PIANO PARALLELS

Focal point : 
       Drawing parallels between piano ( a passion of mine ) and life ( another passion of mine )
 
Yet another online mentor [ www.pianote.com  ]  bringing me learning and joy , stoking the fires of musical curiosity and my latent love.  Thank you Covid.  Without you ,  these discoveries in isolation might never have occurred.
 
How quaint life is. 
When I was 5 ,   I  was taught the piano by a middle-aged nun in Kuwait. 
Sr Gwendolyn  . RIP ,  with your ruler and demotivating criticisms.     
To her ,  piano was a strict discipline .  Marching orders at 7.00 am before classes.   Enjoyment … what’s that ?  Isn’t it enough that I teach you the notes , are you supposed to enjoy the half hour as well ??  Duh !!
When I am  55 , I am learning piano online from a spirited youngster.
Lisa Witt , a qualified , blithe ,  funny young teacher , associated with Pianote .  I have never enjoyed it so much in all my musical years.   I can yoga and meditate to the sound of her  voice ( bubbly when she speaks ,  clear when she sings snatches of songs  ) ,   the pretty tinkering of scales  early morning right after my affirmations.  Bob Baker, you finally have competition !
 
To me , this is the essence of life.  Moving forward . Learning from the next generation. 
“Life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday” – Khalil Gibran.
 
For the first time  , I am considering a totally different dimension of  technical work , scale inversions, arpeggios ,  Hanon exercises ....  Musicians out there, you know what I am talking about.  Heightened enjoyment & creativity ,  basking in the resulting combo of sounds and harmonies that I create.  Mix and match. Trial and error.   Overcoming perfectionist phobias of NOT wanting to hit wrong notes.  (( What kind of crazy and unwanted pressure was that back then??   🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🎵 ))

I have never enjoyed the tough and “boring” side of the instrument as much as I’m doing now.   What a gift !  A shift in mindset !   Previously I would attempt only the simpler pieces.   Many passages  and challenging key signatures were cast aside , deemed to be “too difficult”.  But now, I approach them all with a bring-it-on mentality. 
Hard-Bits-First or Hard-Bits-Early-Morning my cardinal music rule.
Deconstruct, break it down , hammer away ,  challenge yourself and learn Holly.   
Voila , within days , disjointed sounds come together in delightful harmonies.  When I find myself humming these bars in the shower  , I know I am finally on my way. 

So grateful for the opportunity to have learnt a musical instrument.   I thank my parents for pushing me  ,  life itself ,  and even poor Sr Gwendolyn …. I thank Len for the happy accident that brought piano back to me , when I thought it was watered down with raising a family , career and gone forever.  Leigh ,  who guided me through my later years ,  through examination challenges ,  developing my love for classical, as well as the keen relationship between Math and Music.   Without all of them in my life , I wouldn’t be  playing  “Thank you the music”   and firing up those musical neurons every day.