La Dolce Musica
On Friday, I headed to the venerable Foxes Music Company to get myself some new piano music for the first time in almost three years. It was a good trip.
The last time I went was during maternity leave with Petunia. While I was browsing Christmas music, she took a monster crap. I made my purchases and hustled out to the car, which - being a 1999 Saturn SL2 - did not offer me a lot of places to change a diaper. So I changed my baby in the open trunk of my car and did my best to keep her warm. Then I buckled Petunia into her seat and tried to start the car. Which wouldn't start. We were a one-car family at the time so Basil had to ask a friend/coworker to drive him out to Falls Church and pick us up. While Petunia and I were waiting she had ANOTHER blowout poop, which necessitated ANOTHER trip to the trunk. Finally, the car got towed and we got a rental for the night.
All in all, it wasn't a great experience, and it tricked my memory into believing that Foxes was much farther from our place than it actually is. Also, I couldn't help but wonder if the poopy diapers and dying car were some sort of sign.
But on Friday, I decided to get over it and buy myself some new sheet music. I went with one piece in mind: the first movement of Moonlight Sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven.
I had learned it when I was pregnant with Petunia, but the music had been borrowed from a friend, and I never had purchased my own copy. After Petunia was born, I would put her in the Bjorn and play the piano around her. The soft triplets would often lull her to sleep. When she got strong enough to face forward in the Bjorn, I would play with her facing the piano. I think she loved seeing the black-and-white notes while hearing (mostly) beautiful music, and we have a couple of adorable pictures of me playing and Petunia staring at the piano from my chest.
But it couldn't last. She got too big for the Bjorn and too restless to play piano with me. Since then, she has expressed a lot of interest in the piano - mostly in 'playing' by herself for me and others and sometimes in listening to what I play (or what my mom plays when she comes to visit).
On Friday, I walked out of Foxes with a great splurge: a giant spiral bound book of 300+ pages of classical favorites. Not only did I get Moonlight Sonata, but I also got Debussy's Clair de Lune (I could play the last seven bars of that piece - starting at 4:25 on the YouTube link - for eternity, I think), Dvorak's Humoresque, Brahms' Hungarian Dance and a whole bunch of other well-known pieces. I also got Vince Guarldi's Charlie Brown Christmas sheet music book (we already have the CD), which intimidates the hell out of me because I suck at jazz but figured I would try since I have basically figured out the well-known 'Christmas Time is Here,' which I have in another book. I also got a few pieces of random Christmas sheet music to try and bulk up my repertoire before the holidays. (And no, FS, I didn't get Carol of the Bells because they only had a crappy vocal arrangement and nothing good for intermediate/advanced solo piano.)
It feels sooooo good to be playing again. I seriously could sit for hours and plunk away at the new music I bought, but unfortunately things like work and dinner and Petunia and Lilah and Basil need attention, too. I had my Sohmer console (it is this exact piano but with mahogany/cherry stain) tuned up in early June, and the piano tuner told me that it was a good instrument, in good shape and pretty well in tune. Apparently, it was 10 cents sharp, which was odd, as he expected it to be a little flat. So he put everything in tune with each other put not necessarily in perfect pitch.
Nonetheless, I have been enjoying the hell out of playing it lately. And Moonlight Sonata came back to me so quickly. I mean, there are still some tricky parts, but it's mostly there. And on Saturday night, I played a few bars for Petunia and then took her upstairs and played her the same song on our 'Beethoven for Your Beloved' CD. Her eyes got big and her mouth opened into an O as she recognized that I what I had played downstairs was the same as what was coming out of the CD player. And we laid on the floor of her room and held hands and stared at the ceiling and listened to Beethoven and she only got distracted by her rocking horse toward the very end.
It was a sweet moment. It was sweet music. Life is sweet right now.
The last time I went was during maternity leave with Petunia. While I was browsing Christmas music, she took a monster crap. I made my purchases and hustled out to the car, which - being a 1999 Saturn SL2 - did not offer me a lot of places to change a diaper. So I changed my baby in the open trunk of my car and did my best to keep her warm. Then I buckled Petunia into her seat and tried to start the car. Which wouldn't start. We were a one-car family at the time so Basil had to ask a friend/coworker to drive him out to Falls Church and pick us up. While Petunia and I were waiting she had ANOTHER blowout poop, which necessitated ANOTHER trip to the trunk. Finally, the car got towed and we got a rental for the night.
All in all, it wasn't a great experience, and it tricked my memory into believing that Foxes was much farther from our place than it actually is. Also, I couldn't help but wonder if the poopy diapers and dying car were some sort of sign.
But on Friday, I decided to get over it and buy myself some new sheet music. I went with one piece in mind: the first movement of Moonlight Sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven.
I had learned it when I was pregnant with Petunia, but the music had been borrowed from a friend, and I never had purchased my own copy. After Petunia was born, I would put her in the Bjorn and play the piano around her. The soft triplets would often lull her to sleep. When she got strong enough to face forward in the Bjorn, I would play with her facing the piano. I think she loved seeing the black-and-white notes while hearing (mostly) beautiful music, and we have a couple of adorable pictures of me playing and Petunia staring at the piano from my chest.
But it couldn't last. She got too big for the Bjorn and too restless to play piano with me. Since then, she has expressed a lot of interest in the piano - mostly in 'playing' by herself for me and others and sometimes in listening to what I play (or what my mom plays when she comes to visit).
On Friday, I walked out of Foxes with a great splurge: a giant spiral bound book of 300+ pages of classical favorites. Not only did I get Moonlight Sonata, but I also got Debussy's Clair de Lune (I could play the last seven bars of that piece - starting at 4:25 on the YouTube link - for eternity, I think), Dvorak's Humoresque, Brahms' Hungarian Dance and a whole bunch of other well-known pieces. I also got Vince Guarldi's Charlie Brown Christmas sheet music book (we already have the CD), which intimidates the hell out of me because I suck at jazz but figured I would try since I have basically figured out the well-known 'Christmas Time is Here,' which I have in another book. I also got a few pieces of random Christmas sheet music to try and bulk up my repertoire before the holidays. (And no, FS, I didn't get Carol of the Bells because they only had a crappy vocal arrangement and nothing good for intermediate/advanced solo piano.)
It feels sooooo good to be playing again. I seriously could sit for hours and plunk away at the new music I bought, but unfortunately things like work and dinner and Petunia and Lilah and Basil need attention, too. I had my Sohmer console (it is this exact piano but with mahogany/cherry stain) tuned up in early June, and the piano tuner told me that it was a good instrument, in good shape and pretty well in tune. Apparently, it was 10 cents sharp, which was odd, as he expected it to be a little flat. So he put everything in tune with each other put not necessarily in perfect pitch.
Nonetheless, I have been enjoying the hell out of playing it lately. And Moonlight Sonata came back to me so quickly. I mean, there are still some tricky parts, but it's mostly there. And on Saturday night, I played a few bars for Petunia and then took her upstairs and played her the same song on our 'Beethoven for Your Beloved' CD. Her eyes got big and her mouth opened into an O as she recognized that I what I had played downstairs was the same as what was coming out of the CD player. And we laid on the floor of her room and held hands and stared at the ceiling and listened to Beethoven and she only got distracted by her rocking horse toward the very end.
It was a sweet moment. It was sweet music. Life is sweet right now.
posted by merseydotes @ 1:12 PM
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