Perseverance Pays Off - The Piano
This is one of those self-reflection entries that I write from time to time when I suddenly think about my life then and now. This is pretty long.
Actually everyone should go from glory to glory. But today I suddenly have this thought that in the area of perseverance, I am not exactly doing that. In fact, I kind of think that I have more perseverance when I was younger.
I've loved the piano for as long as I can remember. The sounds made by the different keys never fail to facinate me. So I asked my mum to take me for piano lessons when I was in Primary 2. But just barely after 3 lessons, I got so bored of all the theories I've got to learn that I quitted during the 4th lesson. All the different number of counts each 'pattern' of the music score represents gave me headaches. I asked if I could learn only the practical part of piano-playing but was told that it's so silly to just learn to play & not read music scores. Sigh.
But my love for the piano did not cease.Whenever I see a piano, I will get all excited to touch the black & white keys. By the time I reached Secondary School, I had a friend called Ruoshan who knew how to play a few songs on the piano, so I begged her to teach me how to play one song. Everyday whenever we have a chance before school or during recess, I will pester her to teach me the next few notes on the piano inside the school hall. I knew nothing about the different keys on the piano, so I could only memorise the way it's played and how her fingers moved along the keys. Finally after a month or so, she finished teaching me the whole song. I was so happy because I could finally play a full tune on the piano!
So every single morning following that (I was in the afternoon session), I would take a ride in my daddy's car to school after breakfast and practise the one song I knew on the piano. Everyday, I would keep playing the song over and over again for at least 3 hours until school starts. From playing it in uncoordinated slow parts, I progressed to perfecting it. Then I went on to ask Ruoshan to teach me the 2nd song. And it went on like that for 2 full years. Every single morning without fail, you would hear the same melody coming out from the school hall.
Later on, somebody told me where the C key was on the piano and from there I would take the church music book and transpose every single song I knew into C key so that I can learn to play them. I would write down in pencil the transposed notes in the book and then tried playing them and singing along at the same to hear whether they sounded correct. Slowly, I started to recognise that the same few chords would always appear for C-key songs. I later learnt that they're called family chords. You may be wondering why I need to transpose all the songs into C key. That's because C-key songs are the easiest to play as they do not involve the playing of the black keys. Every note is played on the white keys only.
From writing down the transposed notes in pencil, I became so used to it that I could play and transpose in my mind at the same time. But I soon got bored of playing only in C keys that I started to experiment with other keys. Progress was slow because there's no one to ask from and I could only play and hear to see if it sounded correct. For many years, I kept experimenting and playing until I finally can play songs in most of the keys. Minor family chords are still challenging though I can still do it after some practice at home. Otherwise, because I've had much practice playing and listening at the same, I now can hear a tune and play it immediately.
Over the years, when people see me play the piano or the keyboard, they would ask me which grade of piano I had taken exams until. Most of them would be extremely shocked to know that I had taken lessons for less than a month and most of my piano skills were self-taught. I would always smile & say that the Holy Spirit is my teacher.
And I am not joking when I said that. I really do believe that in my heart. Because He knows that there is a day when this skill will come in useful and I would be needed in the kingdom of God. And really, ever since young, I've always hoped that I could go on mission trips and play the keyboard for the worship team.
While it sounds so easy that I managed to learn how to play the piano, I can tell you it's definitely not easy. Had I not persevered when I was young, I am sure there is no way I would have the privilege to play for my good friends' weddings now. But yet, because of the deep passion for piano, those years were not at all difficult. In fact, I think I was in my own world of self-indulgence then, and I was very happy.
So you see, perseverance does pays off. And I wonder why i don't seem to have that kind of perseverance now anymore. Is it because I am getting old and so 'taking the easy way out' is more preferable now? Sad, I think. I want to get back the kind of perseverance I had when I was younger. Although there is nothing in specific that I need to persevere in now, I still think that perseverance is a virtue.
