Peeyano talk.

I play the piano and I do love it now but can I just say that I hated it. I was forced by my Mom to learn at the age of six or seven and she would get really angry with me if I didn’t practice. Lol, your typical Asian parent. I’m kidding.

Well, if I think about it, I didn’t really hate the piano and the practices, I hated the fact that my lessons were sort of boring. You know when you start out with the piano you just play around middle C and the very first notes you play sometimes are just C C C C. Yeah, I hated that. I always asked my teacher when the real thing was going to start, you know? When would I actually start playing like a pro and go all nuts with the keys here and there? Can I even use everything? Like the black keys and the whites? Can I play them at the same time? And she would just calmly tell me that I’d get there… with more practice, of course. Oh my god, it felt like forever. 

I remember refusing to practice because I told my mom it was the same thing and it was useless. I told her I’d just be playing middle C again and she told me off! My Mom got angry at me for telling her piano lessons were useless. She wouldn’t let me off the seat until I practiced for an hour. I fell asleep on top of our piano that afternoon because, LORD, I hated it so much at that point. 

And then I had my very first recital. I wore a very pretty, shiny, black dress with my hair and some make up done. I felt so proud. And after I played that was it; that was when my love for the piano… blossomed, bloomed, developed. I loved looking pretty and having people compliment me after the performance. Sometimes, I get really nervous and make mistakes, which I’d hate myself for, but the pep talks and encouraging words were nice.

So yeah, now I’m teaching piano lessons to kids - although I got more adults wanting to learn. I’m more interested in teaching the level zero people because I know how hard and boring it is starting to learn the piano… unless you really, really want to, you know? So yeah, I’m just that little boost of encouragement and fun you need to learn this instrument. 

I want my music students to call me Miss Barbosa.

“Miss Barbosa,” they will say, “when will I start playing like a pro?”

“Right now,” and then I teach them a really simple, fun song and they’ll feel like a pro. And then they’ll get better and without knowing actually turn into pros and I’ll watch them play their first recital and be oh so proud.