When we decided to start using this blog, I had visions of it being full of blind items ala Page Six. Since we really aren't the gossiping type it didn't really work out. This then turned into more of a confessional blog ala The Real World. So unlike MTV, instead of going into booths to talk about ourselves in our journey towards self discovery while dutifully recapping our days, we are doing it via this blog.
Yesterday was my last session with my piano instructor and honestly, I'm feeling blue about it all.
Let me start in the beginning: In 7th grade I began playing the piano. In piano player years, I was starting late. My friends who also played the ivories had already begun their studies when they were six years old. That fact didn't faze me though and by high school I was already excelling beyond their piano playing skills.
Not to toot my own horn but I was rad. Despite the mad skills I had, I rarely participated in the time old tradition of "solo ensemble" because I didn't believe in getting "graded" for something that I loved to do. My oh my, I was hippie dippie thinker even back then. Of course, when my instructor would trick me into entering, I would walk away with the coveted "1*" which in all honestly I didn't find that thrilling. I usually saw my score and went home without thinking about it twice. That would drive my instructor crazy but since I already drove her nuts every week, it wasn't a new emotion coming from her end.
I guess looking back I wasn't the best student she's ever had. Sure I could play but my attitude towards her was rotten but I had my reasoning. She certainly wasn't the best teacher that ever taught and decided to skip over any and all theory there was to teach me. Obviously that put me at a horrible disadvantage but I still prevailed despite that. I think that my knack for playing the piano was all pure talent and that I really taught myself everything I knew.
Midway through my senior year I had enough of her lessons and illogical thinking. I decided to quit and left for college without looking back at my beloved piano. After two years of college in a different town, I moved back home and that's when I started playing the piano again. After a solid two years of no playing, my fingers weren't as fast as they once were which left me sad. All the hard work I had put in was gone all because of my frustration over my instructor. From there I played every once in a while but it wasn't anything to celebrate. Because I couldn't play at the level I was previously at, I didn't feel that I deserved to be playing at all.
Cut to last fall when my little sister had started taking her first piano lessons. I got the spark to sit down at my piano again and without thinking it over, I signed up for lessons through my sister's instructor as an adult student. Truthfully, I felt very foolish but at the same time I was hoping to maybe regain some of what I had lost with the help of someone.
For the past year I have worked really hard, practiced for hours when I found the time, and I'm happy to report that everything is restored in the world. My new wonderful instructor, Debbie, stripped away everything that was "taught" to me and started me off on a clean path. I had gotten frustrated midway through because it was clear that my previous instructor had molded me into only being able to play by ear and while that can prove to be useful, my sight reading skills were poor. However, Debbie always was full of inspiration and never let me quit. And for that, I am grateful.
My piano and I are BFF now and I think we'll stay that way for the rest of our lives. It feels good and I have Debbie to thank for that. I decided not to forgo studying with her because not only because my summers are incredibly busy but because I'm not sure where this summer is going to lead me.
I'm crossing my fingers that my move pans out the way I want it to and that I end this year in a new location happy and healthy with at least a keyboard by my side.
-Team Lyons
P.S. Skittles and hugs to anyone that read that whole thing because really, it was pointless. I'm serious about the skittles by the way....dead serious.
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