Why I was not born to play the piano

I have been playing piano for almost twenty years.

I feel ashamed to say that I haven’t played the piano much since college. I almost never say that I can play the piano, because after all, I am not good at it. As a result, my friends were surprised when they found out that I could play the piano: "Oh my god, you can also play the piano? I can't tell!"

I really don't look like I can play the piano. Maybe I wasn't born for it.

People always seem to have some deep-rooted impressions of people who can play musical instruments, especially girls. It seems that girls who play the piano should be quiet and elegant, especially goddess-like. Unfortunately, I avoided them all perfectly. I have a strong body, dark skin, average appearance, and most importantly, no temperament.

Temperament, this thing is very subtle. Anyway, I don’t have the temperament of a pianist at all. Not only is she hunched over her chest due to her natural low self-esteem, but she is also lazy and has a laissez-faire attitude towards her weight. Who would have thought that a person who listens to spicy chicken all day long and likes to lie down and browse Taobao and browse Weibo after eating can actually play the piano?

Secondly, I think doing anything, especially art, requires talent. But what’s interesting is that our country’s traditional education often only emphasizes the importance of hard work, just like the last sentence of Edison’s famous quote is deleted from primary school textbooks: “Genius is one percent inspiration plus ninety-nine percent. Sweat. Without that one percent inspiration, all the sweat in the world is just sweat." My dear and great mother didn't seem to understand this truth earlier and decided not to let me learn painting. He decisively led me into the palace of music, and even though my family was not wealthy, he drove me to and from campus and the music store on his bicycle day after day. My childhood was basically spent in front of a desk or on the piano bench. I won’t go into details about my painful journey of practicing piano. In short, it should be no different from all other children who have no talent and don’t want to practice piano, so they are lazy (not in a derogatory sense), resulting in being scolded, beaten and crying. After ten years of such arduous work, when I was about to enter my senior year of high school, my piano teacher shook his head and told me that with my level at that time, it would be a dream to enter the piano performance department of a key conservatory of music. Tan. My great father (although he has never been very supportive of me learning the piano but never said anything) frowned, took a puff of cigarette, and said slowly: "Let's take the cultural class!" I realized that I didn't play the piano. The talent.

Why do you say that? My congenital physical condition is not good enough. This is the best excuse for my laziness.

The most important thing for playing the piano is to have a pair of flexible and slender "good hands". Unfortunately, my fingers are thick and short, and my palms are small and pitiful. Among girls, I have "small hands". Think about it, almost all of the world's famous pianists or musicians are men, and this is inseparable from their big hands. I think this is the same as the ones in charge are all men. Having a pair of big hands and strong arms (which can be developed the day after tomorrow) basically means you will win at the starting line. And if these hands are slender and flexible at the same time, they can basically stand out from the crowd. Just like you are still saving money, others were born in the Haidian school district. However, piano teachers who lead children into the world of music don't care. As long as a child shakes his head and seems to be playing "The Bell Song" by Little Thompson seriously, they are very satisfied. When I got older, whenever I complained to my mother about my hands, my mother always comforted me optimistically: "Don't say that, there are many great pianists who don't have big hands."

But I I feel that there are very few pianists with small hands, and my mother doesn’t actually know them. She just wants to encourage me to play the piano well and stop complaining. The disadvantages of small hands are obvious. For example, it’s very difficult for me to play nine keys. This basically means goodbye to difficult music. And we will also find that great musicians should be very proud of their innate conditions and like to write music with extremely large spans, extremely dense notes, extremely gorgeous melodies, and very impassioned music. Moreover, these songs are necessary for grade examinations, performances, academic examinations, and even for showing off skills. After all, your parents worked hard for you to play the piano, and they also hope that you can conquer those uncles and aunts with your song "Yellow River". It was only after I came into contact with Rachmaninov's etudes for the first time and was tortured to death by it that I gave up the idea of ??taking the art college entrance examination and was willing to take cultural courses.

Secondly, my body is extremely inflexible and I was born that way.

As mentioned before, the flexibility and coordination of the hands are more important than the size of the hands. So, being hopeless, I found this second excuse for myself. I firmly believe that music and sports are connected. I have never had an easy time with sports, especially skill sports. I have failed in physical education since elementary school. I still can’t jump rope, kick shuttlecock, or hold badminton correctly. In short, I just don’t know how to do anything. I am a very inflexible sports idiot.

To put it bluntly, it is the "stupid" and "stupid" nature of the body, and the impact of this on the piano is obvious. I can't use my hands and feet accurately, and the ups and downs of my feet on the pedals can't match the melody correctly. Instead, the ups and downs of my feet often cause the ups and downs of my hands. You can imagine the number of comrades who walked smoothly with the same hands and feet during military training. Ridiculous and embarrassing. If the pedal is not clean and the melody sounds uncomfortable, it is very scary. In addition, the fingers are not flexible enough. No matter how long you practice, you will always feel like your ring finger and little finger are always stuck to the middle finger when playing a few simple legato notes, unable to play clean notes perfectly and neatly.

Having said all this, I am still grateful. Perhaps due to years of practicing Beethoven and my fondness for using brute force when playing the piano, I developed strong arms and became the main force in school tug-of-war competitions.

No matter what, I persisted.

Since elementary school, I locked myself in my small room and practiced hard, playing and playing until I graduated from high school. After going to college in Beijing, I also joined the school’s classical music club. I shamelessly stayed there for three years with all the great masters, and successfully became a person in the eyes of my friends who “has been playing piano for almost twenty years but is still not very good at it. people".

Having no talent or talent is really painful, embarrassing and frustrating.

So many people often laugh at me: "You are the only one who can play the piano!".

Of course,