「故事·听力」I Am A Piano Prodigy And I Hate It
I Am A Piano Prodigy And I Hate It
This is Julia. The chances are a lot of you guys play a musical instrument. Julia plays the piano, and to be honest she’s quite good at it. She gets better and better every year, but she’s actually pretty unhappy about her situation – here’s why.
Julia started taking piano classes when she was about five. Of course, it was her parents’ idea, since at that age she didn’t know very much about music, although as a child she was always very active and curious. Most of the activities she engaged in didn’t last long, because she would lose interest really fast, so maybe at the time she just thought playing piano was something she was going to do for only a week or two.
Obviously, that turned out to not be the case. When Julia’s mom was younger, she also learned to play the piano, and she in fact got pretty good at it. She was even planning to move to Europe and to enter some fancy conservatory in Vienna, where she hoped to become the best – probably in the world! But then she met her dad, chose to go to the law school in the college he went to, and Julia was born a couple of years later.
So maybe that’s why she insisted that her daughter kept playing, even when she became tired of it after a couple of months.
Because the fact was that Julia…just didn’t enjoy it that much. The other thing was that her first piano teacher was just terrible. She was so old it seemed she had been playing the instrument since it was invented. She was also quite mean, and seemed to think that shouting at her after every mistake was a good way to make her love her classes.
When she complained to her mom, she told Julia that her piano teacher had treated her even worse, and that this was basically the only way to master the piano! But she didn’t believe that then, and she still doesn’t now. When she was about eleven she got a new teacher, who was way nicer, but it seems that by then it was too late: she already hated her piano classes.
And the funny thing was that even though she had to FORCE herself to sit down and practice every time, she actually became quite adept at playing the instrument. It’s not that she’s bragging or anything, but people who heard her play kept saying that her skill level was quite amazing for her age, and that she clearly had a talent. Maybe that is why she didn’t have to practice as much as some other kids. Okay, okay, that does sound like bragging, sorry.
During those years she participated in a lot of piano competitions. She didn’t win all of them, of course, but she did have some success. Her mom set up a huge stand right there in their living room for the awards she was supposed to win. But even with all the awards Julia has won, it’s still half-empty. And her mom loves to say that all the empty space there is for her to fill. And you should see her face when she’s sitting there watching her play on stage. She’s just overwhelmed by her talent, which makes Julia feel a bit awkward really.
Her mom’s got it all planned out for her: after she finishes high school, Julia’s going to a classical conservatory in Europe like her mom was supposed to. At least that’s the conclusion they reach after the conversation they have every other month, and she seems one hundred percent sure it will happen like this.
Of course Julia’s tried many times to tell her mom that she’s not sure she even likes playing the piano. But when she does, her mom just smiles and says that’s just her being lazy, and that she’ll be grateful for her talent when she grows up. And every time they talk, Julia ends up believing her and she feels a little better. And winning contests certainly does feel nice, although it only takes a couple of days for the joy to fade away.
At the same time there are things she’d really like to do. For example, her school has a girls’ soccer team – and Julia loves soccer. At the start of the current school year she joined the team as a goalkeeper. She started training, and that was probably the happiest time of her life – because, well, she was doing what she loves! Needless to say, her mother didn’t like it. She would ignore all the matches they played, and she wouldn’t even ask what the score was!
About a month ago her team had a very important match with a neighboring school. They won two-nil and she saved every single shot her team conceded. She was so happy!
At the very end of the game she hurt her finger a little. It wasn’t broken, it just hurt a little. The team doctor said it would be fine in a couple of days, but she knew her mom would be furious.
Her reaction was a disaster. She was so angry that Julia would miss piano practice because of it. She said sports – especially soccer, and especially goalkeeping – were dangerous for her hands, and that her priority should be playing the piano and becoming the best at it.