I can't play it, but I got it anyway!
My wife's boss was buying a new piano and offered to give us the old one because we're into music. Naturally, we gratefully accepted. It's an old Upright made by Crane and Sons of Liverpool and Dublin. The piano was given to us free, but we knew it would need a bit of work.
We got a guy in to look at it last night, an older guy called Michael Mayer. He's the 3rd generation in a family of piano tuners and he truly loves his work. After explaining the quality of the piano, what was right with it and what needed fixing, he told us how much it would cost to fully restore it. €600... a lot of money, but not crazy. We decided to go for it.
He spent about 7 hours on it, non-stop. There was a crack in the sounding board, the dampers were disconnected, some of the hammers were hitting only 2 strings, some keys were sticking, felts needed replacing. He did it all for us. The piano now sounds beautiful. It also looks beautiful. It has the original candlestick holders, still intact. An inlaid pattern of trailing flowers. Th original music holder, still intact.
The piano was bought for £75 in 1917, but he told me it was probably built even earlier than that, making it almost 100 years old. In the condition we recieved it, worth about €1500. Restored, as it is now, closer to €4000. A pretty good investment of €600!
Really, though, it's an investment for the kids. I hope they will learn to play, even a little. I intend to get myself to a very basic level of proficiency, even if its only enough to accompany myself on vocal exercises. I'll post pics when I get home.
So, I got a Piano...
So, I got a Piano...
The Vinyamars on Stage! This time at Bag End
I'm envious. All I have is my keyboard which does not have weighted keys or a foot pedal (which keeps me from sustaining my notes and makes me act like an organ player). I'd love to have a proper piano so I can play properly. 
Maybe one day.
I remember my mom wishing we could get a piano so I could get lessons, but there didn't seem to be the room (though I totally think we could have squeezed it in somewhere). I know I would have complained about having to practice as a kid, but I can't help but wonder what sort of piano player I'd be today if I would have started when I was young, because from high school on, I was able to teach myself how to play...simple stuff like the slow movements from Moonlight and Pathetique Sonata.
Maybe one day.I remember my mom wishing we could get a piano so I could get lessons, but there didn't seem to be the room (though I totally think we could have squeezed it in somewhere). I know I would have complained about having to practice as a kid, but I can't help but wonder what sort of piano player I'd be today if I would have started when I was young, because from high school on, I was able to teach myself how to play...simple stuff like the slow movements from Moonlight and Pathetique Sonata.
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Old_Tom_Bombadil
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Re: So, I got a Piano...
At least the purchase price was right.Alatar wrote:The piano was given to us free...
I've heard that a house is not a home without a piano. I don't know if that's true, but I grew up with a piano in the home. My dad was self-taught. He wasn't a great pianist, but he did okay. He certainly received much enjoyment from it and I guess that's all you can ask. If you have the space for it, I think a piano is a marvelous thing to have in one's abode.
My wife bought a piano for me for a wedding gift. I recall that she obtained it very inexpensively, maybe $125 USD. This was in late 1989. At the time I was planning on becoming a music teacher. I spent a little money having it tuned and a few repairs done. Maybe $75 or so. The piano tuner was a friend of my German professor and came highly recommended (and very inexpensively).
I don't play very well, and have hardly played it over the years. It came in handy when I used to work on parts for the opera chorus. It's funny, but I actually sat down and played last night for the first time in many years.
I recently purchased the sheet music for "A Young Man's Exhortation" by Gerald Finzi to the poems of Thomas Hardy. I was muddling through a few of them, particularly "The Sigh". I sang a few of these songs for my senior recital at the university. I still really love the songs, and enjoy singing them even if the tessitura is a shade low for me.
I hope you and your kids enjoy your "new" piano, Alatar.
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Primula Baggins
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Congratulations on your piano, Alatar! It sounds gorgeous.
My mother's parents bought her a piano in the 1940s, because every refined home had a piano and every refined young girl knew how to play it.
But at the time my grandfather was moving from job to job and they were living in apartments in various towns in Colorado.
So from age 12 to age 17, my mother was not allowed to play "her" piano. She had to keep it polished and shining, and her mother's standards for that were very exacting, but she was never allowed to play a single note because the neighbors might hear.
Finally, when she was 17, they bought a house, and my mother was allowed to begin piano lessons. She studied all through college, getting to the point where she could play Chopin polonaises and such—farther than I ever got in 10 years of lessons, because she worked harder. But I wonder how far she would have gotten if they'd let her start at 12.
