by Heather Baldwin - August, 2021

Cal Newport, one of my favorite bloggers, once observed, “Passion comes after you put in the hard work to become excellent at something valuable, not before.” Newport writes about the intersection of technology and culture. But he may as well have been writing about learning an instrument because when it comes to passion for playing music, he nailed it: The joy follows the work.

This is an important message at a time when the machinery of school and extracurricular activities is cranking back up. With many demands on a student’s time, it’s easy to push off piano practice, enter a cycle of under-preparation, and consequently begin to find piano a source of stress and anxiety. When this happens for a prolonged period, or when it happens in frequent intervals, parents start hearing that piano isn’t “fun” or the student “doesn’t want to do piano any more.” 

When you hear these kinds of statements, take a closer look: Is piano not enjoyable because the student doesn’t have a real affinity for music? Or is it not fun because the student isn’t putting in the time (especially those first three critical days after a lesson) to become excellent at it? In the vast majority of cases, it’s the latter.

I see this again and again, year after year, in both micro and macro cycles: when a student starts coming to lessons unable to play what they were assigned to learn (and often unable to remember what we worked on the previous week) because they didn’t put in any work, their enthusiasm for playing is just about zero. There’s no passion because there’s no mastery. However, as soon as a performance is coming up and they feel some pressure to practice, there's a complete turnaround. With a little practice, they can play their music, which makes it fun, which makes them want to play it even more, which makes them excellent. 

Suddenly, they are avid fans of piano again. They feel the pride and joy that comes from playing something well – and knowing they are playing it well. They want to perform for their friends and family. I start hearing, “I love piano!” and excitement for the next challenge. 

What changes in these cases? Nothing external. Not the instrument. Not the music or the teacher or the fundamental approach to learning. What changes is effort. The student becomes passionate because they put in the work to become excellent. 

Passion follows effort. Every time. 

That’s not to say piano – or learning an instrument in general – is for everyone. It’s not. Certainly, there are kids who, even after mastering a piece they like and playing it with excellence don’t derive a lot of joy or get any real creative satisfaction from it. But in my experience, that’s a very small minority of the population. 

Much more often, a lack of passion doesn’t mean it’s time to quit – only that it’s time to practice.