Years ago, I had the opportunity to speak to a number of music students at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. We talked about a lot of issues involved in being an independent music teacher. Mostly, we talked about the young piano student and his/her world.

This is an interesting time. We have become a society dependent upon technology. I personally would be lost without the use of a calculator, computer, answering machine, and VCR. It has been twenty-five years since I was in high school. When I look that far back in my personal history, I realize I had none of these things that we now take for granted. But I can’t help considering a line from an old Joni Mitchell tune, “Something’s lost when something’s gained in living every day.”

The average student is more sophistocated today. This is a good thing. This is what I see as being the "something gained". What I feel we have lost, however, is a sense of commitment. Today’s student wants immediate results and success. We have become so used to the instant gratification provided by today's technology, we are intolerant of anything requiring the investment of substantial effort and time ... and piano study requires both. When we pursue an education in the arts, or any discipline for that matter, we are looking at growth over a long period of time. Despite what TV ads may say, you can not buy a video or computer program and learn to play the piano overnight, just as you can not lose twenty pounds in a day, you can not look thirty years younger by applying an overnight face cream, and you can not learn a foreign language in just a few hours.

A woman once approached pianist, Arthur Rubinstein, saying, “I would give my life to play like that.” He responded, “Madam, I did.”

An important lesson for all of us to understand is that progress is not to be gauged in terms of how quickly it is accomplished, but that it is accomplished.

© Copyright 1998, 1999 Joe Gallant. All rights reserved.