Why Do YOU Play the Piano?

[richardwalter]

hello,
        Please see this thread, and share with us why you like to play the piano...I know it has to do with the digital age (electronic keyboard) and a pain/expense to move a piano, but now kids play video games, sports or do homework; music seems to be declining in households...... It's sad.

I don't know, I think music can be a lifetime of enjoyment (playing, singing, or listening) where other activities come and go with age.
    You can only play soccer for so long.......so here you tell your opinion about piano

  thanks,

[jockey]

 
I have always been interested in classical music and playing the piano but I never had time or opportunity to learn until I became `retired` and had a lot of hours to spend focusing on what would be most meaningful to me, and helpful to engage my interest in an activity that I would hopefully find very rewarding, if I was prepared to put in the effort to learn.

There is so much help online, and videos to access, in order to continue to develop and support people who enjoy listening to music and/or playing the piano. I continue to learn because there is so much to achieve, and benefit from, such as improved concentration, memory, learning to problem- solve each time I work on a new music score, confidence building and a real sense of achievement that I would not experience from other activities.
I have had a lot of set-backs lately, but as soon as I am able I am straight back  to my music books and I just continue on where I have left off. I do not have a lot of expectation, but I am always willing to learn and try something new. I don`t attempt music that is obviously way beyond my ability at the time to manage, but I have so far done better than I would ever have expected from myself, since I don`t have a piano teacher and I don`t expect to have one in the near future, at least.

[j_tour]

I have a very hard time answering this, because there are two reasons that are sort of the same:

basically, I saw my uncle playing stride and ragtime blues piano at a young age, and thought, "I'd like to do that," and later, in my later aughts, heard serious legit music on record and thought it sounded butch.

and I also, about middle school/junior-high (US system) discovered girls liked all that so I worked even better at it. 

Yeah, so girls (or, you know, substitute for your own tastes), and because it seemed like an awesome skill to have.

FWIW, I'm mediocre at both girls and skills, but I understand them very well.

[visitor]

Habit.

[ted]

A compulsion to map my psyche, consciousness, long body, soul, or whatever you like to call it, onto abstract sound through improvisation and, in past years, composition. I suppose that is all art is really, if I didn't do it through piano music I would use some other medium. I do play a small number of other people's pieces, but they are just exercises and means to the end of the deeper thing. What other people, posterity, think of my music does not concern me, and if I die first my family can toss it all in the jumbo bin when they clear out the house.

[dontcheeseme]

I play for the satisfaction that I get from polishing and perfecting things, and also because at work I have nothing better to do than playing piano in my head, which feels like going to the gym, except it's more pleasurable (in so many ways). Also at a young age, I began to be extremely interested at the cassette tapes that my grandmother had, which varied from God-worship and choral sort of music to classical, which moved me to become attracted to musical instruments, including the old broken-down piano that we had. Then as I grew up I was exposed to the fancier-sounding pieces of music including Chopin's etudes and Scriabin Etude op 8 no 12, which really moved me, and thought to myself wouldn't it be great to introduce more people to this kind of music by either showing them my music list in my mp3 player or even better, play them to the best of my ability in front of them. Someday:D. I do get a lot of satisfaction from playing pieces my level, but they are only stepping stones for me to be able to play the much more challenging ones as I constantly remind myself. I wish everyone the best of luck with their piano journey!

[beethovenfan01]

I play because nothing makes me happier than making music. I love to tell stories--either with words or music, and the piano is a great tool and outlet for my strong emotions. Also, listening too, learning, and performing great music--especially of the classical kind--really appeals to both the emotional and intellectual sides of my brain.

My favorite songs are Beethoven's Appassionata, Chopin's Ballade No. 1, and Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini, but they are right at the top of an ever-lengthening list of music I love.

[zolaxi]

I play the piano because I like playing the piano. Sure, I like classical music and the piano repertoire, but I just like the whole process.

Right from when I was a little boy I was drawn to the keyboard, touching it and making sounds on the piano keyboard. I started learning around 7 yrs old, and have never stopped playing. I am now a retired 66 year old, and playing more than ever.

My late mother told me the story of how when as a 4 or 5 year old, I went to see Father Xmas and asked him for a grand piano and a baby sister. At least I have a grand piano.

[keypeg]

This may be trite, but .... "because it's there".  More precisely, among my various instruments, the piano is the only one that allows me to play harmonies plus melody or all the voices in contrapuntal music, etc.  You can get the whole of music.  I also like piano for its own sake, and learning to play it well is a lifetime study, when there isn't exactly a lifetime left anymore.

[lostinidlewonder]

It feeds me and pays my bills. Not very romantic but that's a hard fact, it serves me very well and I am happy I can make a living doing something I love.

Music expresses what we cannot in words and I have a lot of emotions that are wonderfully expressed through the music medium. I can resurrect the dead and move mountains, have a spiritual communion with my creator, an imaginary conversation with a composer long gone, I can feel the emotions encoded within the notes and to me that is precious.

[mjames]

because it is the most GLORIOUS out of all instruments
in fact, it is the KING OF ALL instruments
I mean

DUH!!!!!!!!!!

How am I the first in saying this? You should all be ashamed of yourselves.

[pianoplunker]

hello,
        Please see this thread, and share with us why you like to play the piano...I know it has to do with the digital age (electronic keyboard) and a pain/expense to move a piano, but now kids play video games, sports or do homework; music seems to be declining in households...... It's sad.
  thanks,

This kid has been playing video games since Pong, and Tanks - pre Lunar Landing. But whenever I I want to know why I play piano, I stand in front of the mirror and ask, but all that dude does is talk back. Maybe because I didnt like homework (?)

[pianoamatuer]

I play the piano for a variety of reasons, both good and, well bad.
These are ranked, but not too accurately.
1. The piano is a wonderful instrument. It can share moods, feelings with other people and it is adaptable to many types of music. ( Piano is used in classical, baroque, jazz, etc. ) Correct me if I'm wrong. The sound of a key from a piano is useless, but if you put together the right notes, you can do some serious wonders. I still ponder how sounds give us feelings, but that is out of the scope for this post.
2. I really like music. Especially classical. And boy, isn't piano the perfect suitable instrument for that practical disposition!
3. I wish to compose music, even a little. No matter if it stinks at first, that's how we all begin, don't we? Piano and music theory, I suppose would go great together.
4. Being called a pianist, you can get a little pride, some joy in having such a honorable title. Even as a amateur.. I'm.. getting there.
5. Being a middle-aged teen in his adolescence stage or whatever 'ya call it - puberty?- I think I can catch some girls off their feet with the piano. I can pull off a really mean C Major Chord. [who am I kidding?  ]