Nancy has a great question that reveals a lot of the same issues we all have when learning something new.
Read below:
“Hi Tim- I started on the program last week and I am pretty impressed. I’m not saying that I’m playing great, but I see the potential. Didn’t sleep this past Sunday night knowing that I wanted to try playing with my left hand the next morning (which was my downfall with the traditional way). Was difficult at first, but today, I felt a little more comfortable. Did strike some unwanted notes but kept going. I record what I play so that I can catch my errors and try to correct them. It seems that I don’t have control on how I strike a note and some sound louder than others Do you have any tips on how I can make it sound flowy? Thanks Nancy”
There are a few things that this email reveals that is deep rooted within most of us.
A few things that keep us from really moving on to the next level with anything.
It just happens to be with piano in this instance.
1. Anxiety over a past failure
A sleepless Sunday night over adding the left hand because of a previous struggle the traditional way.
2. Recording what we play
Why the heck would we do this to find errors. That sounds awful to me, especially if I am looking for them… I may miss all the correct things I did.
3. Inconsistent striking of the keys.
That is called “lack of confidence” which comes from the other two issues mentioned above.
Here’s the deal.
You already are not good at playing the piano.
Everybody is really bad, until they are less bad.
I am still really bad compared to some, and a musical genius compared to others. And neither is correct.
So what the heck does comparing ourselves to anything really accomplish?
Nothing.
You will never be as good at piano as you want, because as you get better you will always want to be better than you currently are.
Heck… Beethoven probably thought he was a disgrace at the piano some days.
So here’s what we do.
We practice, we play, we enjoy it, and we learn to love the mistakes because they get less and less.
We focus on today.
We stop worrying about tomorrow (anxiety)
We stop thinking about the past (depression)
We focus on what we need to do today to love it.
Tomorrow will sort itself out all on its own.
It’s normal that we doubt ourselves.
But what we can’t let become normal is letting that doubt paralyze us from going for it.
In anything…
Embrace it.
Then kick it in the ass, right out the door as you get busy doing.
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