When I was young, I used to play the flute for a few years. I never liked it and it was only for extracurricular activities. I never thought that one day, I would start playing the piano. Actually, I was never into music in the first place because I didn’t listen to any music at all. Now, if I trace back, piano was always around me. During my music class, we used to sing together while my teacher was playing the piano. I never got into it when I was in Beijing at school but I thought that it was magical and fascinating.
In early 2013, I went to Singapore and I was 14, free and lonely. I started doing lots of things because I was so free. Watching anime was one of them. Sometimes, the opening and ending song was just amazing. I downloaded them and listen sometimes. That’s when I started listening to music. I couldn’t understand the song but I liked the rhythm. Yeah, I didn’t need to understand to enjoy it. This is the power of music. I started listening to my favourites songs while doing my homework but then, I realised that it was a bit annoying, lol. By chance, I found out some “light” music, mainly piano. I liked the sound of piano and I could listen to it while focusing on my homework.
I was always listening to music but I never thought about playing something myself. One day, the idea was born inside me, I wanted more than listening. I wanted to perform it myself. Thus, I had yet another dream. I never remember when this happened but the first appearance of piano in my diary was in July 2014 and then, September 2015.
Nothing really changed until that fateful day in Kyoto in early 2018. Days in Kyoto was one of the best and happiest time in my life. It was a short language program and we were all university students. Inside the dormitory, there was a room and inside that room, there was a piano. That piano was where everything started. One of my friends was playing it. That’s why I got very interested because it was my dream to play the piano. He was very good at it but there were people even better than him. I ended up playing as well and 5 people were behind me and watching. They were all very skilled and it was very intense. However, thanks to them, I got a solid foundation and finally, I decided to buy a piano.
Once I came back to Sydney, I started looking for a piano for beginners. I ended up buying a YAMAHA E-piano for 888AUD with shipping. I remember this because the number is so memorable. On 6 March 2018, my piano finally arrived. My piano dream started.
It has been 3 years since I got my piano and I am still very beginner. For a whole year, I didn’t even touch my piano but I never gave up the dream. I simply want to play pieces I like. For me, they are mainly from games and animes. I am getting a lot better recently because I was thinking about how it works and I practised quite a lot. Then, I started to question about what determines a great performance. Is it just pressing the right key at the right time? The computer can do it better than me and it is just always perfect. Then, what else? Why do I even play it myself if the computer is better?
I started to remember the magic of music. It is beyond languages and it reaches directly to my heart. I feel something as if it is alive. Emotion. This is not something computers could replicate. Eventually, with time, we all can play a piece accurately but it is beyond that. In the end, it is all about emotions and maybe, it is more important than accuracy. This is what I need to improve because my play doesn’t have enough emotions in it yet.
Overall, I still have a very long way to go. I only touched the surface of music and piano. I have so much more to learn. I will continue playing the piano and it will become a part of my life. Ultimately, I want to compose an original piece but this is still far. If I can transcribe a piece on the piano, I am satisfied 100%. My dream is to play songs I like on the piano. Nothing more, nothing less. I won’t become a professional but it makes me happy if I can play myself.
Even if one day, computers could play better than us. It is still meaningful to play the piano because I am playing it and I enjoy doing that. After my play, I will listen to how OP computers play it, lol.
That’s all for this time, I should practise more tomorrow.