It has been a month since I picked up playing the piano again after I quit it when I was 13 year old. So far, my experience of playing the piano this time has been very rewarding and self-fulfilling.

In the past year, I was contemplating on the idea of getting a piano and playing  again. I was afraid that my enthusiasm might not last long and the piano will end up collecting dust at home. I finally made the bold decision and bought a piano last month.

The night before the piano was delivered, I pulled out all of my old piano music notebooks. I started panicking, because I forgot how to read the right-hand music notes. I had to go on the internet to re-learn it.

When the piano finally arrived, I started to play it. The first twenty minutes of playing the piano was intense; I was afraid that I might not able to recall the songs I once knew and I’d waste the money for nothing.

Luckily, as I played the easy songs I learned when I was a child, things slowly came back to me. The overwhelming fear of doubts drifted away as I heard the correct sounds coming from the instrument with each key I pressed.

As minutes passed by, my confidence started building up. I became very excited and wanted to play more.

When I was a child I got frustrated when I had difficult time playing any part of a song. But as an adult, I am now more patient when I get stuck on the challenging parts of the songs. I know it’s all about repetition and practicing. And I understand what people mean by muscle memory when it comes to playing an instrument. I can see the improvements I make on the new pieces I played the day before.

(This is a picture of my old music sheet book showing one of my favorite songs, Mariage d’Amour by Richard Clayderman, with the flowers from our backyard.)

I’d never imaged that one day I would become so enthusiastic about playing the piano. I now play it three times a day; practicing the songs I learned in the past (including Mariage d’Amour and Für Elise) and I’m learning how to play the new ones (such as Clair de Lune). Playing the piano now, especially when it comes to new songs, is about the process of learning and making improvements, rather than completing a music song in limited time. I found playing the piano very soothing and pleasant. This is something I didn’t realize when I was a child. I thank my parents for giving me the opportunity to learn how to play the piano when I was a child, so I can have the foundation to play it on my own at home, now.

To summarize, learning how to play piano is just like learning everything else. You can achieve your goals as long as you put effort into practicing, focus on the learning process, and enjoy the fun time. Be a growth minded person, don’t run away when things get challenging, face it with a can-do attitude and you can overcome the difficulties.