The Piano of Life

a speech by Dennis Sedgwick

I was asked to introduce myself to you this evening
and to tell you about myself.
Rather than giving a 'travel log',
I thought I would tell you just a little about myself,
then share with you a few thoughts that are important to me.

I've been a submarine sailor, and an electronics engineer.
Now I sell industrial electronic and electrical controls.

I've been a Sunday School teacher, a Scoutmaster,
an Elder's Quorum President and a choir director,
and now I'm a stray,
but even though I no longer subscribe to any religion,
I still try to be a good guy.

I've surfed a little and used to crew on racing sailboats,
I've built model railroads and radio control planes,
but for a long time I've been too busy doing things to do anything,
so my main goal right now is to have fun!
I enjoy hiking and backpacking and museums and concerts
and want to try windsurfing and white-water rafting and canoeing or kayaking.
(note: I have since learned to windsurf and have been white-water rafting a few times. I love both.)

I've always loved music.

I have a piano. I like to play it.
I've accepted the fact that I'll never be really good at the piano,
but I still like to play it.

Occasionally when there has been company with children,
the mother or father has said,
'No, Johnny, don't play the piano so hard.'
I tell them that the piano was made to be played hard by adult professionals
who have worked hard to develop their arm and finger muscles.
If a concert pianist can come crashing down on those keys with all his might,
then a child can't hurt that piano.
I tell children, or anyone,
"When you sit down at the piano
experiment making soft notes and loud notes;
get comfortable at the piano.
The first thing you need to decide is
'Who's going to be the boss, you or the piano?'"

When I was a choir director, I had a few bashful singers in the choir.
I would tell them,
"You're here because you like to sing, so sing! Sing out loud!
Don't hold back because you're afraid you'll miss a note or two.
I would rather have the few wrong notes
than miss out on all those hundreds of right ones.
If you hold back you're robbing me and yourself."

I once learned a very graphic lesson about holding back.
When I was in school I loved my speech class,
and even, if you can believe it, my English composition class.
I vowed that I would get an 'A' on every essay I wrote for that class.
And I almost did it.
But one essay in the middle of the semester just wouldn't come out right.
No matter what I tried, no matter how many times I reworked it,
it just wasn't an 'A' to me.
So, I didn't turn it in.
Well, guess what?
At the end of the semester I was one point short of an 'A' in the class.
ONE POINT!
If I had turned in that essay and gotten a 'D' on it,
I would have had that point and gotten an 'A' in the class.
thinking about this, I concluded
that perfectionism is great when you can achieve it,
but when you can't
your best effort is worth a lot more than a cop-out!

So I try not to hold back, but to lead with my best foot
and not rob myself of all those hundreds of right notes.
 

(Address),

Life is a little like my piano.
It takes study and practice to be good at playing the piano,
and it takes study and practice to be good at playing life.
As you practice at the piano of life,
Be alive!
Don't rob yourselves of the hundreds of good notes
by being afraid of the few wrong ones.
Decide for yourself who's going to be the boss,
you or that piano!

Good evening.