One of the things we had to decide when we were making plans to move into The Rivervale was whose piano would go to the house. It was, surprisingly, a pretty easy decision. Both of us had pianos at our family homes, but Ling’s was in far better condition than mine at Lentor.
That said, we still had to put it through a reconditioning as the entire keyboard assembly had too many keys that were out of alignment. So, I got my old piano tuner from 30 years now to retune the entire thing at a cost of $700.
Ironically, we don’t get to play our piano that much. OK, I play about every fortnight during worship for our small group meetings, but Ling very rarely touches the piano though she’d also completed her ABRSM Grade VIII.
So what’s with this picture? Well, it was her turn to choose the worship songs for last Saturday’s bible study. So, she dutifully chose them in the early afternoon and was feeling quite satisfied with herself… until I casually remarked an hour before the session I was gonna take a break from playing that evening and she should play for that evening for the group. Now that completely freaked her out haha! She protested saying she just cannot manage “so many chords”.
This picture was taken at about 8 pm; like 15 minutes before we set off for Ann’s place, and there she is frantically going through the pieces.:)
To be honest, I was just teasing her; and I laughingly admitted so just after the photo was taken. Boy, was she relieved; she said she was positively “butchering all those hymns”. I got the four songs from her and as I was going through them once, she turned quite green with envy, mournfully asking how come I could sight-read like nothing.:)
But she’s determined to give it a go, just so long as she gets to know which songs a fortnight in advance. So, I’m gonna get her to do this. The next time it’s my turn to choose songs, she’ll get all the time she needs, and no more excuses for her not to play.:)
haha! i read this ha! i be witness! next time CY leads worship, ling will play… haha… but ya la, CY how come u can sight-read like drinking water one? LOL… my sight-reading soooooo sucks =P haha… just teach me the chords then i rather play n sing without being so stressed with the bean sprouts.
Honestly, I’m not certain how I sight read. What I do though is to read the music well ahead of what I’m playing. Also, I don’t think I read every individual note in both clefts. Rather, I typically read just patterns or a mass of notes, and I ‘guess’ the individual notes that make up the chord as I’m playing. Am I making sense LOL.:)
I would like to know if you can pass your piano tuner contact to me. My piano used to be tuned by a Mr See. However, seems that he has changed his contact number and we’ve lost him in this way. Thanks very much. For 2 years, my yamaha piano has not been tuned!
Heya Geok Choo; I’ve emailed you.:)