Day 857 Tickling the ivories

 

A beautiful piano commands attention in a room like no other piece. When you walk into my living room the piano dominates the space and has become a permanent fixture in my home. Sadly, neither Tim nor I play, so there's no tickling the ivories unless my son comes to visit. Someday, he'll jump through all the hoops to move his piano and take it with him, until then, it's safe with me. More than safe, well cared for, dusted and tuned as needed, not that I'd know when its out of tune! This piano came into my house twenty four years ago, purchased when my son was ten years old and had been playing piano for several years. He and I went piano shopping, something I never thought in a million years I'd ever do in my lifetime. There use to be an Avery Piano shop right on Main st. so we started there. He walked around, playing each piano carefully, listening and getting a feel for each one until he came to this one, a baby grand Kawai. I had foolishly thought he'd select an upright but he immediately knew it was the one he wanted. We drove to Providence to the big piano shop there, a three story building with each floor filled with pianos. We spent hours there as he played, looked and scrutinized each piano until he found one he liked. The piano he selected in Providence was identical to the one he selected in town...clearly the one meant for him. At the time, I had been driving the same old car for ten years and had a choice to either buy myself a new car or buy my son a piano, roughly the same amount of money! Well, that old car held on for many more years and the piano found a home with us. My son played that darn piano almost every day and night and here we are twenty four years later and it's still every bit as beautiful as the first day it came home with us. My grandmother played the organ but other than her, there's no piano players in my family tree...until my son. My grandmother visited us just after we brought the piano home, walking in with a cane, slowly but once she sat down to play, she shed fifty years, playing with the enthusiasm of a teenager. She hugged me and told me how lucky my son was to have me as his mom, the nicest compliment I've ever gotten. She had lived her life with an upright piano and had always dreamed of having a baby grand, so seeing him get one fulfilled her dream albeit, vicariously. Had I chosen a new car, it would be worthless by now and imagine all the years of beautiful classical music I would have missed out on. I may not have always made great decisions, but this one was spot on. My son is using an upright while living in a rental, so he's not without a piano, apparently a keyboard is no substitute for the real thing. My piano tuner was just here, the same guy who's been tuning our piano for all these years...imagine that job? Key by key he plays and tweaks each one until it sounds just right, the process taking more than an hour. I'd guess the piano sounds perfect right about now, but with no musical skills it's tough to say.  I may have to call my son over to play, put the piano to work and fill the house with music once again.