Have you ever regretted making piano a priority ?

[m1469]

I was not sure where to put this topic, but I think that practise/study-time may come into play on a practical level here (though I mean this topic on a much bigger scale, too), and perhaps performance, too -- so I am putting it here.

I was thinking ... was there ever a time when I really have dedicated my entire self, left arm and both feet ( ) to piano study, and regretted it ?

I will need to think about it a bit more, but, off the top of my head, I think the answer is NO.  When I look back at the effort and time I have spent building and nurturing this musical self in me, and a good portion of that time being spent in pianistic study, overall I have not regretted it. 

Now, my piano path has not been riddled with anybody forcing me to practice while other kids go out and play -- so perhaps that would change my perspective a bit -- but, I can honestly say that when I have chosen to study intensely, I have not regretted it, even if it meant giving other things up for a time (or for good).

[amelialw]

Nope, I don't regret it in the least though I must say that because i've chose this career i had to give up alot of fun and social life with my friends.

[mephisto]

To answer the original question:

Yes.

[m1469]

To answer the original question:

Yes.

Do you mind expanding a little on that ?     Maybe sharing whatever particular experience ?

[opus10no2]

This is something to ask someone nearer the end of their life.

Like all disciplines, it means to commit to something, and stick with it even on the days where you'd rather do something else, for a greater goal.

The answer to the thread title would be no, but not without blood, sweat and tears.

I have bled when playing too much on a dangerous instrument, I sweat often when playing with physical intensity, and I have shed tears along the way in moments and spells of despair.

[franzliszt2]

I've had massive moments fo doubt. But it's always been a confidence thing. I always think "why do I even play the piano, it's stupid getting this stressex" just vefore every concert

[Barbosa-piano]

No, for the most part-
I regret making other things priority, when I know there are people in Asia and Europe who are working hard and getting ahead of me, musically and technically.

[Bob]

.

[ted]

No, I have no regrets about making music a priority per se. What I didn't understand when I was younger was that I need not have been quite as exclusive about it. I think I could have done many more things, done them well, and my music would have been none the worse for it. It's the old story of believing I had to make an exclusive choice when much of the time no such imperative existed.

[opus10no2]

m1469, I came to the conclusion a while ago that, like a flower, a pianist's ability can only be 'watered' so much per day.

If a modest repertoire is attained, it really is possible to maintain this and technical ability by just working less than an hour per day.

The BIG major time consumer is the amount and variety of music you wish to play/improvise.

So the amount of time your priority consumes is down to the amount of repertoire you want to play.
It's obvious, but it needs to be stated.

[jakev2.0]

Opus10no2...I think your piano plant is dying due to lack of wahtah. 

[opus10no2]

jake  says:
comme, sometimes i wondah about you
jake  says:
i really want you to suceed
        Zplintah          says:
hahahaha *?
jake  says:
but it seems like you're a lightyear away from reality

da jake 

[amelialw]

If a modest repertoire is attained, it really is possible to maintain this and technical ability by just working less than an hour per day.

Is'nt that too little practise especially for a high grade piano student?

a pianist's ability can only be 'watered' so much per day.

in a way this is true but in a way it's not, it depends how long you can focus for

So the amount of time your priority consumes is down to the amount of repertoire you want to play.
It's obvious, but it needs to be stated.

yup, this really true... it actually depends how good you want to be/how much repertoire you want to have and how fast you want to learn it.

[lostinidlewonder]

There are a lot of things we can do in this world. Some people choose to specialise in one thing, others like to  be a jack of all trades. I am one of those people who like to be a jack of all trades but I have found that I am better in some things than others. I love to play the piano, it keeps the roof over my head and my belly full, but surely there are many things I am leaving behind when I dedicate myself to piano.

But there is nothing to feel regretful over. If you didn't do piano and chose to focus somewhere else, then you will regret you didn't do piano! If you focus on piano then you will regret you didn't do other things, so the catch 22 cycles through and through.

Whatever you do you have to feel happy and complete. I personally feel God sets a path for us and we move through it, so no matter what you do be thankful for having it, it is life and it is good no matter what positive things you do.

[alzado]

Interesting posting, Malya.   I do wish some of us could hear you play.  I am sure you play beautifully!

Let me key on this idea of "watering" talent less than one hour per day.

