Wednesday, February 23, 2011
New Piano Update in Previous Post
So I updated my previous piano post with the extended version of the story. But apparently, if you are on my e-mail list, you don't get an updated e-mail if I update something. So this is me writing a new blog posting to tell everyone that the previous blog post is now updated. :)
New Piano
The extended version of the story is below, but the cut and dry of it is that I got a piano! And...for those of you who know how I always find spectacular deals, this piano is the epitome of my deal finding because I got this piano:
For FREE!! : D (No, I am not joking. Free!)
This won't be quite as animated as if you were on the phone with me or in person, but the story goes:
I have been wanting a piano for a while now. I grew up with one. My mom had all us kids take piano lessons when we were young. I think my sister was the only one who actually continued. I quit piano lessons...twice. But I learned enough to play what I want to play! Then in high school I found myself stuck on the piano in jazz band (why in Heaven's name they wanted a CLASSICAL piano-player with only two years of "official" lessons taken back before I had double-digits in my age, I'll never understand.) In any case, in retrospect I suppose I'm glad I did it. Sure helped me understand theory quickly in college, or should I say that if they'd only given me Theory 101 in high school, I would have been a decent jazz player. At least I would have known about a strange thing called chords. (Apparently those are important in jazz...)
During college I was golden. Each practice room had a piano and of course my parents' piano waited for me at home (even though it needed and still does need to be tuned...hint hint...*ahem*). I'm sure you can see that, a bit like having a dog, I need a piano.
When David and I moved into our apartment after college, we got said dog. But no piano. I was perfectly fine with that because while a dog fit, a piano certainly would not have. (On a side note, if you are wondering why I didn't get a keyboard, I am a piano purist. I refuse to play on keyboards unless I have to and even the weighted ones, while okay, are not the same as having a real piano. Plus, pianos are fine pieces of furniture as well.)
Our next move was to buy our house last year. Having a piano in it wasn't top of my list since a couch for the living room and a fence for the dog and desk for my office were top priority. Then about four months ago I really started to feel the lack of piano. While I don't play much, I appreciate having the ability to sit down and play one of my favorite songs or sing a few songs. Then I started teaching lessons (clarinet, not piano. That would be very silly.). When I teach, I tend to refer to pianos. Not having a piano in my house to refer doesn't work very well, short of drawing up a keyboard and humming the pitches.
It was time to find a piano. Here's the thing about piano-buying: it's intimidating. It's the car of the musical instruments. My sister offered to let me buy her piano, but then there was the whole transporting it via truck three hours. So I started poking around on Craig's List just to see if there was anything closer.
I found a few used pianos within my price range ($200-$400). Yep, that's pretty low. I looked at an upright first. It had original ivory and ebony keys (cool!), but some of the keys were chipped. The piano itself was, at one time, beautiful I'm sure. It had ornate legs and decorations, but it was worn-looking. I battled with myself inside trying to convince myself that I didn't need to be so concerned with outside appearance as with the tone and the feel of the piano. (Sounds like an 8th Grade girl's self-esteem assembly...) I thought and stewed and finally decided that I needed to look at more pianos, especially since I wasn't even sure I wanted a full upright. I never had before. It was just the first one I'd finally pushed myself into seeing.
The next piano I looked at was a spinet. The couple wanted $400. The outside was scratched, the inside pegs were rusted, one of the legs was broken. I felt for that couple, though. They and their young boy were having to move out of their house and into an apartment. There was no heat in the house, walls were half-painted, piles of swept rubble were in the corners. I think they were just trying to get the most they could from their piano. While empathetic, I just couldn't take the piano, but I did let them know that their contact number was incorrect on their listing (area code was off by one number).
