Piano (continued)

You didn't think there would be more from me on piano, did you? Like many people, I wish I would have stuck with it, and could produce beautiful music on a piano today. (instead of just part of Skip to my Lou)

My friend Chris D. from Atlantic can still play. I don't even know if/who she took lessons from when we were young. Mrs. DeWulf was another popular piano teacher in town. Chris even wrote her own music - not just plucked out one note at a time tunes. She was from the musical Deardorff fam - so it ran in her genes. (I had "Go Tell Aunt Rodie" in alto/bass Mom).

When our children were born, of course we got them musical toys - xylophones etc. When Amy was about 8, we got her a battery powered keyboard. It had programed tunes in it, but she also learned to play simple songs. She wanted more. I arranged for her to start piano lessons with Mrs. Elaine Neeley, a local music teacher. Amy took to reading music as easily as she learned to read. In no time she was beyond the range of her keyboard.

Listening to local radio KSIB (and that's a whole nother blog or two) one day, during the Trading Post portion of the show, I heard someone offer a piano for free- as long as someone would come and pick it up! My kind of price! I called the number given (overcoming my phon-a-phobia for a good cause) right away and claimed it.

Paul arranged for his buddies to help him pick it up from some rural location, using Steve's pickup truck. All we had to pay was a few beers and pizza (that was our usual assistance payment) Of course we paid back folks by helping with their moving causes.

From what I recall, Paul said the piano was in a barn. It was covered with years of dust and some bird poop. It was missing some ivories and hadn't been tuned for many years. This finish was beyond help.

I decided it was spongeworthy - it was the 90's and I had sponge painted the dark paneling downstairs (at the old house). I used a cream color for the base and some pretty dusty rose and country blue. It came out pretty good if I do say so myself. The sound...not so good. So I called and arranged for the local piano tuner to fix 'er up for something like $60.

In the meantime, we had purchased some piano music for Amy beyond her own John Thompson type books. For some reason we got her the theme to Friends - the TV show. "I'll Be There For You". Forget an uninsulated basement - our house was open - the sound just shot up the staircase. She played that song over and over - it was her Cotton Blossom, her Skip to my Lou.

Amy learned a great deal from Mrs. Neeley - who was no Mrs. Sandhorst. Early on I would stay and read in the front room of her older two story home, while Amy had her lesson. Mrs. Neeley was married and had a red haired heavyset music prodigy son Eric who was a couple years older than Amy. Amy made us proud at her first recital, out at a music room at the college.

One day I dropped Amy off at Mrs. Neeley's door and ran home, planning to pick her up in a half hour. Amy showed up hoofing it the 5 or 6 blocks from Neeley's about 10 minutes later. Mrs. Neeley wasn't home! The next week we tried again - nobody home. We'd gotten blown off.?

I called Elaine after that - and found out she'd moved out of the house and was getting a divorce! Color me shocked. Amy went to a few lessons at her new home on Walnut Street, but it just wasn't the same. And Amy was getting into the saxophone - so she gave piano up.

We left the sponged piano at the old house when we moved - it couldn't have made the turn on our staircase here. And it wasn't an upstairs piano. I gave the piano away the same was I got it - on Trading Post. The new owners were delighted to get it.