There are no set rules as to who and why people play piano but the reasons tend to fall into 3 categories:

Children:

The most common group of people who play piano are children. On the rare occasion, a child may (on his own accord) ask to play piano. However, more likely, children play piano because their parents' ask them to. So the question then becomes why do parents want their children to play piano?

For the most part, parents understand the value of music and want their children to enjoy the benefits that music offers. Piano is a good first-instrument so parents encourage their children to play the piano as an introduction into the world of music.

Mature:

A second category of piano players are older folks: people who are 50+ years old. Typically, these people had piano lessons when they were young but stopped playing as life got busy and complicated. Now that their lives are settled (have steady job, kids are in college, mortgage is almost paid off), they want to revisit that time when piano songs filled the air.

These people may have enjoyed playing piano when they were young or they may have hated it with a passion. However, now that they are older, they appreciate their parents for giving them the opportunity to learn the piano.

One-Timers:

Aside from the young and the old, who and why else do people play piano? Interestingly, a third set of piano players are what I call "One-time hopefuls". These are people who want to play piano for a specific reason. For example, a child wants to learn how to play the theme song to Star Wars or Harry Potter because he loves the movie immensely. Or, a gentleman wants to impress a lady friend by playing her favorite song on the piano.

What these hopefuls fail to understand is that playing the piano takes time, practice, and commitment. One-time goals are difficult to accomplish if you do not have basic knowledge of piano playing and note reading. This is particularly difficult (if not impossible) if they do not have access to a piano for practicing.

These one-time-hopefuls may or may not accomplish their goal but their reason for playing the piano lacks longevity. In the case of a child who wants to play a specific song, he can find success if he is determined (some children can be surprisingly tenacious). In the case of the lady friend, either the couple lives happily ever after or they separate: long-term happiness is not determined by a single song.

Can you think of other reasons as to who or why people play the piano? What's your reason? Send me a note.

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