It was about this time that I realized I would have to accept the fact that the outside of the piano wouldn't be lovely given the price-range in which I was looking. And when continuing my search, it was also about the time I got frustrated with people who post on Craig's List. I found another piano that looked really nice and the person selling it said that it was in good shape. When I contacted her, she said they were busy this week, how about next? To which I responded in my head, "Why did you post something on Craig's List if you aren't able to sell it the week you've posted?". There were others I contacted too: one said the piano was great except that the keys looked like "human teeth". When I asked him to clarify that, he sent me a picture:
I thought to myself, I don't want my teeth to look like this, and I certainly don't want my piano keys to look like that either! There went that piano. There was another upright that looked nice, but it was gone by the time I contacted him...the next day. Another guy was very terse in his response when I politely inquired about his piano. His disappeared off the listing soon thereafter.
By this point, I was feeling down as I obsessively refreshed the listing every five minutes. Finally, I told myself that I just needed to stop; I was driving myself insane. I busied myself for a good 40 minutes. Then I thought, I'll check again. Just in case.
There was a new listing without a price. I clicked on it anyway and looked at the pictures. It looked like a decent piano, good-looking, nice keys. At that point I figured that they probably wanted offers and that, given that it actually looked like a nice piano, I wouldn't be able to afford it. Just as I was about to click the back button, the word "FREE" caught my eye. "Free?" I asked myself. Then I read the blurb, which said something along the lines of: "Beautiful piano in great condition, FREE to a good home." "Free? FREE?" I practically shouted at my computer then flew into panic mode, frantically trying to locate my phone, "Where's my phone? Where's my phone? WHERE'S MY PHONE?!"
I think I need to get one of those things to locate my phone.
I did find it, then called. This was approximately 25-35 minutes after the person had posted the listing (why oh why had I stopped obsessively checking?). Nobody answered. I left a message. I called back again (just in case). I e-mailed the person (some people check e-mail faster than phone). I called again. I had my husband call. I felt like I was back in high school wondering if I should call that boy that I'd already called fifteen times, just one more time because surely he would want to talk to me on the magic sixteenth call! Unless that said boy was avoiding me or was he actually not home?
The end of the day came. I went to bed and slept terribly. I called again in the morning at an "appropriate" time (10 am). No answer. Left another message saying that I was still interested and that if the person had already given it away, to please contact me so that I knew (a.k.a so I could stop calling every other hour).
I told myself to chill. I consulted the rational side of me. The rational side told me that while it was a holiday (President's day), maybe, just maybe, this person actually had to work. Good theory, rational self. Didn't make me feel that much better, but it did stop me from calling again. I told myself I'd call again tomorrow and every day thereafter.
The evening came. I headed off to rehearsal after a long, moody, no-returned-calls day. On my way to rehearsal, phone on silent, my car rings (ah, the power of bluetooth). I scramble for my phone to see who's calling. It's the unknown number that I know so well!!!!!
Moment of truth:
Hello?
"Congratulations, you were the first caller!"
(More or less).
If you were sitting in the car with me, you would have visually seen this response:
"I WON!!! I WON! I WON! I WON! GAAAAAAH! I'm a winner! I won!" There was a whole lot of bouncing and smiling and probably crying all while driving at 60 mph. Great thinking me. (I was safe.)
While visually and inwardly having a celebration of mass proportions and feeling like I'd just won the ultimate radio-show give away, to the person I simply said,
"Oh really? That's wonderful! I'm so glad."
*Phew* She doesn't know I'm crazy-excited (and maybe a little crazy).
We talked about the piano a little bit. I asked if it had any chipped keys (don't want "human teeth" you know...). She said there weren't any, just that two keys stuck. She had it tuned two years ago. I asked if there were any big scratches. She said no, that it is actually in really good condition. Then I said, "Can I ask why you're giving it away?" She told me that she, herself, got it for free eight years ago, and hadn't really used it. It's just been sitting on an inside wall, and then she ended up getting a weighted keyboard. She asked me where I was coming from...and then we found out that we lived only ten minutes from each other.
Could this be my deal of the century?
I made plans to pick it up the following day. My husband asked some of his friends to help. I waited eagerly all day. Luckily I had a full day so that I wasn't just watching the clock, although I was watching the weather as snowstorms threatened to descend.
But at seven o'clock that night when we picked up the piano, it was so clear you could see all the stars.
We heaved and huffed and didn't drop the piano that I got for free. For FREE! And now it sits in our parlor (yes, I think we should now call it the parlor) and looks like it was meant to be there all along.
