Something Old, Something New

Welcome to my living room! Please have a seat and let me play you a song on our new piano.

It’s been a six-month process, but we’ve resolved the problem that surfaced when our piano tuner informed us he could no longer get our old piano in tune because the pins were so loose. (I wrote about it here.) The solution? A new pinblock — a very costly procedure that would mean basically rebuilding the piano. We couldn’t afford it.

I put it on Craig’s List and waited, shopping around for a used piano on Craig’s List or a new one at a piano dealer. My idea was to sell mine, which would be valued by a piano rebuilder or someone willing to invest in a promising vintage piano, and use the proceeds to buy a new, or newer used, piano that had another 30 years or so of life left in it. I tried out some upright pianos (now the term is “vertical pianos”), but after having had the grand it was hard to sacrifice that grand action and touch. But I couldn’t find a solution, and though I “sold” the Mason twice on Craig’s List, neither buyer actually showed up with money.

New possibilities opened up thanks to a generous gift from my father, and we’ve been able to purchase a new Ritmuller R9. It has a beautiful tone and sustain, and a wonderful dynamic range. As icing on the cake, two days before the new piano was delivered, a rebuilder came up from Atlanta and bought the Mason. This was truly an eleventh hour blessing! Rather than being simply hauled away upon delivery of the new piano, it will be restored and go on with its life with someone who both values it and can afford it.

This means a lot to us. I have the original payment book for that piano. My grandfather bought it in 1940 as a young man with a wife and child, a medical practice just starting out, and a few pieces of furniture in an apartment. My father was only three when the piano entered the home, and still he remembers it — this enormous piece of furniture, an instrument he would hear often as he was falling asleep and his father played Chopin, Beethoven, and Mendelssohn deep into the night.

There was so much family history wrapped up in that piano. Even with the help from my father, we would not have been able to afford to rebuild it. I’m very blessed by his generosity in helping us to begin a new chapter. The Rit has been officially initiated into the family, because shortly after it arrived Dad brought over some of the duets he and my grandfather used to play. The girls have started piano lessons too, Older Daughter with assistance from Schaum and Younger Daughter with Alfred. (Yours Truly is the teacher.)

Here’s to many more years of music.