A musician should only sound like what they do, and no two musicians sound the same. It’s an individual-feel thing, you know?
– Dave Grohl, from the band “Foo Fighters”
Thwhack!
Imagine getting smacked with a ruler every time you hit a wrong note or made a mistake.
No, this didn’t happen to me, but my father and aunt would tell me about their strict piano teacher growing up.
“She was a mean old bird,” my dad would say.
I grew up in a musical family, and by musical, I mean every holiday and family get-together was spent around the piano with ukuleles or guitars in hand playing folk songs, hymns, or carols.
Fortunately, my family members decided to take a different approach when it came to me learning. The philosophy was there are instruments sitting around, so why not pick one up and start playing!
By the time I was six, I would play duets on the piano with my mom or strum the chords to I’ve Been Working On the Railroad on ukulele.
Thank God I had no one to take out a ruler and give me a nice “thwhack” if I made a mistake.
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