God, increase my perseverance!
This is one of those self-reflection entries that I write from time to time when I suddenly think about my life then and now. This is pretty long.
Actually everyone should go from glory to glory. But today I suddenly have this thought that in the area of perseverance, I am not exactly doing that. In fact, I kind of think that I have more perseverance when I was younger.
I've loved the piano for as long as I can remember. The sounds made by the different keys never fail to facinate me. So I asked my mum to take me for piano lessons when I was in Primary 2. But just barely after 3 lessons, I got so bored of all the theories I've got to learn that I quitted during the 4th lesson. All the different number of counts each 'pattern' of the music score represents gave me headaches. I asked if I could learn only the practical part of piano-playing but was told that it's so silly to just learn to play & not read music scores. Sigh.
But my love for the piano did not cease.Whenever I see a piano, I will get all excited to touch the black & white keys. By the time I reached Secondary School, I had a friend called Ruoshan who knew how to play a few songs on the piano, so I begged her to teach me how to play one song. Everyday whenever we have a chance before school or during recess, I will pester her to teach me the next few notes on the piano inside the school hall. I knew nothing about the different keys on the piano, so I could only memorise the way it's played and how her fingers moved along the keys. Finally after a month or so, she finished teaching me the whole song. I was so happy because I could finally play a full tune on the piano!
So every single morning following that (I was in the afternoon session), I would take a ride in my daddy's car to school after breakfast and practise the one song I knew on the piano. Everyday, I would keep playing the song over and over again for at least 3 hours until school starts. From playing it in uncoordinated slow parts, I progressed to perfecting it. Then I went on to ask Ruoshan to teach me the 2nd song. And it went on like that for 2 full years. Every single morning without fail, you would hear the same melody coming out from the school hall.
Later on, somebody told me where the C key was on the piano and from there I would take the church music book and transpose every single song I knew into C key so that I can learn to play them. I would write down in pencil the transposed notes in the book and then tried playing them and singing along at the same to hear whether they sounded correct. Slowly, I started to recognise that the same few chords would always appear for C-key songs. I later learnt that they're called family chords. You may be wondering why I need to transpose all the songs into C key. That's because C-key songs are the easiest to play as they do not involve the playing of the black keys. Every note is played on the white keys only.
From writing down the transposed notes in pencil, I became so used to it that I could play and transpose in my mind at the same time. But I soon got bored of playing only in C keys that I started to experiment with other keys. Progress was slow because there's no one to ask from and I could only play and hear to see if it sounded correct. For many years, I kept experimenting and playing until I finally can play songs in most of the keys. Minor family chords are still challenging though I can still do it after some practice at home. Otherwise, because I've had much practice playing and listening at the same, I now can hear a tune and play it immediately.
Over the years, when people see me play the piano or the keyboard, they would ask me which grade of piano I had taken exams until. Most of them would be extremely shocked to know that I had taken lessons for less than a month and most of my piano skills were self-taught. I would always smile & say that the Holy Spirit is my teacher.
And I am not joking when I said that. I really do believe that in my heart. Because He knows that there is a day when this skill will come in useful and I would be needed in the kingdom of God. And really, ever since young, I've always hoped that I could go on mission trips and play the keyboard for the worship team.
While it sounds so easy that I managed to learn how to play the piano, I can tell you it's definitely not easy. Had I not persevered when I was young, I am sure there is no way I would have the privilege to play for my good friends' weddings now. But yet, because of the deep passion for piano, those years were not at all difficult. In fact, I think I was in my own world of self-indulgence then, and I was very happy.
So you see, perseverance does pays off. And I wonder why i don't seem to have that kind of perseverance now anymore. Is it because I am getting old and so 'taking the easy way out' is more preferable now? Sad, I think. I want to get back the kind of perseverance I had when I was younger. Although there is nothing in specific that I need to persevere in now, I still think that perseverance is a virtue.
God, increase my perseverance!
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