We have a PLANO

Dad told us a story about my little niece that was really cute. She calls a piano a plano so now that's what it will be known as from here on, and we have one now. Hooray! It's not nice or anything, but it was free and I need to find out how much it is to get the thing tuned since we just moved it. I'm hoping we cn have it restored to the point that it's nice to play. Making it nice to look at will be more work than it's worth, so nuts to that.

My oldest son (age 8) is excited to learn how to play, and I'm excited to get him lessons. In fact I've just gotten off the phone with him and made him a deal that if he promises to practice 15-30 min. a day, that I'll buy the books to teach him. I've always felt that having a piano makes a house more of a home. I used to love when my little sister and older brother used to play on Sundays as I was growing up. Ahh nostalgia. My sister had offered to give him free lessons a year or so ago and I expect she'd still be willing.

It was also nice to be able to have that quiet room in the house where it was just the piano, fireplace and couches. We called it the living room although was really more of a sitting room and was always more sedate than the 'family room' or kitchen/dining room which were the other two common areas of the house. Of course with ten kids the sharing of bedrooms was unavoidable as well, so having one quiet room in the house was very welcomed.

I took lessons when I was 5 and 14, but never really got to the point that I could read a piece of music and play it right off. Even hymns are still a struggle for me unless I only play one hand or one note at a time. Still, the few songs that I've learned by heart still give me some pleasure when I sit down. I really should learn to play for real. I think the wife would like it too.