One my earliest childhood memories of the piano was in my parents house, they owned the most beautiful grand piano. I thought it looked like something you would see in an orchestra. I think my father loved the look of it he always seemed really proud of it (I can still hear his voice shouting “don’t play near the piano”). I was curious to know why the piano was so respected.
In retrospect my father didn’t have the answer that I hoped, for he merely said “it is an expensive piano and not to be played around”. I was hoping that he would tell me an romantic story about the piano and how this piano came into his possession because to me the piano personifies beauty, elegance and romance.
The piano was central to their house. I loved to spend time playing the piano, at the time I played by ear and I wanted to get better. Parties would be focused around the piano (always with my mother singing beautifully) so when I asked my mother for piano lessons she agreed. Unfortunately my piano teacher was horrible and reminded me of Mrs Trunchbull from the film Maltilda – she didn’t personify elegance nor beauty. This put me off considerably and unfortunately I tried to make every excuse I could not to attend lessons. My mother in the end cancelled my lessons and I didn’t resume, presuming that it wasn’t meant for me.
Looking back now and knowing my learning style well, it’s clear that having a mean piano teacher was not going to teach me anything at all – I simply didn’t want to learn from her. Ultimately it didn’t stop me though, my dreams of playing the piano was just put on hold for a while.
Learning piano has now become an enjoyable experience. With the right tools and a little determination my dream of playing has been realized. I’m very grateful the internet has paved the way to learn piano online. The traditional method of signing up for class or hiring of private piano teacher doesn’t work for everyone as I learned. Now you can choose to learn piano online and still have some great fun with it.
