Quarantine Keyboard!

There are just some things in this world that remind you of a different time, a different life. Music and the piano are those things for me, as I wrote about in a nostalgic  post in 2018.  While we will all remember life "before COVID" and "after COVID," I sometimes remember my life divided into periods of  "pre-medicine" and "post-medicine" (as a career as an often-on-call doctor can truly be all-consuming with little balance if you let it), a difference which sometimes seems more stark than even pre- and post-kids.  

I had been contemplating getting a piano for our home for some time, both wanting to play again (after almost two decades of not playing much at all!), and also hoping that one or both of my children may want to take lessons/play in the future (I believe I started lessons when I was six, just a bit older than Iver is now).  I had to re-post these oldie photos.

with Grandpa Alton at the farm house in Fisher, MN, circa 1984

Beginning piano, 1987?

I was hoping to get an acoustic upright rather than a keyboard, but my Dad pointed out that there are wonderful digital options these days with weighted keys that feel like you're playing a real piano, not one with light "Fisher Price keyboard-feeling" keys, and the weather here in Humboldt (wet/rainy) may create issues with requiring frequent tuning. (I still also have my old Yamaha flute, but other than showing it to the boys, it hasn't been touched in decades, either!)

I was at first hoping to purchase one at a music store locally (I've been very intentional lately about avoiding shopping at online retailers like Amazon and trying to support local or small businesses whenever possible [obviously with a few wrenches thrown in now due to public health concerns]). I ideally wanted to be able to try out the instrument before purchasing one.  I also thought about getting a used instrument using Craigslist as a source, but thought it would be pretty hard to scope out how good/reliable the instrument was and also didn't want to spend a lot of time in-person "shopping" (which I hate even in non-pandemic times), or figuring out how to schlep it home.  But then the COVID lockdown hit and, well, everything is closed and we shouldn't be going to places other than our own house (and essential work or grocery shopping) so to the internet I went.  I ended up getting a full-size (88-key) Yamaha model with weighted keys (and good reviews), as well as a stand and a bench, which Kelvin just assembled for me so we could get the keyboard on it. I neglected to buy a dust cover initially but one should be on its way, as both kids are all over the thing and I've taken to unplugging the power cord on the back of the instrument just to discourage mindless banging with unclean hands on the new "toy"!

It's been joyful to just sit down and play. After close to twenty years, I'm definitely rusty, but the finger muscle memory comes back... kind of like riding a bike.  And at least my fingers are well exercised from typing frantically in our clinic's EMR (electronic medical record) for charting in medicine over the past two decades, so picking up and playing on piano keys isn't such a stretch! 

Here is me in scrubs (home on OB call on Monday evening) playing the end of Bach's Invention No. 8, one of my favorite classical pieces from my favorite composer. 

I'm flirting with the idea of attempting to teach Iver piano if he's interested (he, being very strong-willed, will not be talked into anything that he remotely doesn't want to do).  I'd much prefer to have a music teaching professional handle the job but I don't think that it's realistic nor safe to have someone come to us (or him go to their location) anytime in the near future. I also knew that getting our own instrument first was needed for him being able to practice. I suppose I'd also like to "feel out" first whether he has interested in learning how to play before I cough up money for formal lessons that he may dread or fight (to be fair, I recall hating being forced to take piano lessons and my parents told me to stick it out until age 16, after which I was allowed to "quit" if I wanted. They were right-- I voluntarily continued to play and had to admit that they were right to force me!  However, I don't think I was ever quite as strong-willed as is our five-year-old).  I also don't see how ZOOM/virtual teaching for a child of his age is likely to succeed as his first introduction to the instrument, just as I am skeptical about the logistics and point of  "virtual" kindergarten as may be a potential plan for the fall (but let me know if you think otherwise and please suggest any beginning piano teaching books!).

For now, the piano is living in our master bedroom, and just looking at it brings me joy. While I've been reading a lot, I haven't picked up any languages nor any additional "quarantine hobbies" or skills, as cooking (or baking sourdough from scratch) and growing things in the garden are not interests of mine.  However, I have been craving something "new" and some novel things to do to break up these months, and I think tickling the ivories again/reviving what used to be a huge part of my pre-medicine life as a music nerd will be a great activity for me during this extended time at home, which seems like it will last much longer than we previously anticipated.  I've taken out some of my old piano books, my parents may send me some other old music that has been living at their house, and maybe I'll even get some new material to practice on.  We all need a COVID escape (and toy); while this was a somewhat expensive one, I rationalized that it replaces just a portion of what we would have spent in travel this month, as we were slated to go down to Orange County in two weeks, a trip which we cancelled, and our travel costs will will be way down for the next 1-2 years. It's great to be BACH in the game (on the piano bench) making music!