One real benefit of playing as much as possible -- hopefully, more than one hour per day -- is to develop an instinctive feel of where the notes are.  You do not look at your hands.  You find chords just because you know where they are.  This is a kind of telekinetic skill that fades rapidly with diminished or "missed" practice. 

OPUS talks about practicing to "maintain a repertory."  How boring.  A good part of one's practice should be to explore unfamiliar material.  In plain talk, sight read the unfamiliar and begin working on new and hopefully challenging pieces.  Out of every hour of practice, I would normally spend about two-thirds preparing or polishing "project" pieces and perhaps one third of my time exploring, sight reading, or learning fresh scores.

It is highly valuable to learn pieces you HAVE NEVER HEARD.  If you cannot do that, and must have the CD, you really are not "there" yet! 

If you learn an unknown piece up to a certain point, and THEN want to listen to the CD to get some ideas, that's fine.  But if you can't read music, you need to be honest.  Make up a little placard that says, "I can't read music" and tape it to your music stand.  (Of course I am just speaking generally, Malya -- I don't mean you.)

Malya, it is nice to have you on the forum.

:-)

[thalberg]

To answer the original question, yes, I regret making piano a priority.  I sincerely wish I had stopped playing at the age of 18 and gotten a degree in computer science.

[burstroman]

Music has provided me and others through me pleasure.  I have never found enough time to play and learn more. 

[allchopin]

There are a lot of things we can do in this world. Some people choose to specialise in one thing, others like to be a jack of all trades. I am one of those people who like to be a jack of all trades but I have found that I am better in some things than others.

This idea definitely comes down to the essence of m1469's question in my mind, and to me it is more refreshing to experience as much as possible and to gather as much knowledge about the world as possible than to zoom in so far as to only see a piano on the surface of the Earth.  That piano has a lot to offer but there's just too much I don't want to miss (same goes for chatting on forums, come to think of it!).

I love to play the piano, it keeps the roof over my head and my belly full, but surely there are many things I am leaving behind when I dedicate myself to piano.

How did you manage to devote yourself so wholly to this instrument and continue to live with the financial freedoms that you have?  To me, this seems like one of the most difficult parts of devotion to the piano, as simple and obvious as it may seem.
It's all well and easy to close one's self in and work at the piano day and night but it is tough for me to not see the reality of the situation, which is there is no such thing as a free lunch.   Please enlighten me!

[pianowolfi]

In the meanwhile I have thought about this and I have come to the conclusion that I have regretted nothing less than making piano a priority. WHEN I did do this actually, because there have definitely been phases in my life where my priorities were different. There was a phase were I was very much frustrated with piano and music for years and during this time it was not a priority. It was sports back then. Back then I spent more time with heart rate scales and gear calculators. And bicycle maps. Tons of them.

[gruffalo]

There are a lot of things we can do in this world. Some people choose to specialise in one thing, others like to  be a jack of all trades. I am one of those people who like to be a jack of all trades but I have found that I am better in some things than others. I love to play the piano, it keeps the roof over my head and my belly full, but surely there are many things I am leaving behind when I dedicate myself to piano.

But there is nothing to feel regretful over. If you didn't do piano and chose to focus somewhere else, then you will regret you didn't do piano! If you focus on piano then you will regret you didn't do other things, so the catch 22 cycles through and through.

Whatever you do you have to feel happy and complete. I personally feel God sets a path for us and we move through it, so no matter what you do be thankful for having it, it is life and it is good no matter what positive things you do.

Beautifully said.

[keyofc]

No. 

[maxy]

Regret?  I would not say so.

Was it a smart move?: absolutely not.

[nyonyo]

My mom bought a piano when I was 7 year old and my older sister was 10.
She always wanted her kids to play piano, because she did not have that opportunity when she was small. Therefore, I was forced to take piano lesson. However, for any reason, I was always got away from taking piano lesson. My sister, on the other hand, could not get away. Finally, when I was 11 yr old, my sister gave up piano, so my mom bought an electronic organ. Electronic organ is much more fun and way easier to play . Therefore, I told my mom that I wanted to take lesson. I took lesson for about 10 years, I became very good. I even competed in the National level and became an organ teacher after passing the organ teacher examination. However, since my technical ability was very weak  my fingers could not play the piece well. Therefore, I lost.

