I play by faith and not by sight

For the past two years, I've been teaching myself how to play piano. I am NOT doing this the conventional way. Most people learn piano very methodically: they learn their scales and notes and they learn proper technique and other things... One thing these methods all have in common is that I find them all redundant and unnecessary. This method of teaching is what some of my UBC profs call 'pedagogical hazing'...well, at least that's what I call it. It repels so many potential musicians from becoming all that they could be. Many of them give up on piano.

I personally said 'NO' to the traditional way of learning piano. I pick a piece of music that I like and I decipher each part of the piece one by one and I just allow the music to take control of me. I have no definite rules. Music, being an art, can't be forced into a prison of restrictions. It is human nature to create because we were made in the image of the Ultimate Creator. Art is the passionate release of humanity in its rawest form, so I find it really hard to see passion when I'm watching a pianist play while his eyes are transfixed onto a piece of paper with dots and lines. Reading music while playing the piano is...regurgitation. The only necessity to playing the piano is learning which notes correspond on a music staff (only at first), your ears, hands, and sheer will. By strictly adhering to the sheet music, we force an art into a bleak realm of impossibility. I say learn the piece, manipulate it and make it yours!

That brings us to my point. I was struck with an epiphany when I was learning a piece the other day ("New York State of Mind" by Billy Joel, if you want to know). I realized that when I play, I don't need my eyes as much as I needed my ears or my fingers. I don't think I need them at all to make music. Even if my eyes are closed, each key will always be the same distance apart from the other keys, and each key will always make the same sound that they always do (if the thing is tuned). We are fingers playing a cosmic piano, and we have no eyes. And whether or not we see the notes we hit, we make sounds. ...so how do we, as fingers, avoid making discordant sounds? By doing exactly what the Player wants us to do. The Player who knows the music. The Player whose hands we are all part of. .and that is my rant.