Today was an incredibly important day for me. 18 years of my life have led up to this point. Can you guess what it is? I sat my Grade 8 piano exam this afternoon. I think I did pretty well, and I have been reflecting on the role of music in my life this past week. Here are some of my thoughts. They also form part of a book review I did.
Music has always played a massive part in my life.
I began playing the piano aged 4, in other words, I have played it for the past 15 years (!!), and it’s been one crazy up/down/up journey since then. I started off in group lessons and quickly moved to private ones, beginning on a keyboard and then onto an upright piano (a Steinway grand is permanently on my wishlist). Although practice is literally the bane of a musician’s life (those horrendous scales), I was increasingly turned off by what I thought of as “stuffy” classical music, mostly because of the pressure to finish piano exams from my parents, worsened by the operatic arias my mum played on the radio (surprisingly, I am a bit of an opera fan now too). But I also lacked understanding, especially for baroque/classical era songs without a narrative, expression or emotion.
Those group lessons were also the start of my love for singing (I still love a good singsong with my friends and my piano). Throughout my schooling years in various choirs, at church, in the shower, while studying, I sang and sang and sang. The most fun I have is in harmonising the melody (I have a soprano voice and an ear for it I can’t really explain). I have a huge appreciation for the Yamaha methods of teaching for this reason.
Then came the opportunity to play a second instrument. I’d wanted to learn something other than piano for a long time, and I decided on the flute, playing it for 5 years in high school until study and other commitments had to take priority (including piano). Though I rarely play anymore (time, time, time), it increased my appreciation for learning the piano because it made learning the flute a million times easier – I could already sight read, I had the aural skills, I had a sense of rhythm and phrasing.
And as I grew older and began to appreciate music for how it sounds to me and not to anyone else (from pop to electronic to big band swing to jazz in all its forms – yes, I have electic, varied tastes), I learned to love playing the piano.
Yes, practice is still a struggle (what can I say, I have a short attention span?). But, music has filled my life with so much meaning because it’s one of the ways in which I express myself, through both lyric, melody, and rhythm. For instance, my sentimentalism is best displayed in my eternal obsession with Chopin and recently Shostakovich. My love for all things vintage is demonstrated by my continual discovery of jazz standards and old ballads from musicals and movies. And don’t get me started on the cello (an instrument I’ve always wanted to learn but never had the chance). I guess I’ve been reflecting on music in my life recently because I finally(!!) completed my grade 8 piano exam, the final one, and I’m so grateful to my parents (and my sister) for affording me the time and support and finances (including two Yamaha pianos). I’ve realised that every tear and second and sweat drop has been worth it, because to get to this level is rare and has given me something beautiful.
So, to all my fellow musicians. Every note and every silence is worth it. And to everyone, because everyone has music in their life. The memories, the feelings, the epiphanies that music gives. That is the power of music.
-nat 🌺💖