# frustrated playing piano!



## playpiano

Does anyone else who plays an instrument get frustrated when they cant perfect a song or scales or anything like that. I sometimes get so annoyed if i cant do certain things and it makes me hate playing piano. Just wondering whether this sometimes happens to other people or its just me.


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## Ravndal

Sure. I have raged a couple of times. Then I usually get some fresh air (or exercise), and start over again


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## PetrB

Of course! 

You have to remember you have signed up to challenge yourself, not having chosen something which you know is a snap and which you could get down in one quarter of a year. That is more the arena of many a popular video games -- become expert fast, feel great about yourself, lol.

In any fine art or performing art, you will forever be up against "excellence" and there will always be further you could go, ask any of the most prestigious and famous of the highest caliber performers... they would agree, they will never 'arrive' at the goal of perfection.


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## JupiterJones

I'd imagine that _everybody _has had that experience--numerous times.

Part of the problem is that, when we look at examples of musical art, be it compositions or performances, we're just seeing the end product. We rarely get to see the _process_ that resulted in that product. The hours of sweat and frustration and despair and struggle. That all essentially vanishes by the time we encounter the art.

Which sometimes makes it seem like there's something _wrong_ when we run into these same walls ourselves. But there's not anything wrong, of course. It's all perfectly normal. We just develop skewed perspectives due to most of our examples being "finished", leading us to believe that it should be easy.


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## playpiano

JupiterJones said:


> I'd imagine that _everybody _has had that experience--numerous times.
> 
> Part of the problem is that, when we look at examples of musical art, be it compositions or performances, we're just seeing the end product. We rarely get to see the _process_ that resulted in that product. The hours of sweat and frustration and despair and struggle. That all essentially vanishes by the time we encounter the art.
> 
> Which sometimes makes it seem like there's something _wrong_ when we run into these same walls ourselves. But there's not anything wrong, of course. It's all perfectly normal. We just develop skewed perspectives due to most of our examples being "finished", leading us to believe that it should be easy.


Yeah this is so true and easy to forget when practising


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## hreichgott

All the time. It happens to the greatest of performers too. Don't forget that the most important person to compare yourself to is the version of YOU from yesterday, or last week. If you got better from yesterday or last week, then you're getting better and that is great.


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## PetrB

hreichgott said:


> All the time. It happens to the greatest of performers too. Don't forget that the most important person to compare yourself to is the version of YOU from yesterday, or last week. If you got better from yesterday or last week, then you're getting better and that is great.


Amen to that, too. In music performance, you can only truly compete with yourself.


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## PianistFingers

Sure! Learning piano drove me round the bend sometimes, still does. It's worth it though!


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