I say I will do X

I don’t do X

(Sigh)

***

I love playing piano.  I bought a keyboard months ago.  Rarely do I sit down and tickle the ivories.

Something needs to be done.

The conditions are perfect for playing.  Many sounds are available with the touch of a few buttons: grand piano, church organ, strings … even a harpsichord.

The piano sits in front of a window looking out over my back terrace.  The river is nearby.  Even though I can’t see the water, the gulls love the route.  In the distance are slate rooves.  People live under them!

What will have me return to playing?  It’s simple … I’ll promise you that I will.  You won’t like it if I break my word.

So …

Today I will sit at the keyboard for an hour – and play it!  I’ll choose a sound that I like and figure out how to input it.  I’ll take one of the songs that I’m relearning (Did She Mention My Name?) and work at playing it in the key of C, which is the easiest for me – no black keys.

After all this happens, I’ll return to my phone and tell you all about it.  I promise.

It’s 10:44 am.

***

It’s 3:25 pm.

I did it!  An hour plus of figuring out the keyboard manual and actually playing.  The manual has been sitting on my dresser for a long time.  I’ve looked through the pages before and sagged in the face of all the details.

Today I realized something: English is only one of eight languages in the book.  Could its mere thickness have been an unconscious barrier deterring me from exploring its mysteries?

In any event, today was the day.  I figured out how to listen to different sounds, and I probably heard fifty of them while playing an F chord.  And I found two favourites: “ConcertGrand+EP” and “Deep Strings”.  The first has a rich, layered piano sound and the second includes the tones of my beloved cello.

I knitted my brow in concentration as the manual coached me about “Favorites”:

1.  Select the Scene you want to register

2.  Press the FAVORITE [BANK] button to make the indicator button light

3.  Press a [0]-[9] button to select the registration-destination bank

4.  Long-press the FAVORITE [ON] button to make the [0]-[9] buttons blink

5.  While continuing to hold down the FAVORITE [ON] button, press the [0]-[9] button in which you want to register the selected scene

I did it again! I can figure out words.

It turns out that what my fingers remembered was the key of F, not C … three major chords and three minor ones.  One black key along for the ride.

I started the melody of Did She Mention My Name? and felt into what the left hand should be doing in harmony.  So far I can’t read piano music.  It’s always been my ear that’s done the job.

Lots of right notes … and lots of wrong ones.  Chords that worked with the melody and ones that didn’t.  “Keep exploring, Bruce!”

“Oh my God – Lightfoot’s song is coming out of my fingers!  What a good boy am I!”

Then what came were the notes of All Through the Night – a lullaby.  And I was being lulled.

***

I’m happy

Music filled my bedroom

And off into the skies over Ghent