She now has her dream piano, a baby grand. She plays it less and less; I think she's reaching the age where it's drifting away from her. But I'm so glad she had a wonderful piano for all those years.
"Her" piano is in my living room, a Gulbrandsen spinet with a lovely warm tone. All three of my kids learned to play it.
My mother's parents bought her a piano in the 1940s, because every refined home had a piano and every refined young girl knew how to play it.
But at the time my grandfather was moving from job to job and they were living in apartments in various towns in Colorado.
So from age 12 to age 17, my mother was not allowed to play "her" piano. She had to keep it polished and shining, and her mother's standards for that were very exacting, but she was never allowed to play a single note because the neighbors might hear.
Finally, when she was 17, they bought a house, and my mother was allowed to begin piano lessons. She studied all through college, getting to the point where she could play Chopin polonaises and such—farther than I ever got in 10 years of lessons, because she worked harder. But I wonder how far she would have gotten if they'd let her start at 12.
She now has her dream piano, a baby grand. She plays it less and less; I think she's reaching the age where it's drifting away from her. But I'm so glad she had a wonderful piano for all those years.
"Her" piano is in my living room, a Gulbrandsen spinet with a lovely warm tone. All three of my kids learned to play it.
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
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truehobbit
- Cute, cuddly and dangerous to know
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Wow, that's so cool, Alatar, congrats!
Also having grown up with a piano in the house, I'd agree with the others here that it's a wonderful opportunity, and, yes, something that just makes a place more comfortable.
I only learned to play rather badly though, I'm afraid, and I can't make up my mind if it's more due to laziness or lack of talent.
Right now, I have a keyboard, but it's a nice one, with pedals and the keys respond to strength of hitting them, though it's of course still far from the expressiveness of a real piano, and far from the feeling of playing a real piano.
Still, the good thing is that I can actually play it, and whenever I want, too.
I was getting more and more embarrassed about the neighbours hearing everything on the real one, I hardly had any courage left to play.
(But I'm sure that's a problem no one else here has.)
LOL, Tom and Alatar, usually I'm the cheapskate, when it comes to concert tickets etc. But when it comes to musical instruments, I'd say someone must have been really desperate to get rid of that piano, Tom, if you got something at all playable for just over a hundred bucks.
So, for once it's me saying that 600 Euros is definitely not much to get a worn down piano restored.
Also having grown up with a piano in the house, I'd agree with the others here that it's a wonderful opportunity, and, yes, something that just makes a place more comfortable.
I only learned to play rather badly though, I'm afraid, and I can't make up my mind if it's more due to laziness or lack of talent.
Right now, I have a keyboard, but it's a nice one, with pedals and the keys respond to strength of hitting them, though it's of course still far from the expressiveness of a real piano, and far from the feeling of playing a real piano.
Still, the good thing is that I can actually play it, and whenever I want, too.
I was getting more and more embarrassed about the neighbours hearing everything on the real one, I hardly had any courage left to play.
(But I'm sure that's a problem no one else here has.)
LOL, Tom and Alatar, usually I'm the cheapskate, when it comes to concert tickets etc. But when it comes to musical instruments, I'd say someone must have been really desperate to get rid of that piano, Tom, if you got something at all playable for just over a hundred bucks.
So, for once it's me saying that 600 Euros is definitely not much to get a worn down piano restored.
but being a cheerful hobbit he had not needed hope, as long as despair could be postponed.
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JewelSong
- Just Keep Singin'
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How wonderful! There is nothing like a real, acoustic piano...and yours sounds beautiful. And a bargain...I agree with Hobby - good instruments are worth the money. And so what if you are a mediocore player? It's such a treat to play - even if its only for yourself!
Last year, I decided I needed a better piano than the one I had (it had been my parents, and although it was a Baldwin and should have been a decent instrument, it just wasn't.) I went down to this piano warehouse near Baltimore, intending to get something like a Kawai upright - decent, if a little sharp sounding.
I ended up with a 1914 Double-K Steinway upright...the largest upright ever made. IT originally was a player piano, but the works are long gone. However, because it was a player, it has this huge, wide sound box. It needed a little work, but damn! The sound!
When I moved into the condo, it had to be craned in through the window. The guy said it was the tightest move he'd ever done (This was "Deathwish Piano Movers" - all they do is move pianos!) It was wild, seeing it swing on the crane! But it looks soooooo purty, sitting in my living room. And I know it will be here, waiting for me, whenever I return to the States.