Then I moved to the States in 1991. I must make monies and there was nobody who wanted to learn organ. Damm. So I took piano lesson for about a year, and took Yamaha teacher exam and passed. I taught piano just to send myself to get my master degree (not in music). My bachelor was even in Electrical Engineering.

16 years later, I now can be considered pretty successful with my carreer. I am a person who have many hobbies and can do reasonably well. My current goal is to take piano lesson again and I really want to compete in the Amateur Competition. However, looking at the past competitors, most of them have advance piano degree. It seems very hard to beat them.
But I think I could get into semifinal if I practice and study hard. This is my goal at this moment.

I never really regret for not going to play piano seriously. There are many other things in life that much more fun than only playing piano.
 

[m1469]

I suppose what I could regret, if anything ever, would be time I spent living out and reaching forward with the wrong intentions in life.

When I sit at the instrument, when I let go of all the things I feel I have to be or all of the things that the world says that I am, suddenly I find my breath; I find my life.  There are so many things that would like to distract a person from a clear, calm, quiet knowing -- a calm and quiet moment; the kind that allows one to hear and explore what lay beneath the audibles -- the kind of inaudible that only lay within, though echoes throughout.

My intentions ?  Explore, discover, become.

No matter who comes and goes in my life, I will sit at the piano and I will eventually find myself again.  No matter what is happening around me, I will sit at the piano and eventually find a world that somewhere, somehow makes sense to me, in a completely nonsensical way.   Whatever other voices there are screaming to be heard, whatever tragedies are trying hard to be seen -- I will bow my inner self, I will go within and the piano will meet me there.

It doesn't judge me.  It doesn't care where I have studied, what I have studied, nor who with.  It's just there, wanting to be played -- by me, of all people.  Why me ?

I will regret living a life with the intentions to live a life without regrets.  My intentions are just to live, just to survive.  And, I want to find myself -- at the instrument, in my own way.  What is there to regret in that ?  Probably a lot, actually.  I will miss out on other things this way.  But, if I go to other things, I will miss out on my piano life -- in the end, I think I will perhaps regret the latter, more -- at least if I just stop growing as a pianist.

I remember my very first public performance.  I didn't know I was supposed to be nervous, and I wasn't.  But then, I stepped onto stage and there were all those people looking at me -- and, there was this ... expectation in the air.  What did I do ?  I quietly turned to the instrument for solace.  Afterall, I knew that world -- that was my home.  I sat down, I moved my hair to the side of my face to curtain my view of the audience, and their view of me, and I played.  That's it.  I just played; it's that simple.  And, I remember their applause.  Yes, I liked it.

My intentions are to find that world.  At all costs ?  No.  But, life will go on all on its own.  I have a choice what to do with my hands, with my mind, with my soul. 

[cmg]

I suppose what I could regret, if anything ever, would be time I spent living out and reaching forward with the wrong intentions in life.

When I sit at the instrument, when I let go of all the things I feel I have to be or all of the things that the world says that I am, suddenly I find my breath; I find my life.  There are so many things that would like to distract a person from a clear, calm, quiet knowing -- a calm and quiet moment; the kind that allows one to hear and explore what lay beneath the audibles -- the kind of inaudible that only lay within, though echoes throughout.

My intentions ?  Explore, discover, become.

No matter who comes and goes in my life, I will sit at the piano and I will eventually find myself again.  No matter what is happening around me, I will sit at the piano and eventually find a world that somewhere, somehow makes sense to me, in a completely nonsensical way.   Whatever other voices there are screaming to be heard, whatever tragedies are trying hard to be seen -- I will bow my inner self, I will go within and the piano will meet me there.

It doesn't judge me.  It doesn't care where I have studied, what I have studied, nor who with.  It's just there, wanting to be played -- by me, of all people.  Why me ?

I will regret living a life with the intentions to live a life without regrets. 

m1469, what a lovely post.

When you write, "When I sit at the instrument, when I let go of all things I feel I have to be or all of the things that the world says that I am, suddenly I find my breath; I find my life," you have caught the essence of what I meant when I said don't "intellectualize" so much at the keyboard.  Take that fullness of your "emptiness" (Buddhist paradox) and approach the Rach Prelude.  You'll find the solution to your problem in that passage.

