When I'm not at work, I am here . . . our home, our residence, the place where we celebrate birthdays and holidays with our children and extended family. This is where my piano lives.
My piano. It's a beautifully-restored Mason-Hamlin 1916 AA grand. It is a rich walnut color. The legs are intricately carved and remind me of Victorian ladies' bloomers. (smiling) Jim Reeder and his skilled craftsmen at Reeder Pianos brought this beauty back to life and then I had the privilege of buying it and bringing it into our home.
Playing the piano represents a significant part of who I am and what feeds my soul.
On the weekends, when I'm not sitting here at the computer, blogging or reading the latest current events, I usually play the piano in the morning. The house is quiet (as S is most usually sleeping), the sun is shining through the pine trees into the living room and my audience is the dog, Cisco -- a rapt audience if there ever was one.
I mostly play classical music. I'm laughing, because that is virtually ALL I play. I find that is what appeals to my ears. And, for the past year or so, I find that I want to play Bach. Yes, good ol' Johann Sebastian Bach. I want to play Bach, I need to play Bach, and that is what I have running through my head when I'm driving in the car with only silence for company. God knows my fingers need the work-out and exercise that Bach's music provides and his music certainly challenges me musically, as well. Occasionally, I'll play a little Mozart or Beethoven, but I always return to Bach.
I play many of his preludes and fugues from the "Well-Tempered Clavier," Czerny's edition in two books, in the old, familiar buttery yellow covers. This morning I started working on "Prelude 21" or "Preludio XXI" as it is entitled in the book. It is a longer prelude -- four pages in this edition -- written in the key of B-flat, 12/16 time. I'm smiling to myself because it is annotated to be played "Vivace" -- which is very fast. As I am just beginning to learn this, learning the notes and the fingerings, I am playing it somewhat slower -- I would call it a "train-wreck" tempo. Imagine trying to hurry through or past a train wreck on a railroad track and you get the picture.
So, I have started a new Bach piece, the music is lilting in my ears, haunting my thoughts and delighting my soul. Life is good.
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