Miley Cyrus Learned How To Play The Piano In Mere Hours For One Of Her Iconic Films

While growing up as a child star, Miley Cyrus was surrounded by musical talent. This has allowed her to accomplish various impressive feats, one of which involved incredibly fast-paced learning of the piano for a film role. She rose to stardom with her role on "Hannah Montana," an experience that helped her excel in her other endeavors in the media. For instance, she played a young pianist in the 2010 film "The Last Song," which is based on the Nicholas Sparks romance novel of the same name. 

Obviously, for this role, Cyrus would need to pull off yet another dramatic transformation by learning to play piano to accurately portray her character. And, she did, but not with years of experience. According to Sparks, she learned the instrument in a matter of hours during the creation of the film.

Sparks knew Cyrus was talented, but she still managed to surprise him, according to an exclusive with People magazine. "So she had a scene where she had to play the piano. It looked tough to me, right? I said, 'I didn't know you could play the piano.' And she's like, 'Oh, I didn't. I had to learn yesterday. It took me hours.' I'm like, 'Hours, to do that, what you just did? Hours? It'd take me weeks to do that.'"

In an interview with Pure Movies, Miley Cyrus discussed her experience learning the piano in order to perform her role as accurately as possible. "It was pretty easy because I can read music so it was easier than starting from scratch," she said when asked if she had to learn to play for the film. "It took me about four or five lessons. I did some on and off while I was working. I would film and then come home and rehearse with a teacher real quick and just make sure I got it for the next day." 

At the time, she was very focused on acting, which she enjoyed and tried to keep separate from her musical career. She addressed not recording songs for the film to achieve this as well. "I just wanted people to see me as an actress rather than a musician always too, and to keep my careers kind of separate but I love that I was able to play the piano in the film," she shared. Cyrus' co-star and now-ex also had to learn a new skill after being cast in "The Last Song." To get his big break, Liam Hemsworth lied about being able to play volleyball.

In August 2024, Cyrus was named the youngest Disney Legend for her performance in "Hannah Montana," leading Sparks to remember the amazing feat she was able to achieve. "She's incredibly skilled and talented, and I know she works very hard at music," he told People.