Music to my ears

My childhood piano made its way to my home about 2 years ago. In our family for over 40 years, I have fond memories of my first piano teacher, who was the coolest piano teacher on the planet (according to my young self) - Mr. Don. 

Mr. Don wrote out all of the music that he taught during my and my sister's lessons. He took requests, so we collected binders of oddball combinations - ABBA, the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, the Muppets, Frank Sinatra. Somewhere down the line, my binder was lost, but my sister's binder is still with us. I still pull it out from time to time, flipping though the weathered pages until I hit on a piece that feels right.

The piano is a player piano. Although it was always great to actually play music, it was equally fun as kids to play the music rolls. Pedalling was exhausting, but well worth it. I have great memories of my family singing along to the music, as the lyrics were included in some of the rolls.

But time has taken a toll - and she desperately needed a tune and clean-up. I finally called up the husband of a friend, who runs his own piano tuning business. I was really amazed when he opened her up. I had often lifted the lid to see the hammers inside, but had never seen the piano without its cover and front panels, and even with the player mechanism detached. It was fascinating - very linear and graphic. 

Still hearing her age, she sounds a lot better now. So I'll soon be pulling out the sheet music from one of my favourite bands - Keane - to try and learn some of my fave tunes from their collection. My daughter is also taking a greater interest - and I'll try to find her a teacher like Mr. Don.