The Piano

I remember my brother, cousin, and I played band when we were children. We pretended to sing Disney songs. I played the piano on a table. My cousin was lead singer. I forgot what instrument my brother played. My mom enrolled my brother and I to private piano lessons years later. My sister learned the piano years later.

I hated learning the piano. The easy answers were I didn't have patience, I lived a childhood life of too much fun, and I didn't have interest. The deeper reason why I hated learning the piano was frustration. Frustration? I realized frustration today as an adult. How was I frustrated? I experienced trouble with timing. I experienced difficultly counting the beats. I experienced problems hearing the rhythms. Maybe my partial tone deafness started when I was in middle school.

I experienced the same frustrations when I enrolled in a singing class at De Anza College Winter 2010. I remember the final exam the instructor asked two experienced students to stand on my left and on my right to sing my final song. I could hear myself sing. I could hear my tone clearer.

I wonder what if somebody called out my tone hearing problems when I was young. The two piano teachers knew their piano. They should be trained in observing hearing difficulties. Piano playing involves hearing. It seemed either they didn't care since I'm learning piano casually or they needed the money. Maybe I used the time instead of learning piano I learned something else. Maybe I experienced less childhood frustrations. Unfortunately, I can't change the past. Unfortunately, my tone hearing problems were self-discovered decades later.

I wonder how Beethoven mastered the piano. Beethoven was deaf.

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