1. Do you think you conformed as a teenager?
a. “We did a lot of that (conformity). It was a small town of only about 2 thousand. I grew up in a small group of people. Family was very important growing up. My family was very important.”
2. Do you think you were pressured to conform?
a. “I just went along I guess, to be social. I never felt pressured though.” “Some kids smoked and others drank but I didn’t do any of that. I was my own person.” “They stayed my friends though and didn’t pressure me to do any of that.” “I wasn’t a conformer.”
1. Did your parents pressure you to practice and play, or were they against your musical passion?
a. “My family wasn’t very musical…but if my father gave it a chance I think he would have been very musical.”
b. “They didn’t pressure me into play. My dad was happy about my passion but he wasn’t happy that I wouldn’t play for people. My mother just thought of it as something I would do.”
2. How do you think the pressure you received from playing piano affect your feelings towards it?
a. “I even got sick from the pressure of playing. I couldn’t take it. It caused me not to play a lot. I couldn’t stand playing in competitions.”
b. “I did well in competitions and I don’t know why I felt so pressured. I was just hard on myself.”
c. “One judge praised me as very talented and said I would progress very well. He gave me perfect marks for one of my pieces but I still came out of the competition crying because I did not think I did well enough.
d. “I remember he wrote ‘very talented and keen.’”
e. “I wasn’t cut out for performing, I was just to sensitive.”
f. “I was very hard on myself and I think that may be because of my teacher, but also myself.”
3. If you could go back and do it again, would you change anything?
a. “I would have gone to college.” “I was interested in a broader education, not just piano. But they thought I should major in music. I was really interested in getting a good education.”
good interview!
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