A grey day today with a cool wind. Our long Indian summer may be on its way out. We had fine intentions of playing tennis this morning, but it was just too dark.I did some stuff with XSL and XML today. It made my eyes go funny, but I think I’ve got my head around it.
I’m still practising piano faithfully. My current scales to practise are C major, A minor, F major and G major, legato and staccato. I’m practising four pieces from the Grade I exam book. It’d be fair to say I have a long way to go yet, but I can see (and hear) progress, and that’s enough to keep me motivated. On Thursday I’m going to start aural awareness and sight reading.
Let me share the story of how I came to get a piano. For as far back as I can remember, I’ve always wanted to learn to play the piano. I don’t know where this desire came from, as my immediate family wasn’t musical at all. If it’s genetic, it must have come down from a distant generation (where there were some musicians). On the rare occasions when I had access to a piano, I’d pick out a tune, fascinated by the effect.
But in my very working class household (my father was a tradesman, but for much of my childhood he worked as a labourer) buying a piano was about as likely an outcome as buying an elephant. My parents were always generous within their means, and I remember my mother trying to find me a teacher for some more affordable instrument, but in a small town the options were few (every small town seems to have a piano teacher, but that’s about it).
So the idea of owning a piano got shoved into the back of my mind; never quite forgotten, but not considered a reasonable possibility.
A year or so ago I began thinking about it again. We’re in a position now where we can afford the odd luxury. I started pricing pianos, and soon felt overwhelmed. Yes, we could afford one, but spending that sort of amount on something that it might turn out I really had no aptitude for would feel both foolish and selfish. Mr Kimi was his usual utterly supportive self, but my conscience wouldn’t let me do it.
Then I got the idea that an electronic keyboard might be a fairly cheap option; good enough to learn on, and not a huge loss if I decided to abandon the idea. I took some advice from some musical Internet friends, and learned that the best keyboards have weighted keys that have the same “feel” as a real piano. I did some research, looking for a decent keyboard that didn’t have dozens of fancy noises but instead concentrated on a good piano sound and feel.
Of course when I found one, it had just ceased being made. To cut this overly-long story shortish: I went to a music store with very helpful staff who phoned around Auckland to check if any stores had old stock, but no luck. But they asked if I’d be interested in an ex-rental piano they had in stock. It’s a much better piano than the one I’d been looking at (it’s a real digital piano rather than an electronic keyboard); it was in as-new condition (sensible parents had rented rather than buying, and their daughter had soon lost interest); it came with several extras, and was just within my budget. I negotiated a discount and it was even better.
It has a beautiful sound, and because it has 76 keys instead of a full 88 it’s just small enough to go in the car, so I can take it from house to house. I love my piano; sometimes I get quite emotional about it. And now at last I’m making real progress with learning.
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