I'm enjoying this interesting thread! I guess there is more than one definition of "play". Does "play piano" necessarily mean that one must be able to play FROM SIGHT any piece of sheet music placed on the music desk? Does being able to "play piano" include those persons who have a phenomenal gift for playing any tune "by ear", including many 'classical' pieces, but who cannot play from sight? Personally, I can't honestly say that I play piano. It is a huge hole in my life. When I grew up in the 1960s, there wasn't the spare money for lessons, there was a dearth of good teachers in the area, and it wasn't fashionable anyway. But I love the piano and piano music so much, I wish I could play. I have no gift at all for playing "by ear", BUT, I have taught myself a variety of pieces by painstakingly picking the notes off the sheet music and committing to memory - "finger memory". Thus, I can rattle off Chopin's Waltz in Ab Op 69 # 1, Chopin's Prelude #15, Gershwin's 2nd Prelude, Kern's "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes", a couple of pages of Rondo Grazioso from Beethoven Sonata # 2 (very rusty now), Bach Prelude #1, etc etc. So I can at least rattle out a few things, and customers often seem impressed! I do feel that if one cannot play any tune AT ALL, some dimension must be missing - how can one truly get a "feel" for different pianos, regulation etc? And where is the joy in the piano? Even the few things I have learned to play, afford me a great deal of playing pleasure. Best wishes, David.
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