Lest You Think I Play the Piano

One of my life's biggest regrets is not learning how to properly play the piano. 

I tried. I took lessons for a minute when I was five. Then when I was 21, I started taking lessons again. I ended up having to quit after about a year to accommodate my job. 

When I was growing up, the organist at our church told me that she learned how to play the piano when she was 27. I always thought that was really cool because it showed that you can learn new things at any phase of life. I kept brushing aside my lack of piano skills, saying I would wait til 27 like Sister Madsen. Then 27 came and went, and I never learned how to really play the piano. 

Despite my lack of piano lessons, in the years between 5 and 21, I still played the piano a lot. Without formal training, I came up with my own methods and developed a lot of bad habits that I couldn't unlearn when I started taking lessons at 21. As a teenager I learned a lot of the easier hymns by playing them the way I heard them. I relied on the written music to help me memorize them, but I couldn't actually read music. I would have to count the lines to figure out which notes I was supposed to play, and then I would practice them over and over until muscle memory allowed me to get through the song. I didn't know proper fingering or timing, and if I messed up, I could never get back on track without starting over. I was able to hack my way through prelude a couple of times for Young Women and seminary, and I tried to accompany from time to time, but I never got to the point where I could play well with people singing other than a couple instances of "Choose the Right." 

Since I regret not learning to play the piano, I'm forcing my kids to take piano lessons. I told them they can quit when I can open the hymn book to a random song, and they can play it. Unfortunately, none of them are very good at piano, so after years of lessons, no one is close to being set free.

At this point in life, I don't know that I want to try and learn to play the piano again, but I'll never say never! I know a woman in her 50's who just started taking lessons a couple of years ago. Perhaps she'll be my new motivator. At least that way I can keep procrastinating for another 13 years. 

Me when I finally learn to play the piano