Christmas 2010

This Christmas I offered to lead a carolling party as a pianist.  

I had an opportunity to play an older piano called a Bluthner.  It's known as the accompanist's piano and has a gentle touch and lovely soft sound.  What a delight!  It was unlike any piano I have ever played and I hope to have a chance to play it again.

The piano I played looked a lot like this one, with beautifully carved legs and a cafe au lait wood tone.  Absolutely stunning to look at and to play!

The other piano I played this holiday was an upright Yamaha.  Not nearly as pleasureable to play as the Bluthner!  It had a more modern piano sound, clean and loud.  

This one I ended up performing on by default one day.  I arrived at the home where my grandmother is living, to accompany her to a gypsy swing ensemble performance.  Somehow that group did not arrive and so my grandmother (and others) were ready for entertainment and nothing was happening.  I offered to play Christmas carols.  One of the residents went to her suite and brought back several old carolling books and I sight-read through them.

The residents enjoyed my playing.

My baba LOVED my playing.

I wished I had been practising more the past couple of decades!

Changing the strings on your piano is just more complex than changing the strings on your guitar

Today I found out that when you want new piano strings for your piano, they are custom made for YOUR piano.  Wow...


I had no idea.


I am used to stopping by the music store and picking up a set of guitar strings when I need them...or a set of violin strings or banjo strings.


There is a special computer program that calibrates the width of a string to 1/1000th of an inch.


Measurements are affected by what type of piano you have, how old it is, how long the strings are at present.  The piano is such a complex instrument with so many little bits and pieces.


I feel like someone who has always had a car but never looked under the hood.  The car needs special parts and they are special ordered.  It's exactly the same with a piano.

Test-driving your Piano

Imagine test-driving a 100 year old car...a 50 year old car...a 25 year old car...a 5 year old car...  

The older a car (and a piano) get the more there is to watch out for and to keep 'em running smoothly you need a good mechanic (in piano land they call the mechanic a "technician").

My husband is so great.  I am talking in circles right now about whether or not an old piano is really the right move and will there be surprise break-downs with an old piano and will I really be okay with the featherweight touch of an old piano...

He knows nothing about pianos and he's patiently listening...

He compares my quandry about whether or not a 100 year old piano is a good choice to his passion for BMW's and test-driving one.  Is it a good one?  The mechanic thinks it is.  If you're not sure after the mechanic tells you it's probably okay, what do you do?  


You test drive it again!


There are so many things that can go wrong with old cars and perhaps with old pianos. Generally, you don't keep a BMW for 50 years or more though.  


We DO keep pianos in our family for 50 years or more.  I can imagine this piano might outlive all of us...if it's a good one that is.

I have always told parents to choose a piano they like.  

If you like it you will be happy, I say.  

And they are.  

It's so much easier to give that advice.  I am trying to listen to that advice now.

But how do I know for sure???

I thought I found one I liked (it's more than 100 years old) and then I read up on 100 year old pianos on the internet...wow...if this really is a good piano, it will be a rarity.  Most piano tuners and technicians steer people away from pianos that old.  

My budget doesn't allow for a really good piano...so I'm looking for a piano I like.


I guess I'll take it for another test-drive.  I'll ask the piano shop guy if I can drive it by myself.

FREE Piano - says the ad

So I've begun my search for our piano.  I go to craigslist.  There are 3 upright pianos listed. Two are $200 and one is FREE.   I call them all.  The $200 ones are gone by morning.  The free piano is still available.

When I get to the free piano....I am surprised.  It doesn't look like I imagine it might...on the phone he said it wasn't a livingroom piano...it's a basement piano.

I imagine it looks like this!

  

But it doesn't. 

It looks more like this...but with more wear and tear, scratches and an unimpressive finish.

I like the free piano.

I play it and say I like it.  They tell me they were counselled to take it to the dump.  sigh...

Well, I think it's still playable.  Maybe not the greatest but...the dump???

It's been in their family since the early 1900's...it was the grandmother's piano and now all the grandkids have learned to play on it...obviously there is a sentimental attachment on their part...but why on mine???

They have a new piano given to them by an aunt...it's a Petrof upright...shiny black and modern "touch".

Beautiful tone.  Lovely case...a piece of living room furniture for sure.

I still like the old one though....which is funny for me because I usually have a gut reaction that steers me away from older uprights.  The keys feel loose and wiggly and the tone is unbalanced and too bright or too bassy or too something.  This old FREE piano feels kind of comfortable.

I say, don't take it to the dump.  I don't know if it's the right piano for our house but it's still playable and there has got to be a family somewhere that would love to have it...for FREE.

I go to Barkman's Pianos and talk to Glen about it.  He doesn't believe in taking pianos to the dump either....electric pianos maybe...but acoustic pianos....they can be saved.

The next day I leave a message....call Glen, I tell them.  He will keep your family piano out of the dump.

Finding the right piano

I am beginning the search for our piano.

I wonder how long it will take?  Days?  Weeks?  Months?  Years?

Now that I see the piano as a member of our family I have a feeling I may be more discriminating than I might otherwise have been.

   

I wonder if this search will be like looking for a mate?  

or an adoptive child? 

or a new friend?

Will there be many pianos I will be forced to discard for some reason?  

Wait for years to finally be bestowed a piano given up by another family? 

 Will I happen to meet the piano and find we resonate together and become like long lost friends?