我的学琴历程：练钢琴教我自律

冰球、游泳、美术、跆拳道、网球、钢琴，我在一年之内放弃了其中五项活动。冰球太难学，游泳太累人，美术太枯燥，跆拳道完全不是我的菜。但是，钢琴却是我坚持至今的一项活动。它不仅让我学到弹琴的技巧，还让我在生活中的其他方面亦获益匪浅。

Hockey, swimming, art, taekwondo, tennis, piano. Within a year I gave up five of these activities. Hockey was too difficult, swimming became tiring, art got tedious, and taekwondo is completely out of the picture. Piano however was the one activity I’ve kept to this day, and it has benefited my life in more ways than learning how to play.

我父亲坚决不允许我放弃学琴的理由是要我学会守纪和自律。当然，对于当时只有十几岁且自认无所不知的我来说，父亲的智语不过是过耳云烟而已。但最后事实证明，学琴带给我的最大益处之一就是教会我自律。

The biggest reason my father would never let me quit piano was because I needed to learn discipline. Of course being in my preteens I was an entitled know-it-all and didn’t give a second thought on my father’s words of wisdom. In the end, one of the greatest things I took away from piano was learning how to discipline myself. 

和大多数孩子一样，我一开始也痛恨学琴。因为每天都必须坐在那里一遍又一遍地弹奏同一首曲子让我感到无聊和乏味至极。但无论我如何恳求和哭喊，我停止学琴的祈求都得不到批准。

Like most kids, I initially hated piano. Having to sit there every day repeating the same songs over and over became juvenile and a complete bore. No matter how much I begged and cried, I was never allowed to quit. 

最终，这种痛恨感渐渐消失，并转变为对音乐的欣赏。当然我每天半个小时以上的练琴剥夺了我和朋友出去玩儿和做其他更有趣活动的机会，仍然会让我感到不快。但是当我以“我在练琴”为由拒绝他人的邀请时，心中也会油然升起一股自豪感，它让我感到我也有某种兴趣爱好，不属于每天大部分时间都是在电脑屏幕前度过的游戏族。毕竟，有一技之长总比什么都没有好。

Eventually my hatred of piano began to turn into appreciation. Of course it was still aggravating having to sit there for more than just 30 mins when I could have been with my friends playing outside or anything more entertaining than piano. However, there were proud moments where I could say “oh I play piano” instead of just saying I had zero hobbies and spent majority of the day in front of a computer screen. It was definitely better than nothing.

一晃几年过去了，我对钢琴也有了全新的认识。随着水平不断提高，我不再只是弹奏老旧、简单并且长度只有两分钟的曲子，我的保留曲目变得更加“精致”，其中包括肖邦、德彪西和贝多芬的名曲。不过，我从来没有，也绝不可能成为巴赫的粉丝。

Fast forward a couple years later, I have a whole new impression of piano. Now being in a higher level, instead of old, simple, two minute songs, my repertoire was more “sophisticated”, playing well-known songs by Chopin, Debussy, and Beethoven. I was never and will never be a fan of Bach however. 

弹琴显然可以帮助我舒缓压力，但其带给我的好处远不止于此。我今天几乎所有的成功都要归功于学琴过程中的苦练和自律。回头想想，一件在我年幼时堪称最令我深恶痛绝的东西竟然渐渐变成了我最宝贵的资产，这是何等有趣。

Piano definitely helped me cope with stress but it wasn’t the only asset it gave me. I probably owe almost all of my success today to piano. Thinking back on it, it’s funny how the one thing I probably hated the most when I was younger became my greatest asset. 

在多年的学琴历程中，我吸取到的最大经验教训就是熟能生巧。当然，你肯定经常听到这句话，这可能已是老生常谈。但是，练钢琴真的教会我如果我想要在未来取得成功，我就必须付出最大的努力，脚踏实地地勤学苦练。

Through years of routine practicing with piano, the greatest lesson I ever took away was practice makes perfect. Of course you hear that saying constantly and it’s probably the most obvious thing ever said. But piano really taught me that if I ever wanted to succeed in anything in the coming future, I would have to give my greatest effort and just honestly put the time into doing whatever it was.

我在上初中时成绩并不优异。当时最主要的问题是我学习方法不当，尽管我自认已经将所有精力都投入到学习中。但是在我渐渐长大后，我开始认识到成绩不佳并不仅仅是因为自己学习方法不当，而是根本就没有学进去。

Back in middle school I didn’t have the best grades. At the time the main reason was because I didn’t study properly, even though I believed I was putting in all my effort. However when I grew older, I realized it wasn’t only because I didn’t study properly, I wasn’t studying at all.

 

高中最后一年对我至关重要，期间的每一次测试成绩都与我的大学申请息息相关。由于我在过去14年里已经日益习惯于每天坐在那张小小的黑色钢琴凳上反复练习同一首曲子，我也因此能够将这种“技能”转化到学习功课上。我每天可以心无旁骛地坐在那里连续学习六到七个小时，而这种努力的结果就是我拿到了梦寐以求的大学录取通知书。

In my final year of high school, the stakes couldn’t be higher. Every test was another contribution to my university applications. Because I had grown accustomed to sitting on that little black stool every day for the past 14 years repeating the same thing over and over, I was able to transfer that “skill” towards my studies. I was able to just sit and study for six, seven hours a day and have no problems. The results? Acceptances into my dream schools. 

如果将我的初中成绩和高中成绩进行比较，你就会看到我的进步，而这所有的改变都要归功于练琴的磨练，因为通过这种磨练，我学会了自律和刻苦。

If you compare my grades from middle school to high school, all of the change has piano to thank for. It was because of piano I learned to discipline myself and study hard.