Banal Stories #2: Quitting Piano

During elementary school, I took piano and voice lessons from a lady at church for nearly three years. I hated those lessons. I hated practicing. I hated sight reading the heavily simplified classical music. I hated singing songs from the Bill Gaither songbook.

My dad and I had a lot of arguments about my disinterest / loathing of music lessons, until finally he agreed to let me quit. He did give me one last lecture, though, in which he told me that one day I’d regret putting aside these lessons. He said I was too young to understand or care about how all the hard work and boredom could benefit me down the line. I can’t remember all he said, but looking back I appreciate the value our discussion had because it did teach me something. That the present you is really working for the future you. And that’s it’s possible the future you could want completely different things out of life than any dumb thing you’re worried about now.

That we discount the value of future needs/wants and overvalue our immediate urges was a complex idea for a 10-year-old to grasp. I’m not even sure my dad understood the regret mechanism this way. But I think about that conversation a lot.

I should say, though, that I never regretted quitting the church lady’s piano lessons. About seven years later I started playing guitar, and I’ve been doing that ever since. For some reason, I had no trouble finding the motivation. It’s perhaps the most heavily-felt and fully realized motivation I’ve ever had. Which, if you know me, might give you a clue as to how generally unmotivated I am.

Bonus Video: Psalty Behind the Music (learn more about Psalty the Singing Songbook)

Next week: Guitar Lessons