The Piano Player

I heard a story over the weekend about a pianist. A friend of mine and his wife were on holiday, enjoying a cruiseship. Not my choice of vacation, but they enjoyed the moving island of never ending buffets. At any rate, my friend is a musician. Not a great one, but certainly accomplished enough to play the piano decently.

During the cruise, while visiting one of the many buffet lines, he noticed an older man playing the piano. He was about 70 years old. He played very well, and in fact so well, that my friend and his wife joined a crowd of groupies that would follow him from deck to deck as he played his rounds. He would visit the various dining halls and play the grand piano in the center area.

Finally, the old man opened a conversation with his traveling roadies. They all commented about how amazing he was, how practiced, how natural. They asked him if he was a formed member of an orchestra or something. How did he become so good?

As it turned out he first starting playing the piano when he turned 60. He always wanted to play, so he decided to pick it up. He just practiced everyday and took the cruise line job for some extra money to supplement his retirement. That is right, only 10 years of practice and he was impressing lifelong artists.

Just goes to show you that you can do things to improve your life, you just need to be willing.

Guy Reams