As I have stated several times before, I have had so many people that have told me that they want to play the piano. Over the years I have come to realize that not everyone that has said that to me has been serious. I don’t mean that they are lying , its just that it sounds really cool to tell people that you play a musical instrument. In fact, these days I take note of people’s reaction when a conversation makes it a reasonable for me to tell the other person that I play and teach the piano and the reaction is always that they are impressed.
I do not claim to be an impressive person, I have, like the majority of people, spent many years learning and developing a skill set. Just because my skill set revolves around teaching the piano does not make be a better person than the next, not does it make me ultra talented.
My point in all of this preamble is that most people are impressed with someone who can play a musical instrument and because of this some people say to me that they would like to play the piano as a wistful passing notion. They are not lying because they like the idea of playing the piano, not actually learning to play the piano.
The people that really want to learn to play the piano are willing to put in the effort. There is also a chance that they put it off, sometimes for years and even decades because they are afraid that they won’t be good enough. Let’s face it, we have all been there in one way or another, where we would rather dream about maybe being good at something than face the reality of knowing that we cannot do what we desire.
This is what I think: if you have been wanting to play the piano on and off for a period of time, but you always have reasons that stop you from being brave and getting started, then you really should take the plunge and start learning to play the piano. This is because, if you have been toying with the idea for a number of years and especially if it has been a number of decades, the desire to play is real and it will probably never fully go away, no matter how much you ignore it.
Doing something new is frequently daunting and someone can often have doubts as to whether they are going to succeed, but if you know that learning to play the piano is not just a passing fad for you, then you should get started. Getting started in retirement is probably a great time to learn because of the spare time you get and often, the spare income from being finished with raising children.
Let me leave you with the expression that became a catch phrase in the old movie of Dead Poet’s Society – Carpe Diem -seize the day.