DAY 70 - PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT, or at least not completely embarrassing

A month or so ago, my Ward Music Leader asked if I’d play a Piano Solo in Sacrament Meeting. I play the piano in Relief Society every week, and my previous calling was Primary Pianist – plus I accompany musical numbers quite frequently. But in the 6 years I’ve lived in this ward, I’ve only done one other Piano Solo – and that was a few years ago. “Sure, I’d be happy to.”

   I went home and flipped through all of my sheet music, but nothing really jumped out at me. Oh good – a great excuse to buy some new music! But I’m reticent to buy music sight-unseen online, because I’d rather sit down and play through it first. So I contacted my two nieces that play piano, and asked to borrow some music from them. They both brought over a few books of music – and they both had Jason Tonioli in their stacks. Hmmmm, I guess I’ll give this guy a try.

   WOW!  This guy writes AMAZING arrangements of LDS Hymns. Now to narrow down the choices. I got down to my favorite 6, then 3 – and settled on “All Creatures of Our God and King”. It’s a wonderful hymn, and this is a spectacular arrangement. Now to step-it-up a bit with LOTS of practicing.

   Although I do love to practice the piano on Sundays, with all of the traveling I’ve been doing this past year – well, I’m just not always near a piano. And most Sundays I was heading to the airport to fly somewhere new – and the airport does not have a piano practice lounge. So, this past year especially, I’ve gotten a bit rusty. Good enough to play for Primary or Relief Society, but way too rusty – especially for a rather challenging piece.

   So for the past few weeks I’ve been much more diligent about practicing. I play every Sunday, and play through this particular piece a few days during the week. And this week I set aside a few hours to practice on three different days, just to get back into the swing of things.

   Since I have an electric piano at home, I also needed a little time on the Grand Piano at the church – because every piano feels a little different. So I borrowed the Bishop’s Church Keys and headed over there last night for a couple of hours (having the Bishop next door is uber-handy). And today, just as the ward ahead of us was getting out, I sneaked up to the piano and ran through this piece one more time or two.

   With the piano lid propped open, I stepped up to the piano, took a deep breath, and started playing. I’m still not quite sure how my brain tells my fingers which little black dots translate to which piano keys – but I concentrate … and pray. It wasn’t perfect – it rarely is – but it’s such a beautiful piece that a few missed notes were at least forgivable.

   As a kid, I took Piano Lessons off-and-on – and altogether only had about 3½ years of lessons in my life. But my parents did one very smart thing: they always bought me any piece of sheet music that I ever wanted. Which means that I always had pieces that I wanted to learn – and therefore I practiced. I’m really not that technically skilled, but I do play from the heart – and usually that is what comes across. Fortunately I have a lot of heart, which forgives a lot of technical errors. And because I found a piece that I really wanted to play, I practiced quite a bit the past few weeks – and pushed myself just a little farther than I usually could play.

   But that’s really what progress is all about – pushing ourselves beyond our Comfort Zone, and trying something just a little uncomfortable. Taking risks and working hard. It’s how I learned to play the piano much better than the formal training I received should indicate. It’s how I’ve achieved a professional career with a fair amount of success. Actually, it’s how I’ve achieved any of the degrees of success in my life. Sure, there have been plenty of failures along the way – but I just try to not stay focused on those too long. Learn from them, and then move on.

   And today, it was nice to see the extra effort I put into recent practicing pay off. It’s nice to set a goal that makes you stretch, and be able to accomplish it. It’s nice to have an opportunity to share a talent. It's nice to be able to enjoy the process and not focus on perfection. And it’s really nice to have it behind me.