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@northoftheborder
Oh dear North - I wish somebody told me that when I was growing up lol. I was raised to be a perfectionist and early on got very clear message that I better be the best in whatever I do or it is just not worth doing it at all. Since I was exceptional in dancing I was supported to do that 100% , but piano lessons were out as an option because that would "take away time" from doing what I do the best. I pleaded - but nope. I dreamed of playing piano my whole life and would take any opportunity to just "touch it" and play "by ear" when nobody was watching. I would stay hidden in a locker room and wait till everybody went home and sneak back to studio room and pretend playing piano on very old upright Welmar lol. At this ripe age of 62 my hands would perhaps be able to play some very, very basic kid's songs which would be really fun - but "loosing oneself in playing music for hours" ; ) I do not think is possible ha ha... BUT - I will go today to the garage and find my daughter's old piano books and refresh my basic knowledge lol - maybe I can at least play some carols this Christmas
: ))) ! ?
Replies to "@northoftheborder Oh dear North - I wish somebody told me that when I was growing up..."
@surftohealth88 Classical music has an unfortunate tendency to impose perfectionism on kids. In hospital, I had one nurse who had dropped out of a university music performance programme and taken up hospital nursing because she found it less stressful (!!!). My own spouse has had a lifelong struggle with the perfectionism imposed on her by ballet classes and violin lessons when she was young.
It doesn't have to be that way — both dance and classical music can be joyful — but adults insist on crushing that in children with exams, competition, and constant criticism. Ballet is especially evil, because of the body shaming involved for tween and teen girls ("you're too tall to be a chorus dancer, and not good enough to be a prima").
It makes me furious every time I think about it. 😡 I guess I'm lucky that my parents couldn't afford a piano *or* lessons when I was 9 and begging for them; I played cello at school (and later the city youth orchestra) starting at age 10, then mostly taught myself classical guitar starting at age 17. At age 61, I haven't lost an iota of my joy in it (in fact, I think I love it even more). Everyone should have a right to that, if they want it.
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@surftohealth88 Christmas carols are REALLY easy to learn to play by ear. "The First Noel" and "Joy to the World" you should be able to figure out in less than half an hour. The key is to find the first note of the song, then listen to whether the music goes up or down and play accordingly. Usually, for a Christmas song, it will go up or down by one note at a time, though occasionally it will skip a couple notes, usually just two ("The first Noel" does this).