Why do mothers plague their children to play the piano? I have often wondered this exciting question, and have finally decided to write about it. For example, my mother (and many other mothers I know), tell their children the lame excuse that they will go somewhere (when they make their debut into the world) and no one but them will be able to play the piano, and they will be so glad they learned. This baffles me – because I have experienced this example and have found I felt the opposite, because once people know you can play the piano – you play none stop. The legitimate excuse you can play only five hymns, does not faze them in the slightest – they think you can play all 341, from “The Morning Breaks” to “God Save the King”. Another reason the excuse “no one but them will be able to play the piano” confuses me is that it seems about at least half the population plays an instrument (almost all of those instrumental people play the piano, and then another instrument – of course, unless they just play the piano!). So, unless I am at a place with only one other person, the chances of me (or any other piano student) being the only one who can play the piano – is very slim.