Tonight I started getting ready for the holiday celebrations by practicing some Christmas carols. I’ve never had one-on-one piano lessons in my life; the closest I came to that was a very early morning piano class when I was a Music Education major at SUNY Fredonia. And that was a disaster because as I’ve mentioned before, I’m not an early morning person. And I didn’t really care for college. And I had no interest in learning how to play “God Save The Queen”. So I play by ear.
My grandmother’s piano, and in my heart it will always be my grandmother’s piano though I guess it’s ours now, sounds as wonderful as I remember. It’s amazing how each piano has it’s own unique sound, however subtle the difference may be. To play it requires a firm touch, whereas the piano my folks had when I was growing up accepted a softer touch. This piano also has a distinct smell that I thought was inherent to their house but I guess it was the piano that carried the scent all these years. Or perhaps the piano smells like my grandparents’ house. Nevertheless, walking into our newly dubbed “music room” is such a joy.
I don’t think the piano has been played very much in the past ten years since my grandmother passed away. There’s some keys that need work (you can see them in the picture), the middle pedal needs its spring replaced since it was robbed long, long ago the fix the right pedal. It needs tuning.
But the music is so sweet. I’m actually looking forward to playing “Silent Night” in my own unusual way on Christmas morning.
