In this world of specialization, people give me the impression that they believe that we should not bother doing anything unless we can be number one unless we can be the best. However, not everyone can be number one at one specialized task. Even if someone was able to accomplish such a feat, they would have to relinquish this title once someone better came along (because someone with superior talent always comes along).

So why bother learning a technique like how to play an instrument?

1. Passion

To put it in mathematical terms, Passion > Competition every time. What is the one thing that tends to bring everyone together? Listening to the same sounds, which is normally in the form of beautiful music. Music is a universal phenomenon that can tug on everyone's heartstrings at the same time, and usually the same heartstring. Learning to play an instrument opens up many possibilities for a person to enrich his/her/their life:

2. Making a song your own

There is a reason why people are allowed to monetize covers of original songs on YouTube: making a cover of a song is making a new version of the song. Sometimes people love a piece of music so much that they want to be a part of it, but they cannot be apart of it unless they somehow make their own version of it. People do this by becoming a part of orchestras, quartets, trios, bands, and duets. To learn an instrument, in my case piano, is to learn how to make my favorite songs come to life without turning on an iPod or Youtube.

3. You don't have to be the best to play beautifully

Music is an art form, and that art form is enhanced by hard work and practice. Anyone can learn how to play a beautiful piece of music. They just have to choose the piece they want to learn and practice long enough. Perhaps they will only manage to get to an intermediate skill level, but even at that intermediate skill level is the capability to make almost any song beautiful.

4. It's a healthy form of expression

Emotions are infused within music, and sometimes we need to express them. Music is a healthy way to express emotions without allowing those emotions to overwhelm us or drive us in an unhealthy manner. Music is an art form that allows us to express our emotions and control our emotions.