And as for "regrets," they always arise when the life we find ourselves living conflicts with the life we hoped to live.  We have no power over fate.  It is what it is.  Make lemonade from lemons, yes?

[akasimone]

1.  First post, yay

2.  I can tell you that as a recent high school graduate entering college in a few weeks, I most certainly regret NOT having made piano a priority in years past.  When I first started I was eight, and it was just something fun to do.  I've switched teachers a few times becuase they or I have moved or whatever and I'd say I haven't had a good teacher since middle school--the other ones have been really slack.  At the time it didn't bother me because I guess I just had other stuff going on or something.  As a result I'd call myself a mediocre player on a good day.  And now I'm finally to the point where I feel like I really appreciate music as a retreat or an escape but I just don't have the skill.  Musically, I think I've matured a lot, but I'm held back by my lacking technical abilities.  (I wanted to say crippled by my technical ability, but then I felt bad because my mom is currently actually on crutches... she had tendons repaired in her foot.  It would have sounded more dramatic though.)  Anyway, I sometimes find that I can sit down and play a piece that I know and love and just get lost in it, and I do have those moments where I think, "woah--now THIS is music," but there are so few pieces that I can really play that way becuase I'm just not good enough.

But I'll stop sounding mopey. I decided to start taking lessons again in college, and even though I'm studying science, my university has a really good music school, so hopefully I'll be able to work with a good teacher... I'm actually thinking of picking up a minor in music performance, but I looked at the audition requirements and I'm going to need at least two semesters of lessons first.  But now that I've realized how important it is to me I think I'm willing to give it more priority so hopefully when I'm older and have the money to buy a huge, gorgeous piano I will be able to sit down and play whatever I want.

[m1469]

m1469, what a lovely post.

When you write, "When I sit at the instrument, when I let go of all things I feel I have to be or all of the things that the world says that I am, suddenly I find my breath; I find my life," you have caught the essence of what I meant when I said don't "intellectualize" so much at the keyboard.  Take that fullness of your "emptiness" (Buddhist paradox) and approach the Rach Prelude.  You'll find the solution to your problem in that passage.

And as for "regrets," they always arise when the life we find ourselves living conflicts with the life we hoped to live.  We have no power over fate.  It is what it is.  Make lemonade from lemons, yes?

cmg, thanks for writing in.  I have been thinking on your post a bit  , and particularly your last statement has been echoing around in my head.  Sometimes I have a very difficult time with how much vocal stuff I have going on.  It's not that I don't like it, it's just that sometimes I feel like it's a feable attempt to fill a void that I have felt with piano.  A void of doubt and sadness, and the feeling that I have either already missed what I was meant to be, or I will never find who I am as a pianist.  Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy singing and some things that come with it.

The point is, though, that your last statement kind of struck me.  I have taken the last few weeks off of singing and have decided to dedicate this time to my piano studies, since this last year was very active vocally and took over a lot of my time and energy.  I have been realizing more what my deeper desires are with piano, and they are pretty intense.  Often because of this intensity, I feel that I must be a fool to not be choosing one over the other (singing and piano) and instead trying to maintain both in my life.

In doing some reading this evening, it just hit me ... if I knew I could somehow fully free this pianist in me and that I could indulge this need to know what I need to know about it, and if I knew that following that particular path would turn out some form of "fruit" for me (even if I am the only one who ever knew it), I would pick piano over voice any day of the week.

I haven't any idea where that leaves me.  I do know, though, that this same feeling is what finally made me surrender to my piano study once I met my Uni teacher ... I felt like I finally, after years, had the chance that I was deeply needing, to become what I needed to become -- I just don't know if I actually became that.  I suppose I am impatient, and perhaps it takes a lifetime.  I don't know.  I am convinced, though, that there simply must be a discoverable freedom within this lifetime.

Okay.  I haven't any clue if I am even making sense at all ... I need to go to sleepies.  G'night.

[cmg]

I haven't any idea where that leaves me.  I do know, though, that this same feeling is what finally made me surrender to my piano study once I met my Uni teacher ... I felt like I finally, after years, had the chance that I was deeply needing, to become what I needed to become -- I just don't know if I actually became that.  I suppose I am impatient, and perhaps it takes a lifetime.  I don't know.  I am convinced, though, that there simply must be a discoverable freedom within this lifetime.

