Monday, December 2, 2013

the drive to do things well


This morning on NPR's Morning Edition I listened to the talented Yuja Wang chat and giggle while she played portions of the famously difficult Piano Concerto No. 3 by Rachmaninov. The drive she'd had since childhood to play the piano this beautifully made me stop and think (and well up a bit):
"The first thing that really got me was [Mauricio] Pollini's recording of Chopin's etudes. I just really wanted to have the same sound. You know how girls really want a doll or a toy? I really wanted to play the way I wanted to play. So I was really working towards that."
"I really wanted to play the way I wanted to play." I love that. That is what you need to be able to do something so well.