Challenges

Before you go any further, go down to the bottom of this post and play the music video while you are reading this. Skip ahead to 4:30.  

     Not too long ago, I got an email from one of my piano students telling me they were stopping lessons.  It caught me by surprise and left me feeling a bit deflated.  Whenever I start with a new student, I always have the hope that they will stick with it long enough to really learn it - rather than just playing for a few years and then quitting. I suppose there is some value in being exposed to piano, but to me quitting after a few years feels like leaving things unfinished.  And what is the point of filling time with unfinished experiences?  Years from now, what will a few years of karate or music lessons or surf camp be worth?  Nothing but cheap memories that have faded into the distant past. Don't people realize that things that are unused are basically worthless?  I had such great hope for this student too.  He was young, smart, and (I thought) dedicated.  In other words, all the qualities you would hope for in a student.  
      The reality of teaching piano is that almost everyone quits after two or three years.  There's a mental wall at that point where things get really difficult.  Progress seems almost non-existent and learning doesn't have that same fun "newness" to it.  When confronted with the reality that it takes a lot of work and discipline to keep moving forward, most people quit.  They don't want to do something that isn't fun and they can't see the value in it long term.  I get so frustrated when I see people give up once things become difficult.  To me, I believe that you are what you do.  And, ultimately if you quit when things are difficult, that becomes who you are.  Over time you become a person whose life is filled with unrequited hopes and dreams.
     I suppose the reason following through is so important to me has to do with the fact that I hated the piano when I started.  My mom forced me to take lessons for most of my childhood.  After eight years when she finally said I could quit, I realized I had come to love it.  When I look back, I think about what I would have missed if my mom had not forced me to keep going for all those years.  As I've gotten older, I find myself applying the same lesson I learned in piano to other aspects of my life.  That means being being steady in my marriage through the ups and downs.  It also means being steadfast in my pursuit of cycling - it's been fifteen years now of dedication to the sport.  As a parent and as a coach it means staying true to my beliefs and holding myself and those in my tutelage to the highest standards.  All of those things are meaningful and important parts of my life.  The more I continue to follow through on them, the more they mean to me.  
     As I reflect back on the many students I've taught over the years, the one who stands out is a soft spoken boy who I started working with years ago.  When we first started, there was nothing particularly special about him.  In fact, he was a fairly mediocre student.  He barely practiced and he was undisciplined and unmotivated.  But, month after month he stayed at it.  As the years went by he continued advancing and steadily began surpassing many of the more "talented" students who gave up when things became difficult.  He worked harder and harder as he kept moving forward and his focus improved.  Most importantly, he didn't quit.  Whenever I hear him play now, I think about how far he has come and what he might have missed had he quit when things became challenging.  And, in turn, he has become my inspiration and my reminder of what can be accomplished when you push through the challenges, follow through, and always keep moving forward.

Here's a performance of my student at his school.  I am always surprised by how good this is when I hear it.  What is particularly impressive is he transcribed most of the music by ear from various soundtracks and played it all from memory.  Can you tell how proud I am?  :)