Almost everyone is musical. Music is an actual bodily need. Another saying goes ‘If something is worth doing, it is worth doing well,’ but I disagree. Like Chesterton, I feel that if something is worth doing, it is worth doing even badly. Playing the piano is not something to be graded. Adults should take it up the moment they feel the need to play music. As a matter of course, children should be given lessons without pressure. Playing the piano should be an act without material value. It must be a road of discovery, a trackless territory, and never a means of showing off. The piano won’t serve the ego’s craving for recognition.
—David Dubal, excerpted from the pianist’s recent article “Let’s Tickle the Ivories” inThe New Criterion
~Susan Leem, associate producer
