Pushing Buttons

I love to play the piano. I love music. Music speaks to me in ways that not many other things can. But what frustrates me to no end is how many musicians don't show that they LOVE the music. They just show that they are good at it. And when someone else shows that they are good at it as well, its like the first guy has to prove to the new person how good he is, and vice versa. No mutual love for the subject. Just constant one-up-man-ship.

I believe that when you lose the passion you have for something to an insatiable need to show others your level of skill, you lose all the respect and quality you had for thing that you love.

This doesn't mean I advocate not practicing or striving to get better! Because I myself love getting better; practicing and always trying to rise to new heights. I love working hard, striving and pushing myself. But I also like PLAYING. Music isn't about ALL about technicalities to me. Its not about how many notes you can hit within a certain amount of time. I mean, lets face it. Playing piano is nothing more than pushing black and white buttons in different sequences in a certain amount of time AT a certain time. Great. So why do you push the buttons? To prove to others that you do it better, or just to push the buttons? Tom Waits cleverly said: "Music is nothing more than doing weird things with the air." How true that is.

My closing statement: humans are emotional. I am emotional. That is why I play the music. THAT is why I push the buttons. That is why I "do weird things with the air". To satisfy the emotion. To satisfy the joy, the peace, the hate, the anger, the sorrow, the hope, the love. We were all created with something to bring to fruition. Why not revel in it once and while?

~ ATL