Does quality determine quantity? Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t.

I got lots of inspiration from piano learning. Here’s another example.

When I first work on a new piece, such as Canon. I find it is so complicated. Each section needs lots of coordination of the two hands. However, I noticed that after 20 times of repeating one part, the next day when I work on it, that section will become less scary.

There is a saying that “Lots of people don’t have a chance to discover their potential before their life ends.” We simply do not try our best to work on lots of things.

Piano learning firstly was not something I was confident about. I had had very few days to play an instrument in my life before I learned piano. I don’t even have a musical sense when I sing. I got laughed at in the beginning. I also did not think my two hands could coordinate well in the beginning. I know my balance skills are pretty weak. I couldn’t even use the same side of my arms and legs when doing morning exercises at school 

I started to learn piano merely because of my son. I had accompanied him to the piano class for years. One day his teacher asked me to help John to do dual practice at home. He said it was very easy, and to just press two piano keys repeatedly when he played that part.. I know it must be a no-brainer for the teacher, just like pressing a button in an elevator. Who does not know how to press two keys on a piano? However, I didn’t recognize the keys, and there are so many keys on a piano. The keys just looked the same to me. I was scared away, but I was ashamed to tell him that I didn’t recognize the piano keys, so I could not help John when he did the practicing at home. I was even thinking of putting a label on the piano, so I could just press a label, but I know it’s silly.

However, I heard that learning piano could be easy when I heard my friend’s story one day. I told myself,” why not “? I started on the journey. Although I got laughed at by my friend, not supported by my husband, and questioned by John, I still got started. 

I didn’t want to back out as I always tell John to persevere at something. I needed to be a role model, at least not give up. I told you the story of being scared simply to tell you how unconfident I was with piano.

However, after 3 years, I have learned some classic pieces, such as Mariage d’amour， Romeo and Julie， several pieces from Richard Clayderman, etc. They definitely are not easy ones for adults who have zero foundation.

Going back to the topic about how many times I practiced some complicated pieces, I found that my hands got the harmony after several dozen times of working on the music. The music just smoothly flowed out after the accumulated number of trials.

I purposefully counted how many times I practiced until I could play a section smoothly. Sometimes it was 30 times, sometimes it was 50 times or more, but anyhow, I found I will play better after the accumulated numbers increase. The lovely music will start to flow.

I had the same experience when I was at Toastmasters. After I read a 3 mins speech 15 times, I can confidently say that I can make that speech without looking at my scripts. It is said that 10 thousand practices make an expert. Even if our goal is not to be an expert, we still must remember that practice makes everything better.

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