When I was a kid, I took piano lessons from the age of seven to thirteen. I didn’t like practicing so my parents often had to get on my case about it  (= put pressure on me to do it). However, I loved the feeling of achievement that I got from completing a piece. The biggest reward of all was playing it in front of my peers (= classmates) because I could show off my skills and finger speed.

The most beautiful piece that I ever learned to play was the theme song of the movie ‘The Piano’ starring Holly Hunter, Harvey Keitel and a very young Anna Paquin. Holly Hunter won an academy award for her performance in this movie.

When you listen to the theme song, the melody is so deep and moving that you can’t help but (=it’s hard not to) get emotional. It took a long time to get the piece down (= master the skill of playing it) on the piano, but when it was finished I was really proud. I played it often for my peers and it made me quite popular with the girls, too. The ironic thing (= the thing people wouldn’t expect) was that I was too young to watch the movie ‘The Piano’, and I still haven’t seen it to this day.

These days, I regret not continuing to work on my piano skills. Obviously (= clearly), I haven’t made any progress since I quit practicing, but I still have a lot of muscle memory left in my fingers. This means that I can sit at a piano and, without even thinking, let my fingers play ‘The Piano’ theme song. This is a nice suprize for people who never knew I could play the piano. 

Have you seen the movie 'The Piano'? What do you think about it?