"40 Taylor Swift Songs" and the value of easy music

Taylor Lane, The News Courier, Athens, Ala.
Updated ·2 min read
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Jan. 18—As artists, it's easy to think that anything worth doing comes with some sort of difficulty. This couldn't be further from the truth.

I recently picked up a copy of "40 Taylor Swift Songs: Really Easy Piano" after my partner asked me to play her a Taylor Swift song. This was the only Taylor Swift songbook available at the music store, and I brought it home, even though it is below my proficiency level.

As the name would imply, the book is not challenging. The treble offers a simple melody with the right hand, while the bass mainly consists of basic whole note intervals for the left hand.

It would have been easy for me to look at the book and deem it as a waste of my time and money due to it not offering a challenge. The truth is, it makes me (and my partner) happy, but also playing any music — regardless of difficulty level — encourages growth.

You don't have to sit down every session and pick up your most difficult piece of music to grow as a musician. If you always play challenging music, you'll burn yourself out. Discouragement is the killer of art.

This is especially true in the early stages of learning. At the beginning it's much more important to play things that get you excited about learning. Scales are boring. Ode to Joy is boring. Red River Valley is boring. Exercises are boring.

Playing scales and exercises over and over and over again is soul crushing to any skill level, even if it is valuable and necessary.

While the value of learning challenging pieces of music and being proficient in scales and exercises can't be stressed enough, it's important to supplement these things with songs you enjoy that are at or below your skill level to maintain your motivation to learn.

Anything worth doing is worth taking the easy way, if that's what you can offer that day. If 10 minutes of playing your favorite easy song is all you can do today, do it.

It is better to play an arrangement from "40 Taylor Swift Songs: Really Easy Piano" for 10 minutes than it is to play nothing at all.