I started taking piano lessons when I was about 6 or 7 from an old lady (at least she looked old to me) named Mrs. Graham.  She lived in the older section of town, and her house smelled old. I dutifully sat through lesson after lesson and practiced each lesson for a half-hour a day. Not because I wanted to, but because I was fortunate enough to have parents that kept my feet to the fire, telling me that “someday I will be glad I kept practicing”. I didn’t believe them, of course — it’s pretty hard for a seven-year old to visualize why practicing scales and boring songs would pay off down the road.

And so it went, week after week, month after month, year after year until I was about 13. I liked playing the piano well enough, but I sure didn’t like practicing. One time when I was nine or so my big brother wrote up a contract about practicing 1/2 hour ever day which he made me sign. If I didn’t, he wouldn’t help me with my baseball skills, which I desparately wanted to develop. My idols in those days were not pianists or musicians, but the great baseball players of the day — Joltin’ Joe Dimagio, Whitey Ford, Phil Rissuto, and of course Mickey Mantle. I dreamed about hiting – driving in runs in the last of the 9th inning with the bases loaded.

But one day a friend of mine who also took piano lessons invited me to go with his family down to Sacramento (we lived in a little town called Auburn, 30 miles from Sacto) to hear a famous jazz pianist. I didn’t even know what jazz piano sounded like back then, but it’s always fun to go someplace with friends, so I went. I turned out that the pianist was Erroll Garner, and this is what I heard:

Suffice it to say that nothing was the same after that. I had no idea that anyone could play the piano like that, and have so much fun doing it! When I got home that evening I immediately went to the piano and started imitating Erroll. Of course it sounded awful, but it changed my view of practice 180 degrees. Instead of dreading practice, I looked forward to it to see what I could accomplish.

Can I play like Erroll? Of course not. Nowhere close. But it launched me into a lifetime of enjoying piano playing and helping others to enjoy it to.

If you have a teenager like me who hates to practice, try taking him or her to a concert. It might just make a huge difference in his life.

For over 300 free videos in some aspect of piano playing, go to my YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/chordsgalore