Okay.  I haven't any clue if I am even making sense at all ... I need to go to sleepies.  G'night.

You make complete sense.  There IS a "discoverable freedom within this lifetime," but you can't approach it until you erase all your preconceived notions about who and what you think you are.  Remember those moments at the keyboard when you let go of all the things that the world says  you are, where you find your breath, your life?  That's the spot and place you approach.  That's your essence.  Keep revisiting that spot enough and the answer comes.  Like practicing, it becomes stronger and clearer with each repetition.   

It does take some time, because you are battling against your conditioning -- those preceonceived notions about who and what you are.  Suspending them while you play the piano or sing, clears them away.  In time, clarity results.  You'll see, finally, who and what you are.  I think that's the freedom you are seeking to discover.

It's doable.  Be patient and disciplined.     

[m1469]

You make complete sense.  There IS a "discoverable freedom within this lifetime," but you can't approach it until you erase all your preconceived notions about who and what you think you are.  Remember those moments at the keyboard when you let go of all the things that the world says  you are, where you find your breath, your life?  That's the spot and place you approach.  That's your essence.  Keep revisiting that spot enough and the answer comes.  Like practicing, it becomes stronger and clearer with each repetition.   

It does take some time, because you are battling against your conditioning -- those preceonceived notions about who and what you are.  Suspending them while you play the piano or sing, clears them away.  In time, clarity results.  You'll see, finally, who and what you are.  I think that's the freedom you are seeking to discover.

It's doable.  Be patient and disciplined.

Yes, okay.  This is a beautiful post and quite helpful.  I will admit, it seems I am feeling a bit confused right now, and, I know from enough experience thus far that anytime I start thinking I want to quit one instrument and concentrate on the other, it is not going to happen.  I don't think it's ever going to happen unless I have some sort of life-altering epiphony ... which, of course, is not out of the question.  I just feel really, really tired and I am not sure which way is up or down or anything ... maybe there is no such thing.

*mentally crawls into bed and pulls the covers up*

[amelialw]

The thing is m1469, anyone will get really stressed out if they are doing too many things at once. I used to take piano and violin lessons, play both the flute and piccolo in my school band and sing in my school choir. I know it really burnt me out and i ended up not doing as well as I could.  My piano teacher was the one who noticed that I was just getting worn out so she adviced me to stop violin lessons, so i stopped. Eventually I had no time at all for the flute so I stopped band as well.
Now I'm not in school anymore so of late i took up the violin again...no big dream anymore to play it fantastically well, just gonna be more content with whatever I achive although I miss playing the flute& piccolo and singing alot.

[m1469]

Well, yes, you are right.  I suppose anybody would get stressed out doing too much.  This is why I don't play the cello though my heart and being really wants to.

I just need to figure out how to be one person who does both, instead of two people whom each do one...

And anyway, it's nothing new for people to be "doing" more than one instrument -- that used to be very normal and anyway most people are encouraged to take up a second instrument even still.  It aides in one's overall musical understanding, even of the specific individual instruments, actually.  The point is, I can't stop either one.  I just can't.  Not yet anyway -- each time I think I have to make an actual choice, I don't actually ... not so far.  Who's making me ?

Anyway, I don't know  .  I think part of what gets in my way is thinking about the modern performance aspect of it all.  If I were pursuing both out of just having my soul need them, and just wanting to be able to express my life this way (which is actually true but very easy to lose sight of) -- it would not need to be stressful.  Also, I think I will teach less than I do now in the coming years, and that will be a help regarding the time factor.

But, why am I saying all of this ?  I don't really know.

[m1469]

.

[m1469]

ha ha... !!  Nope, that's wrong, too  .


*crawls into hole and hides*

[mknueven]

m1469,
Do you compose your own music?

[m1469]

m1469,
Do you compose your own music?

Oh, well, that is a matter of definitions. 

It would depend entirely on how, exactly, you define the following words : 

"Do"
"you"
"compose"
"your"
"own"
"music" 
" "

Why do you ask ?

[pianowolfi]

Oh, well, that is a matter of definitions. 

It would depend entirely on how, exactly, you define the following words : 

"Do"
"you"
"compose"
"your"
"own"
"music" 
" "

Why do you ask ?