Here's a few pics:
Swinging on the crane:
Being guided toward the porch window:
Finally in its new home!
Last year, I decided I needed a better piano than the one I had (it had been my parents, and although it was a Baldwin and should have been a decent instrument, it just wasn't.) I went down to this piano warehouse near Baltimore, intending to get something like a Kawai upright - decent, if a little sharp sounding.
I ended up with a 1914 Double-K Steinway upright...the largest upright ever made. IT originally was a player piano, but the works are long gone. However, because it was a player, it has this huge, wide sound box. It needed a little work, but damn! The sound!
When I moved into the condo, it had to be craned in through the window. The guy said it was the tightest move he'd ever done (This was "Deathwish Piano Movers" - all they do is move pianos!) It was wild, seeing it swing on the crane! But it looks soooooo purty, sitting in my living room. And I know it will be here, waiting for me, whenever I return to the States.
Here's a few pics:
Swinging on the crane:
Being guided toward the porch window:
Finally in its new home!
"Live! Live! Live! Life is a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving to death!" - Auntie Mame
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Old_Tom_Bombadil
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Those are very nice pictures, JewelSong.
(My upright is also very large and HEAVY!)
) Yes, the seller was just trying to unload it. She was very pregnant and needed the space for the young'un.
Other than a little paint that's been dribbled on it, it's in excellent condition. The keys are real ivory. (I don't think you can get real ivory keys anymore.) The manufacturer was Andrew Kohler of New York.
(My upright is also very large and HEAVY!)
I just asked my wife what she paid for it. She said, "Oh, a couple hundred dollars." I was a little off, but I remember that she got it for a song. (Pun intended.truehobbit wrote:But when it comes to musical instruments, I'd say someone must have been really desperate to get rid of that piano, Tom, if you got something at all playable for just over a hundred bucks.
) Yes, the seller was just trying to unload it. She was very pregnant and needed the space for the young'un.Other than a little paint that's been dribbled on it, it's in excellent condition. The keys are real ivory. (I don't think you can get real ivory keys anymore.) The manufacturer was Andrew Kohler of New York.
When I was a kid, maybe 11 or 12 years old, my brother got to know an elderly woman in the town we were living in who had an old pump organ stored out in her garage. The thing hadn’t seen the light of day in over twenty years and was in terrible condition. He convinced her to sell it to him for 50 bucks.
I think his plan was to fix it up a little and put it in his room as a sort of novelty. He played the piano, the only one in our family to acquire the skill (I vaguely recall being signed up for piano lessons. I vaguely recall them ending after only one or two lessons. I vaguely recall the piano teacher swearing she would never set foot in our house again), but the organ was so far gone that noone believed it ever be playable again. He and I worked on it for a few days, but didn’t make much progress. Then one day I started tinkering around with it, taking bits and pieces of it apart to see how it worked. My father saw what I doing and got interested himself. The two of us proceeded to tear the thing apart, piece by piece, cataloguing everything as we went, making diagrams of how it went together, and thrilling at each new discovery about the workings of it. We stayed up until 4:00 in the morning that night until we had the whole thing disassembled.
What we discovered was that it wasn’t really in as bad of shape as we had thought. The pump mechanism needed some minor work, and a good lube job, and the bellows were completely gone, the victim of rats and mildew, and some of the reeds were shot, but other than that the various mechanisms, the stops, valves and keys, all seemed to function.
The next day my father found a man who restored antique organs for a living. We packed all the pieces up and sent it off to him. I have no idea how much it cost, although I don’t recall it being outrageously expensive, but when it came back a few months later it looked like brand new, and it worked too! My brother still has it in his living room, and it still works to this day. Despite having no talent at such a thing, I used to love playing around on it. It put out the most eerie sound, although it was exhausting to play.
I don’t have a picture of it, but it looks somewhat similar to this one. It would be a stunning piece, even if it didn’t work, but it does!
I think his plan was to fix it up a little and put it in his room as a sort of novelty. He played the piano, the only one in our family to acquire the skill (I vaguely recall being signed up for piano lessons. I vaguely recall them ending after only one or two lessons. I vaguely recall the piano teacher swearing she would never set foot in our house again), but the organ was so far gone that noone believed it ever be playable again. He and I worked on it for a few days, but didn’t make much progress. Then one day I started tinkering around with it, taking bits and pieces of it apart to see how it worked. My father saw what I doing and got interested himself. The two of us proceeded to tear the thing apart, piece by piece, cataloguing everything as we went, making diagrams of how it went together, and thrilling at each new discovery about the workings of it. We stayed up until 4:00 in the morning that night until we had the whole thing disassembled.
