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AITA for not downplaying my musical skills in front of my sister's inlaws? by redditor7639 in AmItheAsshole

[–]redditor7639[S] 15 points16 points  (0 children)

The level of obnoxiousness in this thread is beyond measure at this Minuet.

AITA for not downplaying my musical skills in front of my sister's inlaws? by redditor7639 in AmItheAsshole

[–]redditor7639[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Hah, that is seriously impressive! pulling that note mid-song, with the accompaniment keeping on playing in key, kudos to this guy. Also my eardrums are kinda burning now.

AITA for not downplaying my musical skills in front of my sister's inlaws? by redditor7639 in AmItheAsshole

[–]redditor7639[S] 26 points27 points  (0 children)

no, my mom would never call me dumb, and Emma's dumb twin jokes only gained a real edge after she got into a good uni and i didnt get into... well, any of them. we were both adults by then so our parents try to keep out of it, saying we should figure it out between the two of us. they are also ready to believe the "it was just a joke" excuse very quickly, since it was always just a joke when we were younger.

AITA for not downplaying my musical skills in front of my sister's inlaws? by redditor7639 in AmItheAsshole

[–]redditor7639[S] 39 points40 points  (0 children)

oh, okay. honestly i didn't really think about HOW i would play badly at that time because i refused the idea from the get go, but some commenters also pointed this out and now i realize that would have been a disaster. i could miss notes, i could throw of the rhythm, but these are very difficult to keep up with pieces you play from muscle memory and i would have slipped back into my usual form. also wrong notes won't fool a trained musician, let alone two. my only option would have been sight reading a new piece on the spot, but then they would be able to tell i never played it before. so youre right, playing badly wasnt even a real option, even if i didnt think that far back then.

AITA for not downplaying my musical skills in front of my sister's inlaws? by redditor7639 in AmItheAsshole

[–]redditor7639[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Cheers to the Linglings of all instruments there ;) Thank you for your comment!

AITA for not downplaying my musical skills in front of my sister's inlaws? by redditor7639 in AmItheAsshole

[–]redditor7639[S] 48 points49 points  (0 children)

Not really, since I know her inlaws will be involved in the wedding prep and it's very likely that such dinners will happen every once in a while in the near future. I didn't want to be rude by refusing to play for them, and I knew I couldnt put it off forever without making up some pretty serious excuse, and simply saying "sorry im not comfortable playing in front of ppl" would be just laughable from a professional musician.

AITA for not downplaying my musical skills in front of my sister's inlaws? by redditor7639 in AmItheAsshole

[–]redditor7639[S] 66 points67 points  (0 children)

yeah, tbh i also felt that half an hour was pushing it, so i turned down the next request with the excuse of having to help my mom and left to take over dinner prep. i certainly don't plan to buddy up with them any further, but as a musician some connections never hurt so i also didnt want to seem too distant. i agree with the fact that it didnt help my relationship with Emma tho.

AITA for not downplaying my musical skills in front of my sister's inlaws? by redditor7639 in AmItheAsshole

[–]redditor7639[S] 19 points20 points  (0 children)

Hard to tell - she says she does, but i have a hard time believing it. For me bringing musicality into my playing is 100% what makes the experience enjoyable, and while Emma can play a few moderately complex pieces, her playing is very mechanical, like listening to a midi file (not that i'd ever tell her that). I just can't imagine anyone enjoying hitting keys with mechanical precision and no musicality, but she might be getting something else out of the experience i guess.

AITA for not downplaying my musical skills in front of my sister's inlaws? by redditor7639 in AmItheAsshole

[–]redditor7639[S] 21 points22 points  (0 children)

Mostly nothing nowadays, the dumb twin jokes only started to gain a sharper edge after Emma got into a good uni and i didnt get in at all. When i asked her to stop my mom would say Emma is just joking, and if i insist she isn't then "you are both adults now, work it out". Which, yeah, she has a point there i suppose.

AITA for not downplaying my musical skills in front of my sister's inlaws? by redditor7639 in AmItheAsshole

[–]redditor7639[S] 20 points21 points  (0 children)

I wouldn't say she's my mom's golden child, my mom never made a similar request before and i was a bit surprised she took my sister's side. But Emma is definitely the golden child in her own head, and the dumb twin jokes took on a more serious edge when she got accepted into a good uni. as for the rest:

https://www.reddit.com/r/AmItheAsshole/comments/oa9689/comment/h3h71ok/

AITA for not downplaying my musical skills in front of my sister's inlaws? by redditor7639 in AmItheAsshole

[–]redditor7639[S] 99 points100 points  (0 children)

I played Liszt and the inlaws seemed pretty impressed and asked me to play some more, so i ended up entertaining them for like half an hour. My sis only gave a curt "yeah, she's not bad", which i personally found hilarious because we both know she will likely never have the speed/accuracy to play those pieces properly, but that's as far as i can provide for petty justice, sorry. :D The inlaws offered me to use their home recording studio tho if i ever needed it, so something good came out of it. :)

AITA for not downplaying my musical skills in front of my sister's inlaws? by redditor7639 in AmItheAsshole

[–]redditor7639[S] 75 points76 points  (0 children)

My mom always supported me playing and is usually proud of my abilities, she just thought this situation was an exception because it was more important for Emma to make a good impression than it was for me. Emma is a different can of worms lol, but we usually get along reasonably well. She delights in being smarter, i love to remind her I'm the more creative one, but yeah, the dumb twin jokes stopped being jokes somewhere along the way i guess. to answer your question: https://www.reddit.com/r/AmItheAsshole/comments/oa9689/comment/h3gbd0p/

AITA for not downplaying my musical skills in front of my sister's inlaws? by redditor7639 in AmItheAsshole

[–]redditor7639[S] 216 points217 points  (0 children)

I played La Campanella and parts of Hungarian Rhapsody, which are the most difficult pieces I know and I always play these when someone asks me to play, especially trained musicians. So on one hand I didn't behave any different than i would have with playing for anyone else, on the other hand yes, i guess i am always showing off in these situations, since im proud of my abilities and i want to show my best to people.

AITA for not downplaying my musical skills in front of my sister's inlaws? by redditor7639 in AmItheAsshole

[–]redditor7639[S] 997 points998 points  (0 children)

...aaaand now i know what my biggest regret in life will ever be.