The goal of my learning project is a childhood dream of mine. I loved music all my life. As a little girl, I was always dancing and singing and whenever people asked me what I would like to become when I grow up, I would tell them the Romania singer, Corina Chiriac.

Quite young, I had this dream of learning how to play the piano. At that time and place, I am guessing that would have been quite the challenge for my parents, and my only option was to play the violin, since I got a used violin from my cousin. I just couldn’t imagine myself playing the violin, so I picked nothing. Later on, my mom would tell me that the piano wasn’t a good fit for me because of my small hands and short fingers. I never even tried it later on knowing that I wouldn’t succeed anyways.

At the age of 40, I was finally able to learn how to ride a bike. Both of my children learnt before me and I just didn’t want to miss out on knowing what it feels like riding a bike. I remember going outside after dark to practice and one day the magic happened and one of my elderly neighbours started screaming inside her house “You, did it!”

It is a great feeling to learn new things. Am I proficient bike rider? Get out of the way if you see me coming! Haha…  But I did the hardest step, overcoming my fear. Fear of falling, fear of failing, and fear of being judged. Looking back, I learnt many things, and most of them I had to figure out on my own without having an instructor telling me what to do and how to do it properly. I often wonder what it would feel like to know these things proficiently. 

So here I am taking EC&I 831 at the age of 41 and I am feeling extremely happy to have the chance to learn something new. I am going to focus on learning how to play the piano. I feel so fortunate. Looking at my own life, I see this as once in a lifetime opportunity. I know it is going to be a complex journey since I have to overcome a major negative thought in the back of my mind that has been following me since my childhood but I am confident, because I am learning it together with my children. We pretty much started around the same time at the beginning of September, the only difference is that they both had played an instrument before. 

From a great podcast on learning how to play the piano, I got three very valuable pieces of advice: be patient with yourself, never compare yourself to others and trust yourself.

I am planning to use social media and face to face interaction as part of my learning process. This time I am also going to have a piano teacher by my side, since I want to feel that I am doing things the right way, by having the opportunity to get guidance and answers for my questions. I think that it is crucial to learn the basics well and correctly to be able to build on in the future.

I am very excited about my learning project. It literally brightens my days giving me something to look forward each and every day. I cannot wait to see how far I can get in the next three months as well as in a couple of years.

Thank you for being part of my journey. I will keep you posted!

Melinda