I have been thinking about how to express why I have loved playing the piano for most of my life. It is not easy to express because there are actually a number of reasons. So here goes…
I enjoy playing the piano and have always enjoyed playing partly because of the challenge. I enjoy a challenge and it gives me a thrill to work something out or solve a puzzle. I enjoy complex and complicated challenges. I can imagine it is like an athlete winning a race because I very much enjoy challenging myself and working something out that the vast majority of people would never be bothered, much like an athlete winning a race.
More significant than the intellectual challenge, I find playing the piano soothing because when I am playing, I am so absorbed in the music, that everything else kind of disappears. Even in the hard times in my life, the difficulties just go away for a while and it feels like I can have a genuine break from life’s turmoil. If I am happy before I play the piano, I’m even happier while I am playing. If I am sad, playing can be comforting. If I am angry or frustrated, I can play something that will allow me to express that anger or frustration, without taking it out on my family.
While this may sound weird, playing the piano is like visiting a dear old friend – it is familiar, warm and comforting and I always feel better for spending the time with it.
Lastly and by know means least of all, is that playing the piano is like listenning to music on steroids. Listenning to music can often be enjoyable for the majority of people, but for me when I get to participate partially or fully in creating the music, the enjoyment level is probably doubled.
I have tried to describe why I love playing the piano, even though It feels like I am trying to describe the indescribable, so that you can maybe relate to some of the reasons that I have talked about. What is important is what you would get out of learning to play the piano or returning to playing the piano after not playing for years. What do you gain?
There are all sorts of opinions about why you should or should not play the piano. I think that especially in retirement, the reasons to play should be about what you will gain from it and never about how well you play or could play the piano.