In The Neighborhood


IMAG0171, originally uploaded by Pig Sty Avenue.

It arrived without fuss up two flights of stairs, (if you ever want a piano moved in Glasgow and Environs, let me know and I'll give you William Kerr's number, a no-fuss piano mover). I hadn't realized there was a piano stool included, (with some old music, too), which was very welcome.

Today I've been doing Hanon in C major, as discussed. Both hands separately, and latterly both working together, slowly and clumsily. So I'm going to be doing two significant things over the next few days: getting the hands working together, and getting the feel of the keys - which is quite different to the midi keyboard, of course, difficult now to get any kind of expression there.

But it's wonderful to play on a real old acoustic piano in my own home. Midi keyboards and digital are all ok, but nothing compares to the sensation (I choose that word carefully) of sitting there with this great beast of mahogany, wire, iron, ebony, ivory... It's the real deal, man. And the sustain pedal - that's a sound I hadn't bargained for. Lovely, lovely.

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