One of my music professors told me once, "You almost always get what you wish for, but your wish doesn't manifest itself exactly the way you envision it."
His words once again rang true to me this week - to the tune of, well, the "Girl from Ipanema." (See above picture)
Let me backtrack a bit...
For the past few weeks I've been sorely craving the tactile sensation of fingers on the keyboard. Not my Mac - but the pianoforte variety. It's been nearly ten years since I've performed piano in public, and although I do not regret giving up performance for grad school - I do go through spells in which I miss being a pianist. Sometimes it's the adrenaline rush of performing that I miss, but most often, it's the time spent learning, processing, and embodying a piece of music.
Just as I was entertaining thoughts of signing up for a piano hakwon (institute) here, I came home to find a note on the bulletin board next to the mailbox:
"Free Casio Keyboard to a Good Home"
After text-messaging with apparently the secret passwords: "How many keys?" - I was then secured ownership of the Casio, which I picked up the following morning from my neighbor upstairs.
I was surprised to see that this is a pedagogically inclined keyboard, with pre-programmed pieces featuring lighted keys for speedier recognition, and plastic ivory keys permanently etched with black letter names! (I've tried to remove the letter names, to no avail.) The Casio Song Book that is included with the keyboard is tailored for beginners and also, the 61 keys.
The key range is proving to be a problem - since most of my extant repertoire exceeds this. For now, the keyboard seems to be well-suited for the Fugue from the Bach C Minor Partita and "Axel F."
I'm not complaining for now, though!
4 comments:
Feel you on missing the instrument. THAT one is hilarious!
Even more hilarious is that one of my violin teachers (the one I studied jazz & improv with, after undergrad) said, "you always get EXACTLY what you wish for, so be very specific!" and then went on to tell a fireplace story. i'll fill you in tomorrow on that one.
"Axel F" is the freakin' coolest! I'll bet that sweet machine can kick in some cool beats to make your performance even more awesome. Totally. Like, for sure, man.
Haha, sounds like something perfect for me. I need to just quit work and become a nomad teaching English and aimlessly wondering the world with a Casio keyboard.
what a great idea rrb! i'm laying down some phat beats as we speak. SO cool!
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