Fulfilling a noteworthy dream...
Hitting a few sour notes while fine tuning a wrinkle in time when I had a fling with a Kimball upright—sounds risqué, doesn’t it? Its spittin’ image is preserved in the photo accompanying my Memoir.
As of 1969, Kimball was one of the largest piano makers in the world. By 1996 Kimball International stopped producing pianos in the United States.
www.kimballpianousa.com
I acquired mine in the ''80s when I hit my stride in the world, even on a teacher’s salary. In my early thirties, under the impression I looked like Jacklyn Smith in her role as ‘Charlie’s Angels’ Kelly Garrett because so many people told me I did, and behaving accordingly—I tooled around in my Fiat X1/9 two-seater mid-engine sports car and hobnobbed.
Besotted with the secluded mansions along Ocean Drive in Narragansett, I fantasized about purchasing any one of them with a “for sale” sign out front.
Not forthcoming any time soon, renting a seasonal cabana at the Dunes Club, a historic, highly elite, private beach club on Boston Neck Road seemed a viable alternative. Each “changing room” measures four feet high by four feet deep by two feet wide. Non-residential fee is $600, with a 15-20 year wait!
Dissuaded, I purchased a Kimball instead! It just so happened one of the teachers with whom I shared an open-space classroom had been taking piano lessons. She inspired me to attain one of my own hitherto unfulfilled dreams.
This expensive albatross situated along an inside wall in my living room beckoned me to tickle its ivory. And, so I signed up for weekly lessons in classical music training which required discipline to master scales and simplified compositions. I took great pride when flawlessly playing Beethoven’s ‘Moonlight Sonata.’ Practice makes perfect!
As lessons grew more demanding and life took its own course, it became apparent I no longer had the time to hit the high notes. After several years of standing upright with its fallboard folded over the keys, I bequeathed my beloved piano to a family member. Nevertheless, I still have an ear for ‘Moonlight Sonata’ which Beethoven wrote in his early thirties.
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My piano lessons were at a time when I was learning to write cursive like my mother--never did. I was more interested in more active things than sitting at the piano plunking keys. That was quite an accomplishment playing Beethoven. My best accomplishment was simple trick songs like the one we used to play with our knuckles. I have the tune in my head, but don't remember the name.
Ron