I have talked to many, many people about playing the piano and people who want to learn to play the piano. One thing that keeps coming up and holding people back from taking the plunge and at least having a go at learning to play the piano, is the fear of not being good enough.
While people have actually uttered the words “not good enough”, some have implied that even if they tried they probably wouldn’t be good enough.
So what constitutes being good enough and who gets to decide if someone can play the piano to a standard that is good enough?
Being deemed ‘good enough’ can be very subjective. Some could argue that my standard is not good enough – I certainly won’t be making a tour and playing at a concert anytime soon. Some would argue that I don’t practice enough. I would agree with that because I don’t think I practice nearly enough. I know I am good enough to teach because I have qualifications, certifications and experience. There could be people that would argue with that because maybe I didn’t have the right teacher or sat the right set of exams. I don’t actually care. I know that I am good enough (and I also know that I can always learn something new). Some might argue that I am not good enough to write this blog, but I am here writing content on Piano For Retirees.com and I know I have reached people through my writing and made a positive impact.
So, on one hand, you will always find people who don’t think you will ever be good enough at learning to play the piano – there are people out there that almost make a hobby out of tearing people down. You might even be unfortunate enough to have negative people in your life that don’t want to see you succeed or even be happy. You will never be able to convince these people but you can learn to ignore them.
On the other hand, there can people who are more than happy to encourage and support your endeavors. They are happy to see you have a go and they don’t really care how good you get as long as you are happy. I hope you have many people like this in your life.
The person who gets to decide whether you are good enough is you. No-one else should decide. If you want to play classical, then do it. If successful is being able to play chords, then that is successful for you. Your benchmark could even be as simple as being able to play chopsticks on the piano and if that is what is going to make you feel happy with your skill, then it is good enough.
You decide what will make you happy. You decide what the definition of good enough is. You decide that you are indeed good enough.