I got my piano last night. My folks delivered it, and then four of us guys got to wrestle the beast into the house. It’s an old Marshall & Wendell upright that’s in pretty nice condition. I don’t how how old it actually is yet, but I hope to determine that tonight when I get home and can look up the serial number. And the fun thing is that the piano just happens to match the look and feel of our house, so it looks like it has always been there.
The piano is badly in need of a tuning, so the search is on today to find someone in my area who’s competent, reasonably priced, and willing to drive to my home out in the country to do the job. There are half a dozen different companies listed in the phone book who do piano tuning, so they’ll all be getting a call from me at some point today.
I’m also now on the hunt for a good piano teacher. The last time I was able to take lessons was in the spring of 1998, so it’s been nearly nine years. Most of the playing I’ve done since then has been tinkering. I haven’t had a piano of my own, so I’ve only been able to play whenever I was in a location that had a piano in the living room or on the church platform or the university music department’s practice rooms. Naturally, I’m pretty rusty, but I’m looking forward to getting back into playing on a regular basis and taking my practicing more seriously than I ever did when I was younger. I’ve missed being able to play good music. Also, some of those piano books I’ve had my eye on for a while now (e.g. a good George Gershwin piano book) are starting to look a lot more tempting.
I do need to sit down and make out a list of goals for specific areas of my playing I want to improve upon, since I know whatever teacher I ultimately end up with is probably going to want to tailor lessons to suit my personal objectives.
It feels nice to have my music literally at my fingertips again.
Have you ever played, “Rhapsody in Blue”? I love that one although I haven’t really gotten the hang of it yet. Another one that’s fun to play is Vince Guaraldi’s, “Linus and Lucy”.
“Rhapsody” is exactly the one I want to get my hands on to learn. I had a friend of mine back in college that was working on it, and I’ve heard the piano arrangement on CD. Being the Gershwin fan that I am, I’d love to my hands on his piano book.
I’ll have to look for Guaraldi’s piece, on your recommendation. :)
Try sheetmusicplus.com. That’s where I get all of my stuff, and they’ve been really great so far. They’re not at all expensive , they have a great selection, and they ship reasonably quick. Geez, I sound like an ad. :)
That’s ok! I appreciate the endorsement of a service you like. I will definitely check it out.
It’s funny, my parents just delivered my Marshall & Wendell on Monday the 29th. I bought it from a neighbor about 20 years ago and it sat in my parents basement for about as long. They were remodeling their basement so they said they were bringing it down. Man, talk about heavy. I made ramps out of 6 x 6 lumber and particle board to get it off the trailer and into the house. It remained very well tuned after all those years. Dated 1925. It plays quite well, but could use some TLC. Refinishing would be nice. It’s like a work of art inside. Very quality workmanship. Good luck from one M & W owner to another.