
When Austin Kleon posted a photo of some handwritten piano music on his Instagram stories, I screenshot it out of curiosity.
Last night I pulled up that screenshot and played through the four bars on repeat and fell in love.
Avril 14th by Aphex Twins is a short but beautiful piece, repetitive but satisfying, wistful but not melancholy. Basically the perfect song to learn on piano.
I started playing the piano at the age of four but never accomplished much on it (other than writing my own songs).
I would cry if forced to practice by my parents, never did grades and I can’t remember ever memorising a piece of music. Now feels like the time to apply some self-discipline and memorise a small piece from start to finish, just to prove my ten year old self that practicing piano isn’t actually too hard or unbearable.
This is my favourite version of the song, played on the pedal steel guitar by Will Van Horn (who also has a fantastic EP on Spotify and co.)