Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Torn between piano and self-development

"Balance" is the key. If you can play the piano for 20 minutes a day you can maintain your skills. 20 minutes will not cut into other areas to much. Don't quit but you might have to reduce the time or even the number of days per week you play.

When I was in school and for years after I did not own a TV set. Most people can't imagine the amount of free time not owning a TV gives you. Now I have a room in the house for the TV with doors that shut off the noise to the rest of the house. I almost never go in that room, Well OK I do watch a movie every couple weeks.

Many, No, I think all community colleges will accept younger students if their "normal" school will agree. These is used for many purposes for example a student who wants to study Japanese when their high school only offers spanish or if a student was finished all the high school mach classes. Or for music.

She can likely get into a community college music program of some kind. Our local college has programs for kids of all ages and many can get int the normal classes too. You whould have to provide transportation. Many times tuition is free for those not graduated from high school but even if not the cost is low.

Getting into any music program will give here access to profesional instruction at a high level for pocket change.

She may be able to get into either preformance clases or theory or both. They will require permission from the normal school to see if she can handle the additional course load.

Thanks Chris. I will float the idea. I know a community college about half an hour from our town, just not sure about their music program. Transportation and fees, no matter how minimal, are pretty much out of the question. But knowing this kid, I’m positive she will explore the ideas/options.

One correction, she’s actually in Senior High now, not Junior. We met today after church and I made a point to ask “how have you been doing?” Her eyes light up. She told me she has been offered a 4 year, full tuition scholarship to one of the Universities in town. She’s still waiting for another school that she applied, her preferred choice, to answer. I asked, “are you going to bring your Digital Piano with you to Campus?” She smiles, “no, they have much better Grands around the colleges.” I guessed she has done some research on some of these schools already.

Why am I talking about other kids here, right? I guess it’s inspiring and I’d just like to share.

Learning an instrument is self development.

If you choose the other activities over piano be sure they're things that are important to you and not just things to list on the resume you mentioned.

Skan, I have replied earlier but I forgot to mention that I also went to engineering school. Love it and even get a double major in engineering (computer and electrical).

Twenty five years after engineering school, music is pulling me so I got back to piano last year, but I wish I did 20 minutes every day for the past 25 years.

Skan, I understand how you feel. I'm 23 and after 4 years of college, studying as an art major I am doing a complete 180 and starting anew as a business major. So believe me when I say I understand your feeling that playing the piano is just "fooling around" in lieu of more productive activities.

What you have to ask yourself is "what is piano to me?"
You see, I have had a piano in my household for the last 10 years, and I can't recall ever having even pressed a key during that time. Once the new year started however, I decided to give it a try and I immediately regretted those 10 years of just looking at that piano and never caring to learn it.
Since January 2, A day hasn't gone by where I haven't sat down at the piano for at least 2 hours trying to learn all that I could. Basically, I found piano to be a passion for me, I have an interest in it that I haven't had in anything else in years.

Now, I will be starting school again in just 1 short month, and I know that I will be focusing and studying harder than I have in a long time, but I also know that I WILL have time for piano and that is because that is how important it is to me.

If playing was just something that "I was doing" to just have as a general skill or to be able to say, "I play piano," then I'm certain that I would let it go in time because there is no real desire to continue.

Ultimately, how much you enjoy piano and want to play is going to determine whether you continue or not. No matter how busy a person is, he can and will make time for something he truly wants to do.

Decide carefully though, life goes by quickly, don't let yourself get to 30 and think about where you could have been had you continued playing.

J-Curl, you rock. Being in it, going through it, have a much better perspective and louder voice than any of us grown-ups giving perceived advices.

thanks, I just figured I could relate. I went through the exact same thing skan went through just with different activities (some of which I did leave by the wayside unfortunately).

Well-said! Those years are really, absolutely, eternally GONE

This is what I've decided to do this far, based on all the wonderful replies I've recieved:

* Completely stop all time wasting hobbies (like checking facebook and such, never had a TV to begin with) to get more time for other things
* Get up an hour earlier and play then
* Find some fun pieces to play, rather than just focusing on challenging ones
* Put school as my main priority thus completely denying me to play piano when I have some energy but chemistry is too hard.

Someone asked me previously what my reason to play the piano is. Quite simply, I started out because the piano was hard and I wanted something difficult to do. As I progressed though, I came to realisations about piano playing (and music in general) which made me appreciate the beauty of it.


I actually changed the title, but accidently made a screw-up which posted the thread anyway. Claiming that the piano gives no self-development is a straight out lie.

That's a good decision. I'm sure that down the road you will be glad that you continued.

I would suggest that you not eliminate all of your "time wasting activities." You'll wear yourself out if you don't keep at least 1 mindless activity in your day (sleep doesn't count)

I mean, as youths we gotta enjoy what we can while we can.
All work and no play makes jack stir crazy.

Nguyen, the main difference between Skan and myself - the age that we quit. I was a dumb 6th-grader, but Skan is a grown-up college student. My parents never "talked me out of quitting" (ie I had no encouragement whatsoever). The only person who protested my quitting was my old-lady teacher Mrs. Hesse.

Nguyen, it's hard to describe, but somehow I always knew that I could pick it up again easily knowing that I took it up in childhood.

In Skan's case, he seems to be the type who's going through the Alfred beginner books, and probably doesn't have time to "sit down and learn something", in between differential equations,quantum physics, and beer bongs...

I hope we "parents" of the piano forum can talk Skan out of it.

Skan, if you're reading this, piano makes you smarter and is part of self-development. Lots of studies back this up. Also, like others said, if you quit now and take it up again at age 30, you will have lost an entire decade.

Life is short -- do what you love.

Also make sure they're things you really want to do and not things you feel you should doing because of social pressure or expectations. Society is an human invention, it isn't worth anyone time. I think a life spent doing our best to become the most socially acceptable by earning merits, becoming popular, getting skilfull in social rituals is a wasted existence.