What Makes a Song Worth Playing for Fifty Years?
- Diana Mascari
- 3 days ago
- 4 min read
Why great musicians return to the same music again and again
What Makes a Song Worth Playing for Fifty Years?
Why great musicians return to the same music again and again
One evening while I was playing piano at a local Sheraton Hotel, I performed Chopin’s Nocturne in E-flat Major. A couple approached the piano afterward and told me they recognized it as the theme from The Eddie Duchin Story. The piece meant so much to them that from then on, every time they came in for dinner, they asked me to play it again. And each time, the gentleman left me a five-dollar tip. I often tell my students that story when they begin learning that Chopin classic.
That experience taught me something important:
familiarity in music carries emotional power.
During the early part of my career as a church music director, the congregation sang familiar hymns and responses. The choir presented featured selections called anthems, and I framed each service with a prelude and postlude on the organ.
By the time the fifth pastor arrived, things began to change. Many mainstream churches were starting to include contemporary Christian worship music. This pastor believed it was important not only to include these selections, but that I should keep adding new songs all the time.
That presented a problem for me.
From experience, I knew it takes time for both the choir and the congregation to truly learn new music. Songs must be repeated before they become part of a community’s musical language. Eventually, as our repertoire of newer songs grew, I was able to rotate what had become familiar selections and introduce only an occasional new piece. That balance made all the difference.
A few years later, new members joined the church from Cameroon. They brought with them their own repertoire of praise songs. Their song leader told me they knew hundreds of these songs. Yet interestingly, they rotated only a small handful of them regularly.
The result was remarkable.
Because the songs were repeated often, the entire congregation was able to learn these African praise songs. Over time, their energy and spirit reshaped the dynamics of our worship services. Familiarity did not diminish their impact—it deepened it.
Around that same period of my life, I was also playing piano every Friday and Saturday night at the Sheraton Hotel.
There, patrons expected to hear songs like “As Time Goes By,” “Misty,” “Send in the Clowns,” and “Satin Doll” every single night.
And they never seemed to tire of them.
When I played in the Top 40 circuit, audiences not only wanted the songs they knew—they wanted them to sound exactly like the recordings. That’s a rather impossible task for live musicians, but it reveals something important about how people connect with music.
Listeners want the songs that already live inside them.
And that brings me to “There Will Never Be Another You.”
I’ve been playing that song for more than fifty years.
Yet every time I return to it, the song still gives something back. It challenges me, invites new interpretations, and reminds me that great music grows with the musician who plays it.
When I tell my students to build and maintain a repertoire, I’m encouraging them to revisit songs regularly. If a piece begins to feel stale, it’s fine to replace it with something new, but continuous review of repertoire of songs is absolutely essential for musical growth.
You can read more about repertoire here: How To Build and Maintain a Repertoire to Keep Your Songs Fresh and Ready to Play
The deepest musical growth often comes from returning to music you already know well. Repetition refines touch. Familiarity deepens interpretation and consistency builds artistry.
New songs can certainly add vitality to your playing, but too many new pieces at once can dilute the quality of your music making.
Something to remember:
Playing a song for fifty years isn’t a sign of musical stagnation.
It’s a sign that the music still has something to say—and that you’re still listening.
I’ve been playing There Will Never Be Another You for more than fifty years. Yet it always gives back to me as well as challenges me, no matter how I arrange it.
I hope you enjoy my performance of There Will Never Be Another You.
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