I attended the San Jose Jazz Festival on Sat Aug 8. The 20th annual festival took place in Downtown San Jose Fri Aug 7 to Sun Aug 9. It was my first time attending a jazz festival.
The headliner was rock 'n roll hall of famer Allen Toussaint. I watched him played the piano. He was amazing! His piano playing reminded me of playing piano when I was a child. My Mom made my brother, my sister, and I play the piano. I started playing when I was 11 years old. I continued playing throughout high school and most of college. I quit when I was 22 years old.
Many people think I should be good at piano. I played for 11 years. Unfortunately, I'm not good. Why? One reason was my parents. Those who read my blogs (the very few who do, thanks!) know my parents were not the best parents. They start something and never finish. They rarely encouraged us to do our best, little nurturing, and taught us little about life. Their parenting was incomplete. I forgive them because I'm growing up and I'm catching up in life. Relating to my bad piano, my parents didn't encourage me to play the piano and play my best. There was no motivation, no reason why I must play the piano. Actually, my Dad did nothing. It was my Mom who always said, "Go practice your piano." And I did.
The second reason was me. I never liked playing the piano. I played the piano with minimal effort. I just played because I was told to. I didn't have fun playing. I hated practicing my piano and going to class once a week. It was terrible. I rather played video games. Could my parents convince me, teach me life by practicing the piano? Could my parents promote the fun playing the piano? Whatever the answers were doesn't matter today.
Allen Toussaint was amazing because he practiced, he was motivated, he had the desire to be a great singer, composer, producer, and writer. Beethoven was great because he practiced eight hours a day. It's a no brainier. To be great, you must work hard and practice. I didn't practice my piano hard. I could have learned a valuable lesson playing the piano. I failed to learn when I was younger. Today, I realize the lesson playing piano. Hard work, practice, dedication, learning from your mistakes, and practice are keys to success, keys to be great. And when you're good, then get better and better. Never stop innovating. Innovate infinitely.
I'm growing up Finding Raymond Mar
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