Common knowledge suggests that experts and people who achieve greatness in their field were born with prodigious innate gifts, as if they were fated to excel. “Talent” is the mythological notion of God-given gifts, the kind that seem to exist for four year old children who play Mozart sonatas at the piano like virtuosos. Yet even so-called “geniuses” need to put their time into mastering their craft.
Mozart himself was reared by his father Leopold, who was an expert musician, composer and music educator. Certainly the young Wolfgang had a musical brilliance on his own right, which he made masterful use of from an early age. Yet what are the chances that he would have written complex compositions–including his first symphony when he was eight–let alone gained prominence as a child prodigy throughout Europe without his father’s tireless dedication, first to Wolfgang’s musical education then to travelling with him (and Wolfgang’s sister Nannerl, also a prodigy) to play for various heads of state?
If you look under the hood at the lives of world class experts in any endeavor, you find out their expertise usually resulted from extended period of training in their craft, often for years before they became successful. The movie “King Richard” tells the story of Venus and Serena Williams, whose father supported them to become tennis prodigies by encouraging continual daily practice for years. The Williams sisters began as total unknowns, yet their phenomenal preparation transformed them into world class champions.
Similarly, in Malcolm Gladwell’s book “Outliers,” Gladwell describes how Bill Gates gained early exposure to computing while in school, at a time when very few people had such access. This gave Gates thousands of hours to experiment with computers and develop the processes he used to start Microsoft, which timed perfectly with the world embracing the personal computer.
These examples are meant to illustrate that the path to mastery is no big mystery. It is the logical result of effective focus and training over time. The process of learning piano is no different. Gaining piano skill is not a secret reserved for a select few. It is the inevitable, natural by-product of showing up at your instrument, practicing your skills, and repeating this process consistently in enough quantity to see results you desire.
I still remember the moment I made the decision to lean fully into my piano training. I was twelve or thirteen years old. I knew that if I doubled my efforts, I would improve quickly. Over the next five or six years–through middle school and high school–I put in thousands of hours of practice. The result? I developed professional-level playing skills. Though I may have had innate gifts, it was my commitment to working on my skills that turned my musical potential into realized abilities.
The point is, when it comes to your piano learning, you don’t need to worry about “talent.” You can learn to play piano. All you need to do is show up at the keyboard consistently and practice the skills you want to develop until you develop them. In my book “Play Piano: A Learner’s Guide to Playing, Reading, and Creating Music,” I share specific practice techniques that help piano learners grow their skills, make steady progress, and enjoy the process. These are the aspects of piano learning that are far more important than the mythical, often-elusive thing known as “talent.”
The good news is that when you do the things that work, learning is inevitable. The process itself becomes its own reward. Happier still, it can help you achieve musical goals you may have long wished for.