Noda Megumi or Nodame was born a genius; she could instantly play the piano the first time she tried. However, she was born into a family that had no understanding of music and wasn’t wealthy, so she didn’t have the opportunity to receive proper training to enhance her skills to become an expert pianist.
When her college friends got asked about their futures, they mostly answered want to win competitions A, B, and C, study abroad, be a professional musician, etc., but Nodame’s dream wasn’t like the others’. She wanted to become a kindergarten teacher. That simple. She often wondered, Why should I participate in competitions? Do I have to achieve and have high goals like my friends? Can’t I just play the piano as I want? and it really struck me.
Nodame began to feel pressure after seeing Chiaki Shinichi, her boyfriend (a successful conductor who was pursuing his dream along with Nodame in their very first college life) perform with a younger and more skilled pianist woman, who had received intensive piano training from her parents since childhood and had won various piano competitions. Nodame ended up forcing herself to and say, I want to be on the same stage as Senpai, too. I HAVE to steal her position. It was not good because she pressured herself a lot, which resulted in losing Nodame’s purpose and hope in life.
Feeling that she was too late to start competing at 23 years old, because her piano playing was too free-spirited and didn’t stay to notation, which was unacceptable in competition standards. As a result, Nodame wasn’t allowed to participate in any competitions until she could play the piano according to the notation.
Nodame felt frustrated, annoyed, and believed that she was “not enough” and unable to stand alongside her boyfriend who was miles ahead of her (having debuted in Europe, etc.), which ultimately made Nodame feel low and question why she played the piano, her goals for studying abroad, and her life’s purpose.
I can so relate to how Nodame feels the need to rush in increasing her piano skill so that she can keep up with her boyfriend, but she’s having trouble enjoying what she does, and she just keeps failing; everything fell apart for her. Seeing how deeply frustrated Nodame was, I could really feel it, especially in the scene where she felt everything was moving so fast while she remained stagnant, making no progress. I ended up crying buckets 😅
But guys, what I took from this movie is you don’t need to force yourself to be someone else just because an “achievement” seems more important than your mental health for this temporary life.
It’s okay if you’re still far from others steps because you walk with your own feet, not with your friends’ feet. Focus and look at your own steps; don’t lose focus on others’ steps, or you might fall. No matter how small they are, it’s still progress. It’s okay if we take longer steps than others; the more journeys we undertake, our steps will eventually become stronger to face the uncertainties of this world.
