First Keys

“Every musical life begins with the same brave act.

Small hands rest on the keys of a grand piano. Golden light turns the moment into something eternal. No one has yet asked this child to be good. She is only touching. Only listening. Only reaching.

There is a version of every one of us who has not yet been told what we are not good at. We have all met that version of ourselves — and we have all, at some point, let the world convince us to forget her. Watching a child touch a piano returns her to us for a moment. She is still here. She has just been quiet.

This photograph isn’t about childhood.

It’s about the version of you who has not yet been discouraged.

What would you try in your life today if no one had ever told you what you weren’t good at?”