Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Day Nineteen -- Piano


I have a piano. I can play the piano. I took lessons from age 8 until age 16 or 17. That's a lot of years, but the piano sits unused. I look at it, I think about it but I rarely touch it unless it's to dust. Yeah, one key is broken and it's not been tuned in years but that is easily fixed. So why don't I play the thing, bang around on it, hammer out notes or something? I'm slowly figuring that out.

Years ago I took a test based on Howard Gardner's multiple intelligences and I scored highest on musical intelligence. What a shock. But not really. I know I learn well via music and know I understand a lot about music. I think my blockage comes from the fact I have two brothers who are both extremely musical. Both play with symphonies, one in Dallas, one in Oklahoma City. Both have college degrees in music.

I never consciously thought about it until recently but I realize I quit playing because my brothers were both so involved with music and I needed to have my own "thing", something different from what they did and they both did it well. I believe I didn't want to be compared and found lacking. And truthfully, I never had their skill and it was unacceptable to me to not be as good. I guess I had a little perfectionistic and competitive streak in me. So I quit and never looked back until now. I should be over that now shouldn't I?

I think I might just take some piano lessons.

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