P.I.A.N.O
Shannon K. McMeans
March 21, 2009
English 101-013
Professor Marlen Harrison
P.I.A.N.O
P: Patience: quiet, steady perseverance, even-tempered care, diligence.
I: Individualism: the principle or habit of, or belief in an independent thought or action.
A: Ability: competence in an activity or occupation because of one’s skill and training.
N: Notes: a musical sound or tone.
O: Obedience: the act or practice of obeying; submissive compliance..
At age seven, my mom used to drive me to my piano teacher’s house, once a week. Jo-Ellen Stockdale of Dayton, once a week. At seven years old, you view anything your mother requires you to do as ‘boring, ah do I really have to,’ tasks. As I sit here typing this essay to my readers, I can honestly say I am thankful she kept persistent with my weekly piano lessons, that I fought with her to go to on a regular basis. Believe it or not, I am sure when I have children, I will be dragging their little stubborn behinds to piano lessons as well. Listed above I have broken apart the five letters that come together and spell a wonderful word: piano. With these five letters, I have come up with additional words that describe the word piano, along with their definitions. These words are chosen from my personal experience in life with the beautiful, relaxing, musical, and greatly hidden language of the word ‘piano’ and what it entails with my simple sense of touch.
P: Patience
Patience: quiet, steady perseverance, even-tempered care, diligence. In my own opinion, and from my years of experience, the ability to play the piano and succeed in building the wonderful talent would not be possible without the ability to have patience. As I sit at the piano, letting my fingers run over the keys to familiarize my senses to the piece that is in front of me, I tend to impatiently set the tempo to a quicker pace of what I am capable of performing, as I am not familiar with the piece I am playing.
Warren Zevon said once, “Piano is like drudgery.” I agree with Warren to an extent, yes the ability to play the piano is hard work, but it also spreads a sincere sensation as I run my fingers over the keys, creating a beautiful sound that is mine, no one else’s. This rush is worth the hard work, because in the end I will have that piece of music accomplished. Alma Gluck once said, “In the piano, one has the instrument complete before he begins; but in the case of the voice, the instrument has to be developed by study.” In today’s society, everyone thinks the needs and wants in life should be handed to them. I think this is a great example of what the beautiful sense of touch can ‘give’ you in playing the piano. Keep in mind, one can not just walk up to a piano and expect it to give them the ability to make music. The piano makes you have to earn the accomplishment and satisfactory of one’s own voice. Without patients you would not be able to accomplish this great art, and for that I am grateful. There are too many things in the world that are just given freely; the art of the piano is earned.
I: Individualism
Individualism: the principle or habit of or belief in independent thought or action. I get so tired of the judging, labeling, people thinking they know who I am. My talent with my piano is my talent, no one else’s. As I sit and read the sheet music, my fingers are speaking for me. My sense of touch makes it possible for me to speak not from my mouth, but through my fingers. That in itself, to me is where I find my individualism. “No other acoustic instrument can match the piano’s expressive range, and no electric instrument can match its mystery,” Kenneth Miller. Mr. Miller stated this very well in my opinion. One can not judge a person by his or her look when stepping to the piano in my eyes; it takes thinking you know who that person is by first glance. Let me tell you something that is not true when it comes to pianist. These wonderful artists seem to go off into their own wonderful world of music, which they are able to create by their fingers. I may be a 21 year old, have blonde hair and green eyes, am a sister, a daughter, a student but I also am an artist. That right there is where my individualism truly shows. Through my simple touch of the piano keys, I create the person who I am.
A: Ability
Ability: competence in an activity or occupation because of one’s skill and training. Not everyone is going to have the ability to play this unique instrument. Keep in mind, it is more than an ability to play, it is a want to play as well. Like I mentioned in my beginning years of playing, I did not always have that drive to play. Once you become more educated in the beautiful art, is where you have that divine want and pleasure to play for the relaxation and entertainment of yourself and of others. No words can describe the sense of accomplishment when my grandparents come over to the house and ask me to play them a few songs. As they sit and watch me with such appreciation it is a great feeling to know I have the ability not only to play the music, but to please my grandparents.
N: Notes
Notes: a musical sound or tone. Where would the world be without musical notes? I don’t know where I would be without music, and with my talent of playing the piano, I get to give back to the wonderful world of music. Marvin Gaye said once, “I hope to refine music, study it, and try to find some area that I can unlock. I don’t quite know how to explain it but its there. These can’t be the only notes in the world, there’s got to be other notes some place, in some dimension, between the cracks on the piano keys.” This quote is awesome, I can not say it enough, I am so glad I found it. This line by Mr. Gaye says so much in just a few sentences. Every day someone somewhere in the world sits down to a book of music at their piano and plays a piece that someone created. The quote from Mr. Gaye says that it is not possible for those notes to be the only notes of the world, he explains this by saying there are notes possibly in the cracks of the piano keys. The sky is the limit! Anyone can sit down at the piano and create their song, and that to me is so exciting.
O: Obedience
Obedience: the act or practice of obeying; dutiful or submissive compliance. To accomplish goals, one must, in a sense, be obedient to the teacher. I really think Vanessa Carlton states this thought well when she said, “Well, I would say that music just happens with me, I’m not in the driver’s seat when I am at the piano, the piano is.” The piano is my teacher, in my opinion. As it sits in my mother’s open room by the big glass windows overlooking the background, my mind wanders to many different things, as I let my fingers skim over the keys. Whatever happened today, the day before, a month ago, does not matter when it comes to playing the piano. I have to have the drive to be obedient to the piano, as I begin to play a piece. Vanessa Carlton really stated the obedience required to play the piano well.
