Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner So good it's depressing....

GET. IN. GEAR. AND. GO. PRACTICE!!!!!!!!

You should be glad that you can learn from such a master! One day you'll be as good as he is, if you practice hard!

Thanks!

You guys are sooo sweet! Feeling a little better today... I think I just had the "birthday blues"....I am going to be 21 tommorow, and I feel like I have already missed all the good opportunities to make something of myself. ( it seems like all the good pianists are known by the age of 12!).

Being a music major is hard sometimes....there are so many unrealistic expectations put on you, and it can be very frustrating when you dont meet all of them!

Anyways, I am just going to keep working as hard as I can, and I have 2 lessons tommorow and on Wednesday, so hopefully I will have good lessons and will be inspired by my teacher!

Actually....he can hear ANY symphony, concerto, etc, played on a stereo or live, and then sit down and play an exact reduction or exactly that piece, in the right key, on the piano, by memory. now THAT is what I call freakish! He has done it before, and every time all of us in the class either :a). start crying; b) claim we are giving up for good, or c) go and practice for hours and hours on end.

P.s....you all rock! I knew there was a reason why I loved this board sooo much...

PianoMuse,

The best cure for depression is not feeling depressed. That comes from forgetting about the reason why you were depressed in the first place. Just go practice, that is most likely how them "maestros" became that good.

I don't think it wise to become overly concerned about unusual abilities of other people per se. I cannot run a four minute mile; I cannot jump seven feet into the air; I cannot multiply large numbers together in my head; I cannot even remember what I had for tea last Tuesday evening.

These striking deficiencies, strangely enough, have not prevented me from enjoying sport, understanding a lot of higher maths, eating my dinner with satisfaction and ... most importantly on this forum, playing and creating piano music which says exactly what I want it to say.

Start thinking about what you CAN do, not about what you can't.

piano muse,
i am concerned about how you seem to have internalized all these unrealistic and demanding expectations. something you'll learn as you get older--perfectionism is a very self-destructive habit.

remember the reason you play the piano--because you love music. don't be like i was when i was just a little younger than you. i gave up being a painter because i was taught that unless i was a prodigy like picasso it was useless.

that is NOT true. don't waste any time or energy believing that your opportunities are lost. there are other paths to greatness than the ones you are describing.

and, life only gets better. trust me.

Pique...
I sometimes worry, too. I have 3 piano teachers...all three push me ungodly hard, make me do soooo much work, and two of the three basically just treat me like I am a tool to get their name out ( not my teacher that I explained above, though..he is better than that.)
My question is, how do I realize which expectations are unrealistic, and which ones are doable? I don't want to kill myself trying to do things that I can't, but I want to challenge myself and please my professors...

This was very nicely said and it is so true.

PianoMuse, if two of your teachers are using you as a tool to get their names out, obviously they realize you have great potential. They certainly will not get any publicity from a big old nothing student! So, you go girl.

No others tend to spur me on to work harder. I learned a long time ago never to compare myself to anyone else or allow anyone to compare me to other. But one of the reasons I have always studied and practised music- be it piano, guitar, dobro or even fiddle- is that unlike playing golf, practice does make me play better.