Mrs Kemble: As Frisky as a Spring Lamb

David the piano man tuned the Kemble and put the saggy keys right as part of the service.  It was interesting to see under the hood, so to speak. The saggy keys were caused by something on the key itself, which he was able to put right easily enough.  And some of the tuning pegs were coming a bit loose from the wrest plank, which problem can be cured with super-glue, apparently.   I also realised that what with the tuning pegs coming loose, and the sound board gradually losing its curve, pianos don't last forever.  Maybe we'll get a new one if Molly or I get past grade 5 or 6 one day.  The Kemble will do for now.

I got chatting with David and he's looking to make a move into EFL, divining, as I have, that FE in the UK is buggered and you need to head for the palm trees and the petro-dollars.  I'm beginning to look forward to it now as a new opportunity and adventure, rather than an irksome economic necessity.  The likelihood is that I'll be heading out there in late August.  I'll stick with the current employer until then, resisting the temptation to manage a summer school, for laughs and old time's sake.

The Kemble was tuned as is for now.  I'll get David back out to tune it to concert pitch in a few months, once this tuning has settled down, and it's been played plenty.

Which it will be.  I had 40 minutes or so of Hanons and scales at lunchtime after David left, (and it does sound and feel much better).  But I need to move on to the next stage now.  Learn more Hanons, of course, but also start to learn a few tunes - starting with the ABRSM Grade 1 pieces, why the hell not.  I've also been spending half an hour for the last few evenings on the piano notes game, and I'm up to 25 a minute on the treble clef now.

But there's something else, it feels like I'm ready to move onto the next stage, but I'm not quite sure what that is...  Maybe just putting the exercises, pieces and sight-reading all together?  Or something else, exercises with chords?  I don't know. Progress is being made, I'm fairly sure of that.

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