutely perfect? I don’t even know if it is actually possible once you have passed the beginner and intermediate phases. This is because there is so much more to just the notes, the timing and the fingering, There is phrasing and there is dynamic shading of loud passages and quiet passages and everything else in between. You could also consider what exactly did the composer intend for the performance of his/her piece of music. The piano is capable of sounding and capturing so many different moods and conjuring up so many images. Because the piano is such a versatile instrument, I don’t even know if perfection is possible beyond the notes and timing because it can be so subjective even among experts. I think aiming for quality is a much better goal.
Let me be clear – it is definitely possible to learn a piece of music perfectly, if the music is simple or very easy for your standard, but to achieve a level where you can play all piano music perfectly, exactly how the composer intended, I don’t think it is even possible. Even paid professional performers who often practise for 8-10 hours a day would limit their repertoire to either classical or jazz or modern, because that is their limit on what they can play either perfectly or close to perfectly. With a quick Google search I discovered that there is only approximately a dozen piano players that have successfully combined genres and are known to be more than a jazz or classical piano player and I would like to bet that even with these highly skilled musicians that have successfully combined jazz and classical music, that there would be styles or composer’s works that they would avoid performing.
My point is this: no-one could ever master every piece of piano music ever written, in fact no-one could ever have the time to even attempt every piece of piano music because of the sheer volume of music written for the piano. No-one can become the perfect piano player.
I think this need for perfection in our society is ever increasing – allegedly, we can have the perfect clothes, living in perfect homes, with perfect family and the perfect social life, but the problem with this is that there is a perceived inference that anything less than perfect is not good enough, which I disagree with. Most of us understand that ‘good enough’ and ‘near enough’ can be completely satisfying in many aspects of life. The same principle can also be applied to playing the piano, especially when you are just playing for your own personal pleasure, that perfect is not actually necessary. Contentment can be achieved with aiming for quality or just being ‘good enough’.
So rather than saying pursuing playing the piano perfectly is piffle, I’d rather state in conclusion that careful consideration to quality is the key for contentment in playing compositions!