The person who I got it from was an Angel. No, seriously, that's her name: Angel.
And that is the story of how I ended up with a beautiful, free piano. It gets tuned, keys unstuck, and pedals adjusted tomorrow.
This won't be quite as animated as if you were on the phone with me or in person, but the story goes:
I have been wanting a piano for a while now. I grew up with one. My mom had all us kids take piano lessons when we were young. I think my sister was the only one who actually continued. I quit piano lessons...twice. But I learned enough to play what I want to play! Then in high school I found myself stuck on the piano in jazz band (why in Heaven's name they wanted a CLASSICAL piano-player with only two years of "official" lessons taken back before I had double-digits in my age, I'll never understand.) In any case, in retrospect I suppose I'm glad I did it. Sure helped me understand theory quickly in college, or should I say that if they'd only given me Theory 101 in high school, I would have been a decent jazz player. At least I would have known about a strange thing called chords. (Apparently those are important in jazz...)
During college I was golden. Each practice room had a piano and of course my parents' piano waited for me at home (even though it needed and still does need to be tuned...hint hint...*ahem*). I'm sure you can see that, a bit like having a dog, I need a piano.
When David and I moved into our apartment after college, we got said dog. But no piano. I was perfectly fine with that because while a dog fit, a piano certainly would not have. (On a side note, if you are wondering why I didn't get a keyboard, I am a piano purist. I refuse to play on keyboards unless I have to and even the weighted ones, while okay, are not the same as having a real piano. Plus, pianos are fine pieces of furniture as well.)
Our next move was to buy our house last year. Having a piano in it wasn't top of my list since a couch for the living room and a fence for the dog and desk for my office were top priority. Then about four months ago I really started to feel the lack of piano. While I don't play much, I appreciate having the ability to sit down and play one of my favorite songs or sing a few songs. Then I started teaching lessons (clarinet, not piano. That would be very silly.). When I teach, I tend to refer to pianos. Not having a piano in my house to refer doesn't work very well, short of drawing up a keyboard and humming the pitches.
It was time to find a piano. Here's the thing about piano-buying: it's intimidating. It's the car of the musical instruments. My sister offered to let me buy her piano, but then there was the whole transporting it via truck three hours. So I started poking around on Craig's List just to see if there was anything closer.
I found a few used pianos within my price range ($200-$400). Yep, that's pretty low. I looked at an upright first. It had original ivory and ebony keys (cool!), but some of the keys were chipped. The piano itself was, at one time, beautiful I'm sure. It had ornate legs and decorations, but it was worn-looking. I battled with myself inside trying to convince myself that I didn't need to be so concerned with outside appearance as with the tone and the feel of the piano. (Sounds like an 8th Grade girl's self-esteem assembly...) I thought and stewed and finally decided that I needed to look at more pianos, especially since I wasn't even sure I wanted a full upright. I never had before. It was just the first one I'd finally pushed myself into seeing.
The next piano I looked at was a spinet. The couple wanted $400. The outside was scratched, the inside pegs were rusted, one of the legs was broken. I felt for that couple, though. They and their young boy were having to move out of their house and into an apartment. There was no heat in the house, walls were half-painted, piles of swept rubble were in the corners. I think they were just trying to get the most they could from their piano. While empathetic, I just couldn't take the piano, but I did let them know that their contact number was incorrect on their listing (area code was off by one number).
It was about this time that I realized I would have to accept the fact that the outside of the piano wouldn't be lovely given the price-range in which I was looking. And when continuing my search, it was also about the time I got frustrated with people who post on Craig's List. I found another piano that looked really nice and the person selling it said that it was in good shape. When I contacted her, she said they were busy this week, how about next? To which I responded in my head, "Why did you post something on Craig's List if you aren't able to sell it the week you've posted?". There were others I contacted too: one said the piano was great except that the keys looked like "human teeth". When I asked him to clarify that, he sent me a picture:
I thought to myself, I don't want my teeth to look like this, and I certainly don't want my piano keys to look like that either! There went that piano. There was another upright that looked nice, but it was gone by the time I contacted him...the next day. Another guy was very terse in his response when I politely inquired about his piano. His disappeared off the listing soon thereafter.
