Today I gave a friend a piano lesson. She had talked about wanting to learn for awhile and eventually she asked me to help her out, and I agreed.
As I sat explaining the basics of the instrument and musical notation, I felt a stream of memories rush into my conscience. Surprisingly, most of the memories were negative. I remembered my teacher yelling at me for forgetting to clip my nails when I was six. I remembered my first real piano recital where I had a major memory slip and walked off the stage with tears beginning to fall down my face when I was eleven. I remembered nervously, and unsuccessfully, recording take after take of a Bach prelude for my video pre-screenings at seventeen.
As I recounted these memories, we continued with the lesson and practiced a scale. My friend was able to replicate what I played exactly, and the amazed expression on her face erased all of my negative memories with positive ones. I remembered the feeling I had when I got a perfect score on my first theory exam at six. I remembered playing a Debussy Arabesque for my mom and seeing the joy it brought her at eleven. I remembered walking out of a successful live audition for Boston University feeling as though I might be able to actually play piano in college at seventeen.
This brief experience of returning back to basics has allowed me to reflect upon how far I’ve come. Recently, I’ve gotten caught up in my progress as a musician, instead of enjoying the music for what it is. The short thirty minute lesson also reminded me that there will always be good and bad. Yet, how one overcomes the bad that defines how one will live out the good. I hope to try and focus on music more positively, and remember that sometimes returning back to basics is a good way to consider what’s truly important.