Life as played on a Piano

Music is one of the greatest creations of mankind which touches the soul and also helps man to emotionally reveal the inner beauty and humanity within him. It is a common language which everyone in this world, black or white, can understand and enjoy. It also has the wonderful force that is capable of bonding people together. All of us have enjoyed music at least more than once in our lives. They may be joyous moments or sorrowful moments. Music has the power to blend with any human emotion, creating heart touching moments.

Other than the human voice, there are many musical instruments which can produce music. Among them, the piano is one of the greatest musical instruments invented throughout the history of music. The story of the piano begins in Padua, Italy in 1709, in the shop of a harpsichord maker named Bartolomeo di Francesco Cristofori. The new instrument was named gravicembalo col piano e forte (meaning “soft and loud keyboard instrument”). Later it was shortened to pianoforte as it was designed to play softly (piano in Italian) and loudly (forte in Italian) on the same keyboard, and finally known as the piano now-a-days.

Piano music is written based on a scale, major (happy sound) or minor (sad sound). There are white keys and black keys in a piano and there are high notes and low notes as well. Composers combine together all these notes and keys in a piece of music. The piano has a rich tone and can be played in different styles as it produces both the melody and accompaniment. It can simply be considered like a whole orchestra where the pianist has full control of the music.

The music of a piano can be related closely to life. White keys resemble happiness and black keys resemble sadness. The journey of life is made up of happy moments as well as sad moments. Sometimes we hit the high notes, sometimes we hit the low notes. Sometimes we face many ups and downs during life. The music you get depends on the way you play the piano. What you get out of your life depends on what you do during the course of your life. You have the freedom and strength to write your own music and play it on the piano as you wish. You have the freedom and strength to write the story of your life and live happily as you desire. Never feel down if setbacks occur in your life. None of us are perfect. Always keep on playing your music and enjoy every moment.

Life is like a piano. What you get out of it depends on how you play it.

-Tom Lehrer-