“We must choose joy and keep choosing it.” – Henri Nouwen
Today’s post is about a “joy” challenge that I recently gave myself at the piano and it is geared toward piano players with very large, cultivated repertoires that can sometimes get to feel a bit unwieldy!
I thought it would just be fun to dare myself to take on this 66 day challenge (read my previous post on the 66 day challenge here), and was it an eye opener. After many years of piano playing, to riffle through my piano music that I have played in all kinds of professional contexts was no small feat. A set of repertoires played for weddings, corporate gigs, ecumenical services, choral concerts, musical theater, holiday shows, piano teaching, concerts, original music, and more, all sort of floated in my mind in a kind of kaleidescopic way.
Each day, nevertheless, I challenged myself to tune into my inner compass to what I very most wanted to play at the piano on any given day and to prioritize that to the degree possible.
Allowing myself to embrace the chaos and collision of my inspirations and obligations though, and still to insist on letting myself play my heart’s first pick of repertoire for the day felt like a daring, joy-making, and dopamine-inducing daily decision. Even if I didn’t always get to play it as the first part of my day, for whatever reason though, I made sure to fit it in before day’s end.
This challenge was the only challenge that I actually allowed myself to stop before 66 days because it was so effective. It reassured me that there is still more space in my heart for new piano music, no matter how much piano music I have already played.
What would happen if you dared yourself to play what you really wanted to play as your first pick of any piano-playing day? Be welcome to comment and share how you make room for joy in your piano practice.
Hi! I’m Isabel Marcheselli, NCTM, an artist teacher. If you liked this post, please “like,” “favorite,” leave a comment, or “share” it with others to show your support – it really helps me to reach others out there – thanks! Also follow this blog and visit my links at: https://linktr.ee/marchesellimusic