" "

[tompilk]

i regret not making it my priority until it is too late...
Tom

[totallyclassics]

m1469 and CMG,

I LOVE your posts!  OMG!!  I cried as i read them!  I have felt those same feelings!  I guess I have been away from the forum a little bit too long!  I forget what wonderful people are on the forum and how much they love music!    I can tell from your posts that you are both serious musicians who have the same feeling I do!   I just keep them in until they drive me into thinking I am crazy for thinking that way!!   

I'm normal!!!!  Or else we are all crazy!!!   I'm glad we have all chosen the best drug ever created!!  MUSIC!!!

We can always trust the music!   Now I know some people on the forum I can trust too!  Music teaches us so much about US, about life, and about our world!!  Who could ever do without music?   I don't know why it took me so long to figure that out! 
Nearly half my life is over......I should have done this a long time ago!   

 

[dinosaurtales]

To answer the original question, yes, I regret making piano a priority.  I sincerely wish I had stopped playing at the age of 18 and gotten a degree in computer science.

NNNNNNNNNN-n-n-n-n-n-no-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-!

thal!  You are one of my heroes!  Don't say that!  I DID get the degree in computer science, and have hated the way I went.  Yes, it's true.  You can get a "good job" with a "decent paycheck"  but the work will be tedious, and the people you work with will be boring (for the most part) -

I have later finally figured out how to take enough breaks from it to get back into music, and am worming my way through, albeit slowly - as a "older person" (51) i am now too old for competitions, so my value to a music school becomes much less, but I am approaching from the accompanying and chamber music side.  and loving it!

It's been a lot of hard work, and it's cost me lots - it contributed to the breakup of my marriage - less income = less value to the husband I guess.  It's provign diffiult to maintain an income while I also go to school, but the hard work is starting to pay off.

m1469!  you come up with the most amazing questions!  i would love to meet you someday!

To answer the question as of NOW - NO - I am finally getting to do what I probably should have done in the first place.  Did it cost a lot?  YES - my husband was not at all supportive (understatemnet).  My mom still doesn't want me to to this (I ignore her now).  My piano teacher thinks I am too old to be "of value" - (I ignore her, too).  There is a small handfull of people I do pay attention to , and I have to remind myself to focus on them, NOT the others, who are really only interested in the security of income and bragging rights.

I coiuled someday look back on all of this and answer YES, so let's sit on it a while, eh?

Mindy

[goldentone]

Last year I placed piano back into my life as a major priority.  And I am very happy
about it.  I do not regret it.  My decision came from a remark/compliment that my grandmother (who bought my piano for me when I was 14) said to me.  What she said was the catalyst.  Funny how a decision like bringing the piano back into your life--the ambition to perform and becoming the musician you yearn to be--could be sparked from one word.

I prefer to play piano at night.  That is my time.  Alone with the piano.  And those times when my ability and soul start to take flight, I experience the intoxicating sovereignty, the freedom, to transform the notes of the printed page into however my vision conceives them.  When we play, we are unfolding our very soul through the music.  And if we perform, are we not offering our very souls?

 

[invictious]

So far, no
But later in March/April/May, I think I will, when I have my DipABRSM exam AND my year exams...
sigh...

[schubertiad]

Not sure yet. I was a full-time chinese student in shanghai, and am putting the next semester on hold to focus on preparations for the entrance exam to the shanghai conservatory. My reasoning is that if i get accepted, not only will my pianoing improve, but my chinese will become fluent too. If i don't get in, then it will have been a 6 month waste of time...

[arbisley]

I suppose what I could regret, if anything ever, would be time I spent living out and reaching forward with the wrong intentions in life.

When I sit at the instrument, when I let go of all the things I feel I have to be or all of the things that the world says that I am, suddenly I find my breath; I find my life.  There are so many things that would like to distract a person from a clear, calm, quiet knowing -- a calm and quiet moment; the kind that allows one to hear and explore what lay beneath the audibles -- the kind of inaudible that only lay within, though echoes throughout.

My intentions ?  Explore, discover, become.

No matter who comes and goes in my life, I will sit at the piano and I will eventually find myself again.  No matter what is happening around me, I will sit at the piano and eventually find a world that somewhere, somehow makes sense to me, in a completely nonsensical way.   Whatever other voices there are screaming to be heard, whatever tragedies are trying hard to be seen -- I will bow my inner self, I will go within and the piano will meet me there.

