But as anyone who actually has made the effort to play the piano knows, it is also infinitely more satisfying and moving to make the music yourself, even if you can't play very well. It's the difference between watching a romantic movie and being in love. Love is not just for professionals, after all. And what makes love so heartbreaking and beautiful is that we are not perfect, that it is ultimately beyond our control and that we must struggle for joy and wrestle with our shortcomings.
Smitten, Cooke recalls a world much of which has faded or vanished, not least the spanking new Steinway baby grands for $985 he helpfully lists along with the $3 rentals. But the music he exalts hasn't. Nor have the benefits of learning to play the music. They go on forever.
- Michael Kimmelman, from the introduction to Charles Cooke's 1941 Playing the Piano for Pleasure
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