By this point, I was feeling down as I obsessively refreshed the listing every five minutes. Finally, I told myself that I just needed to stop; I was driving myself insane. I busied myself for a good 40 minutes. Then I thought, I'll check again. Just in case.
There was a new listing without a price. I clicked on it anyway and looked at the pictures. It looked like a decent piano, good-looking, nice keys. At that point I figured that they probably wanted offers and that, given that it actually looked like a nice piano, I wouldn't be able to afford it. Just as I was about to click the back button, the word "FREE" caught my eye. "Free?" I asked myself. Then I read the blurb, which said something along the lines of: "Beautiful piano in great condition, FREE to a good home." "Free? FREE?" I practically shouted at my computer then flew into panic mode, frantically trying to locate my phone, "Where's my phone? Where's my phone? WHERE'S MY PHONE?!"
I think I need to get one of those things to locate my phone.
I did find it, then called. This was approximately 25-35 minutes after the person had posted the listing (why oh why had I stopped obsessively checking?). Nobody answered. I left a message. I called back again (just in case). I e-mailed the person (some people check e-mail faster than phone). I called again. I had my husband call. I felt like I was back in high school wondering if I should call that boy that I'd already called fifteen times, just one more time because surely he would want to talk to me on the magic sixteenth call! Unless that said boy was avoiding me or was he actually not home?
The end of the day came. I went to bed and slept terribly. I called again in the morning at an "appropriate" time (10 am). No answer. Left another message saying that I was still interested and that if the person had already given it away, to please contact me so that I knew (a.k.a so I could stop calling every other hour).
I told myself to chill. I consulted the rational side of me. The rational side told me that while it was a holiday (President's day), maybe, just maybe, this person actually had to work. Good theory, rational self. Didn't make me feel that much better, but it did stop me from calling again. I told myself I'd call again tomorrow and every day thereafter.
The evening came. I headed off to rehearsal after a long, moody, no-returned-calls day. On my way to rehearsal, phone on silent, my car rings (ah, the power of bluetooth). I scramble for my phone to see who's calling. It's the unknown number that I know so well!!!!!
Moment of truth:
Hello?
"Congratulations, you were the first caller!"
(More or less).
If you were sitting in the car with me, you would have visually seen this response:
"I WON!!! I WON! I WON! I WON! GAAAAAAH! I'm a winner! I won!" There was a whole lot of bouncing and smiling and probably crying all while driving at 60 mph. Great thinking me. (I was safe.)
While visually and inwardly having a celebration of mass proportions and feeling like I'd just won the ultimate radio-show give away, to the person I simply said,
"Oh really? That's wonderful! I'm so glad."
*Phew* She doesn't know I'm crazy-excited (and maybe a little crazy).
We talked about the piano a little bit. I asked if it had any chipped keys (don't want "human teeth" you know...). She said there weren't any, just that two keys stuck. She had it tuned two years ago. I asked if there were any big scratches. She said no, that it is actually in really good condition. Then I said, "Can I ask why you're giving it away?" She told me that she, herself, got it for free eight years ago, and hadn't really used it. It's just been sitting on an inside wall, and then she ended up getting a weighted keyboard. She asked me where I was coming from...and then we found out that we lived only ten minutes from each other.
Could this be my deal of the century?
I made plans to pick it up the following day. My husband asked some of his friends to help. I waited eagerly all day. Luckily I had a full day so that I wasn't just watching the clock, although I was watching the weather as snowstorms threatened to descend.
But at seven o'clock that night when we picked up the piano, it was so clear you could see all the stars.
We heaved and huffed and didn't drop the piano that I got for free. For FREE! And now it sits in our parlor (yes, I think we should now call it the parlor) and looks like it was meant to be there all along.
The person who I got it from was an Angel. No, seriously, that's her name: Angel.
And that is the story of how I ended up with a beautiful, free piano. It gets tuned, keys unstuck, and pedals adjusted tomorrow.
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