I will regret living a life with the intentions to live a life without regrets.  My intentions are just to live, just to survive.  And, I want to find myself -- at the instrument, in my own way.  What is there to regret in that ?  Probably a lot, actually.  I will miss out on other things this way.  But, if I go to other things, I will miss out on my piano life -- in the end, I think I will perhaps regret the latter, more -- at least if I just stop growing as a pianist.

I remember my very first public performance.  I didn't know I was supposed to be nervous, and I wasn't.  But then, I stepped onto stage and there were all those people looking at me -- and, there was this ... expectation in the air.  What did I do ?  I quietly turned to the instrument for solace.  Afterall, I knew that world -- that was my home.  I sat down, I moved my hair to the side of my face to curtain my view of the audience, and their view of me, and I played.  That's it.  I just played; it's that simple.  And, I remember their applause.  Yes, I liked it.

My intentions are to find that world.  At all costs ?  No.  But, life will go on all on its own.  I have a choice what to do with my hands, with my mind, with my soul. 

Original question: no, even though I'm at an early stage I'm sure it never will

And here's the reasons why and why I attach it to m1469's post...

Playing the piano has become such an obvious part of life for me, but here it is, PART. I have lived life in a variety of ways even though I am only 17. I have been extremely religious, hard working, and thoughtful, and on the other hand, have criticised everything I believed, have been lazy (although actually most people wouldn't say so!) and in my eyes dissolute, but coming from a very quiet background, I have blossomed out in the multitude of experiences I have had and the understanding I now seem to have of most things.

OK i think this is difficult to understand, let me explain how I refer to m1469. I have felt extremely confused about wanting to pursue one thing only, and then regretting the other things which I wasn't doing. Now I have found that those other things HAVE TO BE DONE in order to play the piano, or simply make music in a general sense. I also play the cello and sing, and I have managed to make those three things overlap so I could learn any to a high level I believe. I have drawn connections about technique and musicality between these different areas and have managed to understand how I could do all of these at the same time. I will now concentrate on the piano for University, but my skill on the other instruments will not be lost.

TO m1469: I think you have to search in what you are doing singing a ling to piano playing. I have found that for me the voice box is equivalent to the hand, and breathing to the body/arm for piano. the voice shapes the sound, produces an infinitely precise sonority which has to be worked on hard to be achieved. The breath accounts for the support of the voice, the attachment to the rest of the body and therefore must come from a flexible working together of the voice with the WHOLE body to produce the most musicality and beauty. In the piano, the hand shapes the greatest part of the sonority, technique, but the arm and body are what contribute to the essential elements of the shape of the music and the representation of what is inside your soul.

This might sound extremely vague and unscientific, but the human brain does not work only by loigic. I use logic for technique, but at the same time, my technique is enhanced by vitality and emotion in the musicality which I can only achieve through having a strong character.

Therefore, as the character comes out through the playing, and character comes from the rest of the life impressions we have, we must try to live life at its full before concentrating on how to represent that in our playing, or at best, life life on an equal level with piano playing and do not make piano such a high priority that our very center of musicality is lost.

Sorry for the ramble, I love talking about what I think, even though I know that for many it is wrong. I apologise for length, as I often also dislike long comments, and for those who do not agree with me, it is just personal opinion....

I have no regrets. Life teaches me to play the piano, and focusing in on it absolutely is only necessary to be an international star, which I know I shall never be or want to be! I want to integrate piano as part of myself and what I am, and can even drop it if I can not live how I want to, although I believe that will never happen, and music will always be there to pick me up.

[a-sharp]

*jumping in before reading all the posts and after a longish hiatus*

When I was a kid, I never made it a priority, LOL ... Now, I do alot - and although I've yet to "regret" it [I don't think I ever would], I do have to fight off feelings of guilt [not doing other things I should be doing, or feeling like I'm neglecting my family/friends etc]. But, in the end, no regrets - If I start to feel guilty - It's also b/c I've practiced a lot and know I can take a break and do that other stuff - it's all good.

[georgethemusicalme]

I am now 15 years old and i already regret making piano a priority. So much in fact that  play the piano instead of eating most of the time - i'm bloody good at it mind you - that's probably the only reason most people make it a priority; because it's one of the few things they're good at! ps. i am good because i play it too much though
i'm truly addicted - your's truly G