What we discovered was that it wasn’t really in as bad of shape as we had thought. The pump mechanism needed some minor work, and a good lube job, and the bellows were completely gone, the victim of rats and mildew, and some of the reeds were shot, but other than that the various mechanisms, the stops, valves and keys, all seemed to function.
The next day my father found a man who restored antique organs for a living. We packed all the pieces up and sent it off to him. I have no idea how much it cost, although I don’t recall it being outrageously expensive, but when it came back a few months later it looked like brand new, and it worked too! My brother still has it in his living room, and it still works to this day. Despite having no talent at such a thing, I used to love playing around on it. It put out the most eerie sound, although it was exhausting to play.
I don’t have a picture of it, but it looks somewhat similar to this one. It would be a stunning piece, even if it didn’t work, but it does!
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JewelSong
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Tin, those old parlor organs are awesome! My grandmother had one - I have no idea what happened to it. And what a fun project for you and your Dad.
They ARE exhausting to play! But a great workout for your legs and bum muscles!
They ARE exhausting to play! But a great workout for your legs and bum muscles!
"Live! Live! Live! Life is a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving to death!" - Auntie Mame
Congratulations on the piano, Alatar! It sounds beautiful.
It was always my dream to play the piano, but my parents´ first house was too small. When they had a bigger house built, they couldn´t afford one.
I finally got a piano as a birthday present from my grandmother at the age of 17 and immediately started to take lessons, but only for one year because I moved out at 18.
Now I have a piano again, since we moved into our house in 1993. It´s a quite small upright Schimmel and it also needed some work to get back a good sound, as the former owner hadn´t cared about it and forgot to have it tuned for about 6 years or even more. I continued with my lessons and my daughter also started, but lost interest quite soon. My son never even touches it, except to draw pictures into the dust, when I forgot to clean it.
Now I am about to search for a new teacher because I realized that I am getting lazy and neglect my lovely instrument, when I don´t take lessons.
Truehobbit, I have quite the same problems with playing when the neighbours are around in their gardens. No-one had ever complained, but I am feeling self-conscious when I am rehearsing etudes or new pieces when others are listening.
It was always my dream to play the piano, but my parents´ first house was too small. When they had a bigger house built, they couldn´t afford one.
I finally got a piano as a birthday present from my grandmother at the age of 17 and immediately started to take lessons, but only for one year because I moved out at 18.Now I have a piano again, since we moved into our house in 1993. It´s a quite small upright Schimmel and it also needed some work to get back a good sound, as the former owner hadn´t cared about it and forgot to have it tuned for about 6 years or even more. I continued with my lessons and my daughter also started, but lost interest quite soon. My son never even touches it, except to draw pictures into the dust, when I forgot to clean it.
Now I am about to search for a new teacher because I realized that I am getting lazy and neglect my lovely instrument, when I don´t take lessons.
Truehobbit, I have quite the same problems with playing when the neighbours are around in their gardens. No-one had ever complained, but I am feeling self-conscious when I am rehearsing etudes or new pieces when others are listening.
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Primula Baggins
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The sound of someone practicing the piano in a neighboring house has always felt homey to me. I enjoy hearing people working on worthwhile things, even if it's "nuts and bolts" and rather ragged.
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
Oooh I just love hearing about people's pianos! My mother is a piano teacher and plays just beautifully. She can't play as much any more, because over the years she's gotten carpal tunnel syndrome in one hand and chronic tendonitis in the other hand from playing so often, not to mention shehas Multiple Sclerosis, which makes it very hard for her to sit down and practice for hours on end. I love listening to her play when she can though.
Our own piano is a Steinway grand made sometime in the early 20th century, or maybe even earlier. My mom knows the exact date, I'll ask her sometime! She's had it since before I was born, so I've grown up with it. I hardly play at all, though, because I never had the will or the patience to practice as much as I should.
