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Music is instrumental in opening doors
An early aversion to piano recitals leads to appreciation of musical education
By Moryt Milo
The moment of truth arrives. My name is called. I walk toward the piano. My palms are sweaty. My stomach is in knots. I'm committed--it's time to play the piece I've worked on for weeks.
As a kid, I hated piano recitals. I was never comfortable showing off my musical know-how in front of strangers. But alone in the comfort of my home, that was different. My philosophy about recitals was simple. Since my parents heard me practicing all the time, what was the need to formalize the experience? Especially since I never enjoyed doing it.
Today there is a flood of information coming out that claims children who study a musical instrument perform better in school and have stronger math skills. Well, I played piano all my life and I don't think it did a darn thing to improve my math aptitude. On the other hand, I do think the experience of learning to play an instrument did add to who I am. And I believe learning how to read music is akin to opening a door into another world. So it was for those reasons that I was motivated to find a music instructor for my 6-year-old daughter when she kept asking to play guitar.
I didn't think she was self-disciplined enough to practice every day. I didn't think I could find a "real" guitar small enough for her to hold. But my daughter's constant requests led to serious research. I found a half-size guitar, which turned out to be the easy part. Finding an instructor who was willing to teach a 6-year-old required more work. Yet, as I have come to discover, every time I start searching for something it often turns up right around the corner.
At the intersection of Foxworthy and Union, which borders Campbell, in a small nondescript shopping center sits Music Village. In that store, which was half its current size when we started going there, are numerous studios where various music teachers instruct students in guitar, piano, saxophone, clarinet, vocals and more. The store has a large offering of instruments to buy or rent along with music books, sheet music and other music-related items. From the outside you would never know there was so much inside. It was here we found my daughter's music instructor.
Her teacher was very patient and amiable. He didn't push her but gently helped her along. After all, at age 6, my petite daughter was barely as tall as the guitar she held in her lap. When she carried her guitar case into the store it usually triggered a double-take and then a warm-hearted chuckle from the adult crowd.
As her skills improved, I had visions of the next Sheryl Crow or Bonnie Raitt. But more importantly I saw her learning another form of language. She was discovering the meaning of those funny black dots resting on a sheet of five black lines. She was learning how to decipher patterns and what sound they created. It was a skill she could transfer to any other instrument and to other areas in life.
And that, I believe, is the true value of learning music: developing an ability to understand and interpret new things; the joy of discovering how it all fits together; and the pure pleasure in hearing how it sounds. And I don't believe you have to learn an instrument to benefit from music. Learning is a bonus. Just listening to music can calm or excite. It can bring back memories or create new ones. It is something in this world we can all share equally.
After several years of guitar instruction, my daughter started begging for piano lessons. I hesitated, because she was already learning one instrument; I didn't know how she would have time to practice two. But soon she was taking guitar and piano from different teachers at Music Village. Her initial exposure to guitar made the transfer to piano very smooth. And she wanted to practice because her piano teacher made it fun. I kept wondering where the scales and theory were. But he told me that the traditional way just turned young students off. It took me a while to get used to this different approach. But I don't ever remember wanting to practice unless my mother told me to. I figured this fellow must be doing something right.
Now my son wants to take up piano. I will be curious to see if he enjoys it as much as my daughter does. I just know the experience is a good one--especially if no one is required to go to any piano recitals.
Moryt Milo, a resident of Campbell since 1990, is a frequent contributor to the Campbell Reporter.
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Campbell, California
