1,000 Days of Piano - Day 134: Wanted: Lost Marbles

Tomorrow is Halloween, which means that National Novel Writing Month is just around the corner. (Followed immediately by Christmas, but why dwell on that!) Yes, I am planning to write a novel next month, while keeping up with my blog and everything else. Crazy, no? I just can’t bear the thought of giving up NaNoWriMo for four years in a row. That’s the logic behind the madness. Four measures and 1,800 words a day. Including Thanksgiving. I’d like to think it’s either genius or insanity, but it’s likely the latter.

1,000 Days of Piano - Day 132: Nothing Special

I get the feeling that a lot of people think that playing the piano is some special, magical, unattainable ability. Maybe they suffered through torturous lessons as a child. Maybe they never learned. Maybe they felt (correctly) that they had no natural talent.

Natural talent is helpful. Certain skills just come easily. Yet, natural talent is not required. Learning to play the piano doesn’t take some unusual, mystical power that you either have or don’t have. It doesn’t even require hours of daily practice. It does require minutes of daily practice, though, along with diligence, discipline, and resilience. It requires a willingness to make mistakes and not take yourself quite so seriously. That’s it. There’s nothing special about it. It demands the same qualities as learning to make pancakes. Practice, mess up, try again, repeat. That’s all.