Feel the Music Anonymous

The piano is predictable. If I hit the right key, it will play the same note every time, and if I play a song correctly, there will always be harmony. Life is unpredictable and always changing; thus, the piano is a logical safe haven. The piano is my happy place, be it the one in my home or the one in my church. Life will happen as it may, but the piano is always there for me.

Simple notes ring under my fingers before developing into a slow and more complex melody, which tells the story of two in love, struggling to not give up. This is “Falling Slowly,” my favorite song to play on the piano. The song crescendos with emotion as I pour myself into the music. I have played this song and others multiple times on the piano for over seven years.

Being a part of music in my church youth choir, recitals, or high school marching band, has taught me how to work with other people in a unified goal of either performing or sharing our faith. Musical group performance allows me the perspective of blending in, when I have spent much of my life standing out. What sets me apart is that I am deaf.

Being a deaf musician appears an oxymoron, yet Bach once said that being a musician “is nothing remarkable, […] all one has to do is hit the right notes...