First, sit down.

This is already dangerous.

There are eighty-eight keys
and each
has an attorney.

Do not begin with C.

C has been expecting you.

Hit an F-sharp
and see who complains.

The left hand is transportation.
Give it gasoline.
Send it west.

The right hand is an unreliable witness.
Let it testify.

If you play a wrong note,
repeat it immediately.

Once is a mistake.
Twice is a theory.
Four times is contemporary music.

Avoid looking at the audience.

They have their own problems.

Someone in the third row
is thinking about parking.

Someone else remembering
a person who died in 1997.

Not your responsibility. Keep playing.

If you become lost,
do not return home.

The interesting neighbourhoods
have no street signs.

Play softer
until you can hear
the piano thinking.

Then play louder
than your biography.

Forget your teachers.

Forget the reviewers.

Forget the musician
you were supposed to become.

He missed the train years ago
and is probably happier for it.

Eventually
your hands will play something
you did not authorize.

Now we are getting somewhere.

Do not interfere.

The piano has been waiting
all evening
for you to get out of the way.