Senior Angela Yang’s fondest memory of her many years of playing piano is placing at the state competition in eighth grade. She was surrounded by friends she had grown up playing with and simply got to showcase her talents.
“When I got third place in states in eighth grade, it was very rewarding,” Angela said.
Angela started playing the piano when her parents signed her up for lessons at the age of four; she is no longer taking lessons, but she still plays her piano now. Her lessons stopped in freshman year; now, she plays for herself and no one else. She gets to choose her own music, usually by her favorite composer Chopin, and how much time she dedicates to playing.
“Honestly, I like [playing on my own] more than lessons,” Angela said, “because when I was doing lessons, I would always get really stressed out because there was a specific amount of time I had to practice every day, and I had lessons every week. Now, I just play whenever I feel like it or whenever I’m in the mood.”
Angela, though her love for piano is strong, probably would have quit playing long before 10th grade had it not been for the friends she made through lessons. One of these friends, alumna Abby Zhang, and Angela had lessons, recitals, concerts, and duets together.
I think learning to play the piano has helped me learn how to improvise more in different scenarios in my life
Piano has affected Angela in many ways since she has made friends and learned plenty of life lessons. She had learned one of FHC’s core values that World History teacher Brad Anderson quotes every day, “Improvise, Adapt, and Overcome,” before even stepping foot in the high school.
“I think learning to play the piano has helped me learn how to improvise more in different scenarios in my life,” Angela said. “Sometimes, when I make a mistake, like [if] I slip up playing a note or something, I [just have to keep going] and have to learn how to recover from that. I think that’s a pretty helpful skill [that I can apply] to real life.”
Improvising is not the only life lesson piano has taught Angela. She has also learned how to handle obstacles that are thrown in her path and take life one step at a time, just like she takes learning new music the piano one chunk of the song at a time.
“I think sometimes you can get overwhelmed with how difficult pieces are,” Angela said. “So, I think taking a small chunk of a song at a time and focusing and learning that and then just taking steps to learn [additional pieces of the song] can make it less frustrating, which also just applies to life in general.”
She especially uses this now as she is attempting to learn a difficult and famous song “Fantaisie-Impromptu” composed by Chopin. Angela holds much adoration for Chopin and his style of music: classical.
Though Anglea did not choose to put herself in piano lessons (she was four, so she really had no choice), she does not regret a moment of her time spent learning the instrument she loves. And though she does not plan to make a future out of playing the piano, the piano will always be a part of her future.
Piano has taught Angela life lessons, helped her forge relationships, and given her a hobby that can last a lifetime. Piano in general has been a rewarding gift to Angela.
“I think [piano is very fulfilling in general],” Angela said. “When you finally can play the whole piece and [the song] actually sounds good, you are filled with a sense of reward.”
