First Love ?

Nope. The title is definitely not a click bait. I was actually inspired by a song called 'First Love' where the singer/songwriter actual first love is his brown piano that he cherished since young.  I really enjoyed the song since I can relate so much to the content and meaning behind the song although my first love is definitely not a piano but I have been playing this majestic instrument since I was seven. 

Family background 

I was raised in a family of musicians. My dad himself was once an active local Sabahan singer, he also composed and produced songs for his fellow local singers and was the guitarist and vocalist for the band Alam (unfortunately disbanded a few years ago). He is currently a teacher and sometimes he vocal-coached his students and conducted the school's music band. That's my dad right there (proud daughter here * cough * ) and as for my mom...well she likes karaoke? Probably the total opposite of my dad but I still enjoy her singing. As for my siblings. my younger brother plays the violin, drums and guitar, my sister plays the piano as well and my youngest brother plays mobile games. My other relatives are also actively involved in music (and any form of art. Well music is also a form of art). They play musical instruments very well, some of them are singers or dancers but all equally talented.

Story time  

Since I was born to a family with a variety form of musical background, it is certain that I am bound to get involved in music as well and by that my friends, I began to attend piano classes since I was seven and stopped taking classes as I reached seventeen. Although I stopped taking classes due to my schedule, everyday I am still trying to improve myself as a better pianist. 

Welp, seems like I ranted a lot. Back to my sole purpose of writing this post,  I was never interested in taking music seriously. With a seven-year-old me, I reluctantly and unwillingly attended my first music class. I remembered my first time entering the music academy, there was a black grand piano placed nearby the waiting room and I did not reacted at all. I was not fascinated, I was not even curious on how will that thing sounds if I press those black and white keys? Instead, I sat on one of the empty counters near the registration counter while my parents fill in my registration form.

 While waiting for my parents, the lady who manage my registration by the counter gave me a piece of paper and crayons, probably to fill up my boredom or if by any chance that she is some kind of mind reader (or probably she just assumed that every seven-year-old enjoyed coloring/drawing) well if she can really see/read through me, she probably knew that I love to draw. Drawing had always been an activity that I enjoyed as a kid until music came in. Although drawing is also a form of art but since my dad wanted me to focus on music more, I had a choice but I chose to stop drawing. Well I could always continue drawing till I realized that drawing could actually distract me from doing other activities since that time I was that type of child that can barely focus on three or more things. That time at such a young age I had to focus on my studies (I went to a Chinese kindergarten and primary school. No joke, it was quite an experience studying in a Chinese school) and also music. So with that, by time I gradually stopped drawing. I still draw during my free time since my dad had no problem with that too but as time passed by I stopped drawing and started to practice playing the piano more often.

It was not an easy start indeed and at times I tend to be lazy and silently rebelling (by not practicing my piano pieces and pretended to be sick so that I did not need to attend my classes). But as times passed by, as I grew older after I finally got into my senses, I started to take music seriously. I realized that my piano class fees were pricey and my parents basically paid for nothing because of their lazy and ignorant daughter. My dad even saved up to buy an actual piano for me since I had been practicing with just a small electric keyboard. I realized that by playing piano, by learning music theories, it can take me to better places to reach out more valuable and memorable experiences that life could offer me. I believe there is a great purpose for me to get my hands on the piano other than just to full fill our family tradition/musical background. Despite fighting the urge to just give up and neglect my piano lessons, I tried my best in trying to complete my lessons by with this mindset - there is always a purpose for you to discover your talent further.

Wrapping up everything 

Despite having the constant urge to give up as I aged and things got harder for me, but just like playing the piano, if you practice enough, by keeping the fighter's spirit in you, you can go through the difficult phase in life (black keys) but still see the light (white keys) in any dark tunnels you will go pass through. 

Wow that's a lot

And by that ladies and gents is my small part of experience in my journey of discovering myself and music. I deeply apologize if there are any parts of this post that are hard to understand. I am actually gonna divide the title/subject into a few more parts since this is just the beginning of my First Love (I am sure gonna cringe later on and I have not really share how I define my 'first love' and how it connects to my little music journey). Please stay tuned! Much love <3

|aelvina| 

P/S: I will probably insert a picture of my baby piano in my upcoming post :)