There are lots of discussions about people being naturally talented or having an ‘ear’ for music. So, is there some innate ability that you need to have in order to be able to learn? Do we need to ask the question ‘Am I talented enough to learn piano?’
Certainly, in every area of life, there are people who find certain things much easier to pick up than others. Thus, it’s definitely true that we all tend to have pre-dispositions (rather than saying ‘talent’). These pre-dispositions make it easier for us to pick up certain skills (either physical or mental), yet in other areas we’ll generally struggle the same as anyone else to make progress. However, does this make us question whether or not we have sufficient talent?
What do we need to play the piano?
Let’s think about piano. There are I think two distinct things to think about:
- The physical dexterity that enables us to use our fingers, hands, wrists etc. at the piano
- The mental (some might say spiritual) feel for the music and our vision of how it should sound
Naturally, to be a good pianist you can’t really have one without the other. However, let’s start with the first point. Take for example lots of these gifted youngsters. Very often, they seem to have that physical dexterity and can play amazingly fast, with power, with lightness. However, and I think largely due to their young years, the musical result isn’t necessarily that fantastic. It has a tendency to be a little mechanical and lacking in expression. All the same, what’s to be expected from a 7 year old!!
Alternatively, and this is particularly true with adult learners, we have a clear vision of ‘how’ we want something to sound, yet we don’t have the motor skills to produce the effect we want. Therefore, whilst overall things might sound quite musical, they can be full of wrong notes!
Of course, when the two combine perfectly, the great pianist emerges.
Talent and dexterity
Now let’s look at ‘talent’ and its application to the dextrous aspect of playing piano. I firmly believe that with any physical skill, it has to be learned. There is no ‘innate’ talent for walking … we had to learn by falling, getting up and then falling again. However, I also believe there is a large intuitive element involved in many things where our brains find a way of doing things without necessarily being taught it.
My experiences with Scuba diving are a case in point. There is no experience on earth that prepares you to dive into the water, descend below the surface and swim around in perfect balance. Nothing can prepare you to control your vertical position in the water in the way that a fish does so naturally. Yet, and I have seen this, there are those first time divers who have received the same scant amount of information as everybody else at the water side, yet from the moment they dip below the surface, you would swear a reincarnated fish! There are many others who simply flounder about under water, bumping into the bottom, floating up to the surface, puffing and panting into the breathing apparatus and generally looking like an accident waiting to happen!
Does this mean that the former are more ‘talented’ divers? I don’t think so at all. They have found an intuitive way to do the fundamentals and, if you asked them to explain, they probably wouldn’t be able to. Isn’t it just obvious? they’d say!! For the latter, they’ll need to put in a lot more effort and practice to get to this same standard. Hold this thought, I’ll come back to it at the end of this article.
The role of intuition on piano
Similarly, with piano, there are those who intuitively work things out with little or no guidance and this will often manifest itself in them making very rapid progress. We then categorise them as naturally talented.
However, in reality this intuition will only get anybody so far. There will be a point at which making further progress can only be made by hard work. However, just where this point lies varies person by person. For some, intuition might get us no further than page 2 of our first method book. For others it might be at diploma standard. In my particular case, it was somewhere after Grade 6 but before Grade 8.
When intuition lets you down
What makes me say this? In my early years, I did Grades 1-4 with one teacher, Grade 6 with another and the Grade 8 with a third. For Grades 1-4 and then 6, I really didn’t have to work at it at all. Sure, I had to practice, I had to learn my pieces, but it all felt like very simple stuff. I didn’t notice any technical challenges, it all seemed so easy. In the exams, I pulled off a distinction each time with calm reassurance.
When it came to Grade 8, everything changed. Of the pieces I had to learn, I found only one of them manageable. Suddenly, music was awash with technical difficulties that seemed to come from nowhere. It seemed that I had hit a total brick wall with no idea how to break through (or jump over) it. My ‘intuition’ was no longer sufficient. I soldiered on with Grade 8 and just about scraped a pass …. however, it wasn’t that long before I gave up with piano pretty much altogether. I was at the point that simply sitting down at the piano caused my back and arms to tense up pretty much immediately.
How does this apply to the professionals?
Thus, it seems to me that we all have a level to which we can make progress almost ‘for free’. Aside a little basic practice and thought, progress comes without any particular effort. There’s a fascinating documentary on YouTube about Evgenny Kissin called The Gift of Music.
In this documentary he recounts his early pianistic life. Kissin admits that basically he didn’t have to work at it. He did little or no actual ‘practice’. Rather, he simply kept playing and discovering new music. So, at this point in his life, he was progressing ‘for free’. He goes on to discuss how he actually had to learn how to start putting in work – even getting to 20 minutes per day focussed practice was a challenge for him at first.
Interestingly, much later in the documentary he talks about the Liszt Transcendental Etudes and how he looks forward to the day that he no longer needs to perform them. He adds that simply this means he will no longer need to practice them! So, clearly, even for such a distinguished pianist there comes a point at which only hard work will see you through!
Arthur Rubinstein even into his seventies said that he felt he was making progress when he practiced!
Inspiration or perspiration?
So, getting back to the original question, “Am I talented enough to learn piano?” The answer has to be “Yes – absolutely!“
Inspiration
You might be one of the lucky ones that makes progress fast. You might find that with a minimum of instruction, you can pretty much work everything out for yourself. Your fingers will quickly get used to moving at the keys and your eyes reading the music.
Perspiration
You might, on the other hand, be one of those that will need to put in lots of hard work almost immediately. You’ll find it difficult, even frustrating. However, this doesn’t mean you lack the talent! It simply means in your particular case, your brain hasn’t found a way to work this out for itself and you’re needing to teach it!
Perspiration helps you catch up!
Let’s go back to Scuba diving for a second. I was one of those people who really did not take to it easily. In fact, the friend with whom I very first went diving frequently tells his more nervous customers about me. He classifies me as the ‘worst beginner he has ever seen’. He’s probably not exaggerating. However, I was so enticed by the underwater world, I literally forced myself to learn. I would dive at every opportunity – including in freezing cold flooded quarries in the UK. I read every book I could find on the topic. I subscribed to a magazine. I watched video after video of people diving. I took a whole range of different courses. I joined two different Dive Clubs.
Now, I’m a fully qualified Divemaster. I’ve dived all over the world (pretty much). I feel totally at home underwater – whether it’s almost pitch black 7 degrees C as we have in the UK or beautifully light 28 or more degrees C as you’ll find in the tropics. Getting there for me was much harder work than for many other people who dive at a similar level – yet I’d be as bold as to say that it doesn’t make me a worse diver. If anything, it probably makes me better as I had to really work hard to succeed! For more information on my thoughts on this topic, check out this post.
Piano is an individual journey
Why should piano be any different. We’ll all encounter different aspects that we find difficult. Some people can memorise very quickly yet find sight reading really awkward. Some people can play at break neck speeds but find voicing and interpretation more challenging. Some people can fly through Bach but stumble over Chopin. We’re all individual, we’ll all come across challenges at different points, but we can overcome them.
Can everybody become a concert pianist. Of course not! No more than everybody can learn to run 100m in under 10 seconds. But we can all learn to play, just as we can all learn to run if we’re prepared to put in the time and effort! When you look enviously (as I know I do sometimes) at those who seem to be naturally born to play, just remember that there will have been a point at which they had to stop relying on ‘natural ability’ and actually put in the work!