Through my essay I touched on five subjects that really mean a lot to me, and influence my every day talent of playing the piano with my sense of touch. I spoke of patience, individualism, my ability, the piano notes themselves, and obedience. All these factors help make my ability to play possible, without them I would be unable to create the beautiful sound called music.
Work Cited
Zevon, Warren. ‘Piano is like drudgery.’
Gluck, Alma. ‘In the piano, one has the instrument complete before he begins; but in the case of the voice, the instrument has to be developed by study.’
Miller, Kenneth. ‘No other acoustic instrument can match the piano’s expressive range, and no electric instrument can match its mystery.’
Gaye, Marvin. ‘I hope to refine music, study it, and try to find some area that I can unlock. I don’t quite know how to explain it but its there. These can’t be the only notes in the world, there’s got to be other notes some place, in some dimension, between the cracks on the piano keys.’
Carlton, Vanessa. ‘Well, I would say that music just happens with me, I’m not in the driver’s seat when I am at the piano, the piano is.’
Pre Paragraph for Essay #5
Before I start writing my fifth essay, I want to set a few goals for myself. The genre I will be writing from is a mixture of different styles. I am using Miley Chen’s piece for reference. This essay will be narrative, descriptive, etc. I want to write about my love to play the piano, and without my sense of touch, I would not be able to play. My readers for this essay will be myself. For this essay we are to evaluate ourselves, myself as my own personal peer editor. I am a little nervous on how this will turn out, but with the references I have learned throughout this semester, and with the help of my peers, I should successfully complete this assignment. My main goal for this essay is to really be able to explain my talent with the piano, and what it means to me.
Post Paragraph for Essay #5
This is by far, my favorite essay I have written in this course. I just feel like I really opened up and let my voice be heard in my writing. I was able to find really interesting quotes from famous people, to help illustrate my strong emotions for the piano. As my own editor, I really kept my own interest the whole way through the piece, and the genre I chose really shows through the entirety of the essay. I know I have probably a lot of work to do on this piece, but all around I feel like I really accomplished my goals and am very happy with this essay.
P.I.A.N.O
P: Patience: quiet, steady perseverance, even-tempered care, diligence.
I: Individualism: the principle or habit of or belief in independent thought or action.
A: Ability: competence in an activity or occupation because of one’s skill and training.
N: Notes: a musical sound or tone.
O: Obedience: the act or practice of obeying; dutiful or submissive compliance.
At age seven, my mom was driving me to my piano teacher’s house, Jo-Ellen Stockdale of Dayton, once a week. At seven years old, you view anything your mother requires you to do as ‘boring, ah do I really have to,’ tasks. As I sit here typing this essay to my readers, I can honestly say I am thankful she kept persistent with my weekly piano lessons, that I fought with her to go to on a regular basis. Believe it or not, I am sure when I have children, I will be dragging their little stubborn behinds to piano lessons as well. Listed above I have broken apart the five letters that come together and spell a wonderful word: piano. With these five letters, I have come up with additional words that describe the word piano, along with their definitions. These words are chosen from my personal experience in life with the beautiful, relaxing, musical, and greatly hidden language of the word ‘piano’ and what it entails with my simple sense of touch.
P: Patience
Patience: quiet, steady perseverance, even-tempered care, diligence. In my own opinion, and from my years of experience, the ability to play the piano and succeed in building the wonderful talent would not be possible without the ability to have patience. As I sit at the piano, letting my fingers run over the keys to familiarize my senses to the piece that is in front of me, I tend to impatiently set the tempo to a quicker point of what I am capable of doing, as I am not familiar with the piece I am playing.
Warren Zevon said once, “Piano is like drudgery.” I agree with Warren to an extent, yes the ability to play the piano is hard work, but it also spreads a calming over me as I run my fingers over the keys, creating a beautiful sound. This rush is worth the hard work, because in the end I will have that piece of music accomplished. Alma Gluck once said, “In the piano, one has the instrument complete before he begins; but in the case of the voice, the instrument has to be developed by study.”
I: Individualism
Individualism: the principle or habit of or belief in independent thought or action. I get so tired of the judging, labeling, people thinking they know who I am. No one knows anyone. To be honest, I think that is what makes the world so interesting. My talent with my piano, is my talent, no one else’s. As I sit and read the sheet music, my fingers are speaking for me. My sense of touch, makes it possible for me to speak not from my mouth, but through my fingers. That in itself, to me is where I find my individualism. “No other acoustic instrument can match the piano’s expressive range, and no electric instrument can match its mystery,” Kenneth Miller.
A: Ability
Ability: competence in an activity or occupation because of one’s skill and training. Not everyone is going to have the ability to play this unique instrument. Keep in mind, it is more than an ability to play, it is a want to play as well. Like I mentioned in my beginning years of playing, I did not always have that drive to play.
N: Notes
Notes: a musical sound or tone. Where would the world be without musical notes? I don’t know where I would be without music, and with my talent of playing the piano, I get to give back to the wonderful world of music. Marvin Gaye said once, “I hope to refine music, study it, try to find some area that I can unlock. I don’t quite know how to explain it but its there. These can’t be the only notes in the world, there’s got to be other notes some place, in some dimension, between the cracks on the piano keys.”
O: Obedience
Obedience: the act or practice of obeying; dutiful or submissive compliance. To accomplish goals, one must, in a sense, be obedient to the teacher. I really think Vanessa Carlton states this thought well when she said, “Well, I would say that music just happens with me, I’m not in the driver’s seat when I am at the piano, the piano is.”
