Put another nickel in

It's been a music kind of day, I guess. My brain is currently playing HMS Pinafore (not as weird as it might sound when I tell you that I performed in not one but two youth theatre productions back in the day), and I'm thinking of giving away my piano.

I suppose that last needs a bit of explaining?

Well, I have a piano. That part is important, because otherwise the giving away bit wouldn't be that much of a deal. I have a piano that was bought for me when I was a child. I took a lot of years of both piano and voice lessons, and later on I spent ten years of my life teaching voice. All with the same piano. It's a good piano, and it's kept me musical company for longer than I'd care to admit. Ok, ok. Over thirty years.

The piano currently lives in my old bedroom at my father's place. I used the room as a studio when I was teaching, and now that I'm not teaching I just share the room with the piano when I'm there on the weekends. Just share, yes. I haven't played in a while. I'm not the greatest pianist to begin with, although I like to noodle on occasion, but the whole giving lessons thing put me off it. I'm like that. I get burned out on something, don't touch it for ages, and then come back to it at some point when it starts feeling like fun again.

And therein lies the problem with giving away the piano. At the moment I'm not using the piano. Well, I kind of use it as a table, more or less, but it's not making any music. It's sitting. There's somebody else who would be happy to have it, and if I look at things realistically that would have more than a few advantages for me. I'd know that my piano was being valued, I'd know that it was being used, and I'd know that I wouldn't have to try to find a place for it in the hopefully-far-away future when my father decides to give up his house.

I should say here for the benefit of one or two people that I mean the hopefully-far-away part. There's no sign of it happening anytime soon and it's not like I have to find something to do with the piano right away. That last fact sort of compounds my problem a little, but more on that in a second.

Right now it seems like a pretty good idea to give up the piano, but. But but but. But what happens when I'm back on the upswing and feel like getting back into music in a less casual fashion than I am now? I'm not saying that I'd give voice lessons again -- in fact, let's state outright that I WILL NOT GIVE VOICE LESSONS AGAIN -- but I may at some point be interested in getting the youth choir I had up and running once more. And even if I don't, I might just feel like playing. I have a cheap plastic keyboard at my apartment and I could easily play on that, but it's not ever going to be the same as my piano.

So it sounds like it would be a fairly stupid idea to give away the piano on a momentary whim, right?

Here's the thing, though.

The "person" who wants a piano isn't a person. It's a place.

A nature centre, in fact.

The nature centre where I work.

The nature centre that may possibly get a lot of use out of a piano during special events and things like that. Also, the nature centre where I would be welcome to visit my piano every single day. And if I was too nervous to play it when other people might hear (not out of the realm of possibility by a long shot. I hate playing when people are around. It makes me very nervous, and it was the hardest thing to get past when I was teaching) I could always come in after hours and do a bit of practicing.

Sigh.

None of this is really helping matters, you know.

Anyway, I'll be weighing the pros and cons over the weekend and we'll see what happens. If my past track record is any indication, I'll develop a complete piano obsession for a few weeks/months/possibly years and not be able to let it go, followed by a why in hell didn't you get rid of the thing when you could? moment of clarity &/or regret.

Yes, I'm that predictable.





Going now. Oh, and if anyone's confused by the post title, let's just say that my brain thrives on tangents...