“Wait you’re still taking lessons? Didn’t you finish piano already?”
I get that a lot. From acquaintances, friends, and people whom I meet for the first time. When people ask what I do for fun, I usually tell them I like to practice the piano in my free time. They all look at me flabbergasted. Aren’t you supposed to be done with piano, they never fail to remark. Most people expect things like gym, running, watching movies, hanging out etc as legit hobbies an adult should have. But isn’t piano for children? They always seem to imply.
The problem with Singaporean society with respect to music is people seem to think you can be done with music. The number of people who actually take up an instrument in Singapore is very impressive. I think almost 1 out of 3 friends that I know have had some kind of formal music lessons when they were young. It is also not rare to find people with ABRSM grade 8. But people all see it as an end point. It’s something you do in your childhood and then you part ways and say good bye and actually “graduate”. Music is something that people do and get it over and done with. That is so sad.
I am an adult. I am 24 years old. I practice and learn new pieces and I love it. But while my other friends are busy pondering over their new start up idea, getting married or in general just think of ways to better their career prospects, I am sitting here at home on my trusty piano bench working on a difficult section in a Chopin etude for several hours a day. I’m already 24 years old, should I really be doing this and not thinking about other more important stuff. What good is there obsessing over the tiny little details in these music pieces?
Classical music is very time consuming. Learning an advance piece sometimes takes months of hard work. Then you’ll have to work on polishing, slow practice, metronomic practice, isolated practice etc which easily eats up hours and hours of time. Is this why people always say “classical music for kids, pop piano for adults?”. Adults don’t have the luxury of time anymore. They have to go out work, make ends meet and in general just worry about all the problems of adulthood. Who has time to obsess over detail and spend hours practicing everyday. It’s not as if we will find an opportunity to perform anyway.
But shouldn’t music be a lifelong hobby? At least thats what most parents intend when they (and their children) embark on a musical journey starting from 6 years old? Then what is the point of a high quality music education spanning a decade? What is the point when so many people obtain their grade 8 / diplomas and then totally stop playing music. It’s perplexing. Is it something that we really graduate from? Parents be like “go forth and finish your grade 8 and then proceed to never touch the piano again”. What is a hobby anyway?
Being an adult learner makes you really want to question the point of doing music. With so many things happening and to constantly worry about is it really right to be concerned about a piece of music that you just want to play for fun. For some reason, there seems to have a lot less meaning to do music when you’re an adult.
I started piano at 17. And at that time, it was perfectly admirable to be pursuing one’s passion. I got my recital diploma at 22. That’s not too shabby right. But I am turning 25 next year. And I’m thinking about going back to take lessons to take my licentiate. I don’t intend to go professional, or even teach for a living. I am an undergraduate, from a totally unrelated field. I should be focusing on that, I know. But why do I still compelled to go back to the piano. I am conflicted. I want to be able to play well, to play big mammoth pieces like the Liszt Sonata someday. But something tells me that it’s too late. I was once an overly passionate teenager at the piano. Now I am an adult with priority issues.
People seem to think that I should be done with piano. I don’t know. I can’t seem to be able to tell people that I’m still taking lessons. How do I tell them that music is lifelong ambition?
Being young is nice huh. I mean, when you’re young and you’re in the right musical environment people drag you to play in recitals. People shower applause and praise and that is the time where music seems right. No one really likes watching amateur adults play. People are always more obsessed over the little 10 year old kid. Once you’re past twenty you’re just an ordinary person. Ordinary is uncool, ordinary is lame. I guess I’ll just be that lame uncle who is still trying to live his dream.
Why so many wrong notes?? 