

In _Your Lie in April_ , what does Kousei mean by not being able to hear the
piano?

I play the piano and the more I play, I tend to just look at my hands while
it's moving and I can't hear anything except for the noise in the background.
It's like the sound is fading away as I play longer. Sometimes I have to focus
real hard just to make out the sound of the piano.

Is this what Kousei means?


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2016-11-17T15:47:26.670
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2021-06-20T15:24:36.150
2021-06-20T15:24:36.150
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your-lie-in-april
What does Kousei mean by not being able to hear the piano?


It's a coping/protection mechanism - when he plays the piano, his negative
feelings from his past resurface, and his mind blocks him from hearing sounds
that have a negative (as in Psychological Conditioning Principals) association
in his mind.

How exactly this manifests for him is made fairly clear in the anime - if you
watch the scenes again where he's playing the piano, and freaking out over not
being able to hear it, it's illustrated as him drowning in very deep water,
with appropriate impact on his hearing.

I'd say that your own personal experience (presuming you have no such negative
association with piano), is the idea that you're focusing so intently on your
hands, that you've filtered out the audio. It's not dissimilar, but his is
triggered by traumatic mental association.


CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-11-17T16:44:07.400
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2016-11-17T16:44:07.400
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