It works

[fpb]

Yes, the keyboard works. If I had not forced myself away from it, I would still be there now, picking tunes. It is absolutely wonderful. The only danger is that - even though it seems to me rather small compared with some I have seen - it has so many tricks and features that it is perfectly possible to go on for minutes playing something very much like music without actually paying any attention to the keys. What I want to do is learn - or rather, re-learn - to read music and play it at sight. But what a wonderful thing it is, to have a serious musical instrument at last.

Comments

[chthonya]

But what a wonderful thing it is, to have a serious musical instrument at last.

Indeed.

We recently aquired an ill piano and are hoping to get it working before we have to move out in July. I was on retreat last week and the place had a piano, and it was blissful being able to play for an hour each day (though perhaps not so blissful for those listening!)

Enjoy it. :)

[fpb.livejournal.com]

An ill piano? It's got malaria? Or ingrowing toenails?

[chthonya]

A bad case of mouse droppings. And dust. And seven years of not being tuned. And a rather warped finish.

It's now in pieces, so we can clean the parts we can reach without taking off the string. Unfortunately, the keys got rather too well cleaned when my housemate decided scrub them - I did look rather askance at that, but assumed she knew what she was doing as she's taken pianos apart (and reassembled them) before. So the rough edges in the hole that fits over the pin have expanded so that the keys stick even worse than before. I'm hoping a drill bit and some judicious sanding will rectify that.

Still, hooray for Freecycle!

[fpb.livejournal.com]

Freecycle has allowed me to get everything I want and a few things I had never even thought of. And I even found I had some items I could give away myself, so I did not need to feel too much like I was taking advantage. Personally, I totally loathe throwing things away, so Freecycle really fulfils - not wanting to be pompous - a psychic need for me.

[chthonya]

Yes, I feel the same - and it's a great relief to be able to get rid of things and know that they are not wasted. The person who gave us the piano couldn't house it but felt it was totally wrong to throw an instrument away, so I think she was as happy as we were when we took it. And I used it in Edinburgh to pass on my computer desk to a postgrad student - I'd been given it myself so Freecycle really was the optimum solution. I'm surprised more people haven't heard of it.

A Canadian friend of mine said that in her home town they had a Freecycle system pre-internet, but the internet makes it much easier and reaches a wider cross-section of the population. I really appreciated the (albeit sometimes brief) contact it's given me with local people while I was new to the city.


I had a go at playing the piano today - taking advantage of having the house to myself. It was kind of fun to play without the covers so I could see the hammers dance, but I'm glad we don't have immediate neighbours! Still, the housemate who knows about tuning pianos has two weeks off for half term now, so hopefully it will become more presentable soon.