from mindful-piano-practice
In this pre-holiday weekend morning, watching the snow fluttering outside and enveloped by the warmth of home and the comfort of music, my heart is flooded with gratitude.
It’s a joy to listen to CC playing piano while singing the tunes these days, a new skill coached by her resourceful and responsive teacher Ms. K. Take the other night for example, at 10:00pm, beyond her bedtime, she was still wide awake. Pressing down the damper pedal, she proceeded to play and sing softly. I recognized some of the tunes I used to sing: memory, elderwise, bridge over the troubled water… CC played and sang unaffectedly for her own joy. What better gift could one think of?
It’s
refreshing to witness KK taking her soccer fighting spirit to her piano arena.
The other day, while struggling with a stubborn rhythm problem, and offered the
option to switch to a different piece, she stubbornly said, “No!”.
A couple of weeks later, the problem dissipated. More than that, on her own initiation, she asked Ms.K to teach her a challenging piece, and is doggedly sinking her teeth to one bar at a time. I’m in awe of her drive.
It’s the holiday season. It’s the gift giving season. I can’t help but think music must be one of the best gifts.
It’s the most environmentally sustainable gift one can give oneself, one generation can give the next, and the next next… It’s one thing we can create without worrying it will be finite one day or clutter the earth beyond recognition. It simply doesn’t occupy any material space.
It’s a most vital gift to the young and the old. The joy it awakes and sustains as well as the challenges it offers as long as you have appetite for makes it a gift that never ends. Indeed, it forges brain plasticity in the young and the elderly. It’s so true when someone said, “you never feel lonely when you play music”.
Holiday season is also a wish making season. I found myself wishing: May the love of music be good enough for its own sake. May it be unspoiled by the competitiveness mentality. Love is not a contest. Learning is a lifelong joy on its own.
Support the performing arts this holiday season! You can help ensure that the highest quality music education and community programming is available well into the future. Wharton Music Center, New Jersey Youth Symphony and Paterson Music Project are partnered with AmazonSmile, a simple and convenient way for you to support Wharton every time you shop on Amazon.com. When you do your holiday shopping through smile.amazon.com, Amazon will donate 0.05% of the value of your eligible purchase to Wharton at no additional cost to you.
A couple of weeks later, the problem dissipated. More than that, on her own initiation, she asked Ms.K to teach her a challenging piece, and is doggedly sinking her teeth to one bar at a time. I’m in awe of her drive.
It’s the holiday season. It’s the gift giving season. I can’t help but think music must be one of the best gifts.
It’s the most environmentally sustainable gift one can give oneself, one generation can give the next, and the next next… It’s one thing we can create without worrying it will be finite one day or clutter the earth beyond recognition. It simply doesn’t occupy any material space.
It’s a most vital gift to the young and the old. The joy it awakes and sustains as well as the challenges it offers as long as you have appetite for makes it a gift that never ends. Indeed, it forges brain plasticity in the young and the elderly. It’s so true when someone said, “you never feel lonely when you play music”.
Holiday season is also a wish making season. I found myself wishing: May the love of music be good enough for its own sake. May it be unspoiled by the competitiveness mentality. Love is not a contest. Learning is a lifelong joy on its own.
Support the performing arts this holiday season! You can help ensure that the highest quality music education and community programming is available well into the future. Wharton Music Center, New Jersey Youth Symphony and Paterson Music Project are partnered with AmazonSmile, a simple and convenient way for you to support Wharton every time you shop on Amazon.com. When you do your holiday shopping through smile.amazon.com, Amazon will donate 0.05% of the value of your eligible purchase to Wharton at no additional cost to you.
