Addiction

[outin]

I realized yesterday that I have developed a very serious addiction. I really need help!

This cannot be healthy...I come from work thinking "Ok, I just play a little bit before eating." Before I have even noticed it's been 2 hours. After finally grabbing some food I decide to watch TV. After a while my mind wanders again and I decide to "Try just a little bit if I could get that one section a bit smoother." Again it's been 2 hours and soon time to go to bed. But of course as usual I'm not sleepy so I just "Get up a little bit and play the piece once to get it out of my head for the night." So in the end I end up sleeping 4 hours, which definitely is not enough. At work my hands are itching to get back to the keyboard and my mind wanders when I should be working on some important stuff. In meetings I find myself drifting off to mental piano playing when I get bored.

I used to be a normal couch potato before and I have lost 8 kilos since I got hooked

The pianos should come with a warning! The silent piano is even more dangerous since there’s no natural limitation from neighbors to when and how much you can play. And now it’s not only about getting my fix on this one, I’m already on the road to heavier stuff (planning to buy a small grand).

I spend far too much in iTunes buying recordings of obscure works by pianist-composers whom are unknown to any normal people. And when I like the music I have to have the sheet music at once. My pile of “one day I’m going to be able to play this” –scores is getting huge…

Are there any PPA (piano players anonymous) groups out there? Or should I just go straight to rehab??

[jimbo320]

Outin,
I'm also addicted to expressing myself musically. I look at it this way. There's a lot worse things to be drawn to so we should probably, as my mom used to say, count our blessings...

[freejazzlessonsdotcom]

Outin,
I'm also addicted to expressing myself musically. I look at it this way. There's a lot worse things to be drawn to so we should probably, as my mom used to say, count our blessings...

This is far from a negative thing.  Love for the piano and the search for meaning through music is why I get up everyday.  Enjoy this!

[ted]

I agree with the previous posters. "Addiction" implies something compulsive to the point of ignoring your life and health, against your better nature, probably for the sake of transient effect, and is always negative and destructive. What you have, along with me and dozens of others, is a conscious passion for music and piano playing. It is not an addiction but a constructive drive which makes you happier in a permanent and deep way; quite the reverse of an addiction. How you fit it into the rest of your life is your business, merely requiring common sense and normal respect for other people; but this should be pretty easy to accomplish.

[jimbo320]

Ooo Ted,
I like your analogy. It is a passion which drives us. The name of one of the bands I play with says it well. 'Artistic Self Expression'...

[outin]

Thanks everyone! I was not completely serious, I will survive
It just amazes me how it happened. Especially strange is that I enjoy practicing so much...it was not like this when I was young.