My Old/New hobby: Why playing the piano in my 40's is so new!
Jun 12, 2021
“Coming at things again when you are older gives you a different perspective so it seems new”
Such wise words from a friend and client…
This is how I feel about my new/old hobby! I’ve just taken delivery of a piano and I’m absolutely over the moon. I sit down, play (or try to remember how to play!) and I’m lost in it. I usually rouse myself from my musical trance to make dinner, or collect the kids from a club!
I’ve waited for this piano for a long time….I’ve always loved music and playing. My Dad is an excellent pianist and so was his Mum, and my great Grandfather managed a music shop in Bristol called Churchills. It runs in the blood! Ironically, I bought my piano from Mickelboroughs (the rival music shop) in Bristol, as Churchill’s is long gone.
I often find people say this to me about art, how they used to do it at school, but for whatever reason: time, family, career, studies, bad experiences, they had to give it up. But many of my clients say how different it feels to be creating art again, later in their lives.
I t’s like popping a cork. All that creativity is still there, it just needs an outlet.
I feel like that with my piano playing, I feel like its a familiar friend who I’ve not seen for years, and I need to get to know them all over again. My hands are learning how to put chords together and jump across octaves. I’m having to remember how to coordinate both hands doing different things at the same time. My brain is figuring out those pesky high and low notes on the stave, that I’ve always found hard to remember.
However, I have this fantastic feeling that this time, learning this most wonderful of instruments will be different….It’s all about me now! No parents telling me to practice before my lesson, no teachers telling me to do ten minutes of scales every day, no concerts and band practices to work towards. Just me and my piano.
So how about giving art a whirl? You never know, it might be different for you this time!
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