A Piano Adds Sophistication to More than Just a Room

By:  Richard Chronister

From:  Keyboard Companion, Summer 1996

For me, what is important about this message (A Piano Adds Sophistication to More than Just a Room) is its emphasis on the fact that music is important for its own sake, not for all those fringe benefits we hear too much about.  Of course, the message here refers to the importance of a musical instrument.  But even the piano manufacturers who support the National Piano Foundation would agree that it is the music that is produced on these instruments that really adds sophistication to a room.  That it is the sound of the music that changes everyone who hears it and is touched by it.  That it is the musician who is making the music that bestows beauty to the eye and the soul.  And, finally, that what is important to us is our love for those things in life, like music, that enrich the human experience and have the ability to take our thoughts to a higher realm. 

I have to say something about those kids hovered over the piano.  It is absolutely the truth that when a child sits down at a piano in a public place and starts to play, a crown will appear.  Other children stand amazed that someone can really play that thing – and look like they enjoy it.  And some adult always says, “Oh, how I wish I had stayed with it long enough to do that.”  Of course, it’s also true that someone will finally say, “I wish he would stop” (another argument for digital keyboards with earphones), but the initial reaction to someone who can really play the piano is always positive.

The big question is – will the child who is playing enroll for more piano lessons next fall, and will the children standing around the piano want to learn how to play when summer is over and mother asks the fateful question?  Well, that probably depends more on us than anyone else.  What will your students say about piano lessons during their summer hiatus?  Will they be talking about how much fun you are?  About how they love their lessons?  About how much they are learning?  About how they can’t wait to get back to lessons?  One way to find out is to ask the parents of your students if their children can’t resist sitting down at any piano they see and won’t get up until someone says stop.  Piano lessons are not about learning to play the piano.  Piano lessons are about playing the piano.  Somehow we have to accomplish a miracle – we have to emphasize the enjoyment of making music over the hard work of learning the language and technique of music.  You can do it, can’t you?