08/17/02

i'm so excited!!!!!!! i bought a piano... of my very own.. i will post pictures as soon as i get it into the house!!

the story:  i've been on the search for a piano that i could afford.  a used one, hopefully not too old, but if it's old then that's OK.. just no broken keys, one that didn't need hammer/string replacement... hopefully no broken ivories.. etc.

well.. try to find a piano worth the notes played on it for under $500!  it's very difficult!  pianos tend to gain value as they age, not lose it.  so... it's difficult to find one for cheap-- unless it's close to not working, or someone is just merciful and trying to get rid of it quickly for some reason.

i was a piano performance major in college (for the first year and 1/2 of school... then i changed majors).  i have played since 3rd grade.  i quit halfway through my soph. year in college... burned out!  i hated being graded on the way i played... hated being forced to practice three or 4 hours a day... hated it!  piano has always been the most primitive form of emotional expression for me, and i was quite good (hell, i got into music school with the talent) but i just didn't have the discipline to become a concert pianist.  so, i quit.  and... over the past year i've just gotten this deep, very deep and sometimes very sad longing to play again.

so, i've been combing the paper.  and thursday night, i had this feeling in my gut that it was very important for me to comb the classifieds on friday morning (i get weekend delivery).  well... i drove right off and forgot to retrieve the paper!  so.. as soon as i got to work, i pulled up the online classifieds and .. .there it was, an ad for a piano priced at $250!! (thank god for the internet!!!!)

i wrote it down, along with a few others ($400, $500, etc).  i just kept staring at the piece of paper... and then i felt myself picking up the phone.  i made an appointment to go look at it that very evening (last night!).

when we walked in... i saw it in the corner and immediately fell in love with it.  it's a tall upright, a deep mahogany (deep reddish brown) finish, that clearly hasn't been taken care of (the wood is extremely dry)... but the ivories were beautiful!  i checked out the hammers and strings, and played every note to make sure that it worked and sounded OK.  it did!  just needs a serious tuning.  there's just one very small chip on one of the ivories, but it's really not noticable.  and with the help of my SWM we negotiated them down to $220! 

the people that sold it to me were very special.. they have 6 foster children and just didn't have room for the piano, nor the time to play it.  it'd belonged to the woman for a while, and she had paid $250 for it when she bought it from a friend, who'd had it in their family for many years.  when she told us this, i felt guilty for having negotiated her down on the price.. but we had already agreed to it.

it's a done deal!  i just have to make arrangements to transport it to our new home!  i'm so excited!  i was close to tears when we walked out of their house.. i think i will be in tears the first time i get to play it.. my new piano... in my house (ok, our house!)... it means so much to me that i will now get to start playing again, after having the desire rising from deep within me for so long.