A student recently emailed me saying that she was through with piano playing. She was very upset because the desire to play piano had disappeared.My sage advice? It happens to everone!
Look, if we were meant to have the muse on 24/7 we would burn out faster than an accountant on espresso.
There's something about the creative spark that does not like to be pressured. Sure, you can show up at the piano and try and enter in to the music, but if your spirit is not in it, chances are you're not going to want to play.
As frustrating as these "dry spells" can be, they are necessary for further creative growth. Patience is key here but many creative types (myself included) are not patient people. As I said before, forcing rarely works and will leave you even more frustrated. The only real solution to this is to see that we are more than who we are when we sit down to play the piano.
If we identify only with our creative self, we set ourselves up for frustration. It's also good to know that 99.9 times out of 100, creativity returns and we can relax and entertain the muse once more.
Edward Weiss is a pianist/composer and webmaster of Quiescence Music's online piano lessons. He has been helping students learn how to play piano in the New Age style for over 14 years and works with students in private, in groups, and now over the internet. Visit http://www.quiescencemusic.com now and get a FREE piano lesson!
I love these newsletters. Your information is so practical and down to earth and seem to come just at the right time. Your messages keep me engaged with music. Thanks very much.
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