My mother is a piano teacher and plays just beautifully. She can't play as much any more, because over the years she's gotten carpal tunnel syndrome in one hand and chronic tendonitis in the other hand from playing so often, not to mention shehas Multiple Sclerosis, which makes it very hard for her to sit down and practice for hours on end. I love listening to her play when she can though.Our own piano is a Steinway grand made sometime in the early 20th century, or maybe even earlier. My mom knows the exact date, I'll ask her sometime! She's had it since before I was born, so I've grown up with it.
I hardly play at all, though, because I never had the will or the patience to practice as much as I should.-
Primula Baggins
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You may yet take it up later in life, Elsha, if you decide you want to.
There is at least one concert pianist on the professional circuit who took his first serious lessons as a man past forty. I wish I could remember his name. But his existence is rather inspiring, at least to those of us past 40.
Well, I sold my first novel at age 47, so not everything in our fates is determined by age 30. Or so I tell my kids. Who roll their eyes and go, "Yeah, yeah, Mom. . . ."
There is at least one concert pianist on the professional circuit who took his first serious lessons as a man past forty. I wish I could remember his name. But his existence is rather inspiring, at least to those of us past 40.
Well, I sold my first novel at age 47, so not everything in our fates is determined by age 30. Or so I tell my kids. Who roll their eyes and go, "Yeah, yeah, Mom. . . ."
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
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Old_Tom_Bombadil
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Primula Baggins
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You should hear mine. Ten years of lessons and I fudge everything. Not that I've played since last fall. . . .
Ten years of lessons and I fudge everything. Not that I've played since last fall. . . .“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
Pffft, now I've forgotten the make of my heirloom piano, which was shipped, intact, to South Africa from Germany by my grandparents. Bach-something or something-bach, I think. I think So I can't add my piano's manufacturer to this list
Anyway, Alatar, I'm green with jealousy There's nothing like a real acoustic piano even if it is an upright! ( one day, one day, I'll be rich and own a real 8-foot Steinway, though of course my ability to play "chopsticks" really fast is not fit to grace such a thing )
Getting yourself up to at least basic speed playing the piano is a great reward for some input. I can read sheet music quite well ( though I'm rusty now ) and I used to know the basic theory behind working out the left-hand accompiment on the fly. That's as much as you need to enjoy yourself and pick out a tune while making it sound all right.
Eru - I'm having my keyboard shipped over, and I can't wait for it to get here ( I left the heirloom piano behind in South Africa ... costs so much to ship! ) because it has weighted keys AND a pedal, and is a full-sized 97 key keyboard ... ( it is a Roland EP-97 I think ) Playing on a non-weighted keyboard is no fun compared to that
One of my big regrets is giving up piano lessons as a kid. I may have been tolerably decent if only I kept it up ... :|
Prim - I have that piano precisely because my grandmother and mother grew up in times when a refined house had to have a piano, and a refined girl could play it I also had to keep the piano polished ...
truehobbit - one of the PRECISE reasons why I love my keyboard so much is because it has a quite good headphone jack, and I need not fear that anybody else will hear my mangled plonkings unless I want them to At my house in South Africa, the neighbour lady plays her piano really well ... she plays organ for a church after all ... and I liked to open the window and listen to her play ... all those old 40's tunes ... lovely!
jewelsong - that picture MADE MY DAY! What a great name for the moving company, too And what a ginormous sound box 
I'm sure I could trump EVERYBODY's bad piano playing
If I have my keyboard by the time the m00t rolls round, maybe I should pack it up, bring it along, and we can have a little "un-talent" competition in somebody's hotel room
*air piano-s "chopsticks" and "Fur Elise For Little Fingers" in preparation*
Bach-something or something-bach, I think. I think So I can't add my piano's manufacturer to this list Anyway, Alatar, I'm green with jealousy
There's nothing like a real acoustic piano even if it is an upright! ( one day, one day, I'll be rich and own a real 8-foot Steinway, though of course my ability to play "chopsticks" really fast is not fit to grace such a thing )Getting yourself up to at least basic speed playing the piano is a great reward for some input. I can read sheet music quite well ( though I'm rusty now ) and I used to know the basic theory behind working out the left-hand accompiment on the fly. That's as much as you need to enjoy yourself and pick out a tune while making it sound all right.
Eru - I'm having my keyboard shipped over, and I can't wait for it to get here ( I left the heirloom piano behind in South Africa ... costs so much to ship!
