Piano

Piano is truly amazing. The ability to play certain keys at different times- or at the same time- and produce a sound that is at that moment more beautiful than any other in the entire universe. That is what piano is. It is the ability to sit down and play a song, and feel like you are beautiful and part of the music. That is what piano is. It's one of the most popular instruments to play- and yet when you're playing it, it's you and only you who can pull the melody out, who can create the dynamics, who can pluck the keys like you're pulling the sound out of their very beds. That is what piano is.

As you can tell, I adore piano.
Actually, I'd rather play piano than eat. Or sleep. Piano is the one thing that I can say I would sit still for hours just to do. If I didn't run out of music to play, if the songs I loved had endless repeats, I would play them like that. The Invention no. 8 is like that. Instead of playing an F chord at the end, you just hit a single "f" in the right hand, and the song begins again. You can repeat it, and repeat it, and repeat it, and the only thing holding you back from playing it five, ten, thirty times in a row is your ability to play for that long without resting. That is the only thing holding you back.

Piano makes me happy. No- piano doesn't make me happy. Piano makes me unaware of myself. When I'm playing a sonata, and I know I'm hitting the right notes, it's like I become completely absorbed in myself, and yet I'm not there at all. I'm aware of what my hands are doing, and yet at the same time they're moving by themselves, without my guidance. I can ponder through horrible social situations while playing piano, but not feel bad about them because the music makes it okay.

The music makes everything okay.

There's something about music in general that makes people happy. The way it can sweep you away and not let you go until you're ready. But when you're playing the music, when it's you who is creating it, and you know you're creating it well... Then you're part of it. You are not controlling it, and it is not controlling you. You are one, you are together. That is what piano is.

Pian is amazing.