) because it has weighted keys AND a pedal, and is a full-sized 97 key keyboard ... ( it is a Roland EP-97 I think ) Playing on a non-weighted keyboard is no fun compared to that One of my big regrets is giving up piano lessons as a kid. I may have been tolerably decent if only I kept it up ... :|
Prim - I have that piano precisely because my grandmother and mother grew up in times when a refined house had to have a piano, and a refined girl could play it
I also had to keep the piano polished ... truehobbit - one of the PRECISE reasons why I love my keyboard so much is because it has a quite good headphone jack, and I need not fear that anybody else will hear my mangled plonkings unless I want them to
At my house in South Africa, the neighbour lady plays her piano really well ... she plays organ for a church after all ... and I liked to open the window and listen to her play ... all those old 40's tunes ... lovely!jewelsong - that picture MADE MY DAY!
What a great name for the moving company, too And what a ginormous sound box I'm sure I could trump EVERYBODY's bad piano playing
If I have my keyboard by the time the m00t rolls round, maybe I should pack it up, bring it along, and we can have a little "un-talent" competition in somebody's hotel room
*air piano-s "chopsticks" and "Fur Elise For Little Fingers" in preparation*
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WampusCat
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Congratulations on the piano, Alatar! It sounds like a jewel. My father never learned how to play our piano but had a lot of fun playing it anyway, feeling his way through chord progressions. It gave him a lot of pleasure, I think.
I took piano lessons for 12 years but play little now. A cheap old piano in dire need of repair sits in my house, but it's really just used as a place to put half a dozen penny whistles, two Native American flutes, a wooden flute, a gong, a drum, guitar picks and capos, and a model sailboat.
In front of it sits an excellent Kurzweil keyboard that sounds almost as good -- actually it sounds better, since it is in tune.
Sometimes I feel the pull of Chopin and pull out his Preludes, or I try to remember pieces I wrote 35 years ago. When I'm alone in a room with a decent piano, I always gravitate toward it.
Perhaps after my electric-guitar-playing son leaves home I'll take it up again in earnest.
I took piano lessons for 12 years but play little now. A cheap old piano in dire need of repair sits in my house, but it's really just used as a place to put half a dozen penny whistles, two Native American flutes, a wooden flute, a gong, a drum, guitar picks and capos, and a model sailboat.
In front of it sits an excellent Kurzweil keyboard that sounds almost as good -- actually it sounds better, since it is in tune.Sometimes I feel the pull of Chopin and pull out his Preludes, or I try to remember pieces I wrote 35 years ago. When I'm alone in a room with a decent piano, I always gravitate toward it.
Perhaps after my electric-guitar-playing son leaves home I'll take it up again in earnest.
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Old_Tom_Bombadil
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You can play Chopsticks?Griffon64 wrote:( one day, one day, I'll be rich and own a real 8-foot Steinway, though of course my ability to play "chopsticks" really fast is not fit to grace such a thing
My older brother was given piano lessons. Why I was never given them is beyond me. Actually, I do know why. My brother was so disinterested in them that my parents didn't bother with the rest of us. I used to pick out tunes by ear on the piano all the time. I guess my parents didn't take that as a hint that I was interested in music. *sigh*
I finally took some piano classes in college after I graduated from high school. Music majors need a basic proficiency, and my proficiency is--or rather, was--as basic as it comes.
Between my nuts and your fudge we should be able to make a pretty tasty treat.Primula Baggins wrote:Ten years of lessons and I fudge everything.
Seriously, the ability to fudge is an invaluable skill for pianists.
Alatar, if your kids show any inclination towards music you make sure they get piano lessons, okay?
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BrianIsSmilingAtYou
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Congrats on the piano. This is probably the best instrument for learning the basics of music.
My older brother is a professional musician and piano teacher, so piano music has always been a large part of my life.
BrianIs AtYou
My older brother is a professional musician and piano teacher, so piano music has always been a large part of my life.
BrianIs
AtYou
All of my nieces and nephews at my godson/nephew Nicholas's Medical School graduation. Now a neurosurgical resident at University of Arizona, Tucson.
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truehobbit
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Aw, that makes me want to attend even more - a competition I'd have a good chance winning!If I have my keyboard by the time the m00t rolls round, maybe I should pack it up, bring it along, and we can have a little "un-talent" competition in somebody's hotel room
(Though, surely, to play the first prelude from the Well-tempered Piano and make all the notes have a different length and stress must be considered an art of sorts, too, no?
)but being a cheerful hobbit he had not needed hope, as long as despair could be postponed.