The Fondest Farewell
Thursday, November 3, 2011 at 10:09 PM 
When I was seven years old, my parents bought me a second hand piano. My mum had just returned to work for the first time after having her family and the piano cost the whole of her first week’s wage.
I remember going to see it in the home of the two elderly ladies who owned it. One of them played Bobby Shaftoe, picking out the notes with just one finger, and I clearly remember the awe with which I thought, ‘I’ll never be that good!’
I did get to be that good. Even a little better. That small cottage piano saw me through all my piano exams. And, when I grew up and eventually became a piano teacher, dozens more people took their first musical steps at its keys.
The piano has accompanied me through a long series of house moves. It’s been a treasured instrument and a good one. I have an inordinate number of memories bound up in it….of piano parties and carol singing, of quality time spent with children I adored, of my own eccentric piano teacher, of playing duets with a good friend, of hours spent playing alone. That piano has, time and again, been the first friend I’ve turned to when feeling down; and it’s also known countless hours of fun and laughter.
Now, history is repeating itself. This week, my beloved piano moved home yet again….only this time, not with me. It’s gone to another small seven year old. Her mum has bought the piano for her with money she wanted to use for something special. I’ve been to see my lovely instrument in its new home….and it looks perfect there. Utterly right. At more than 70 years of age, it’s been given a new lease of life in a family home where it will be played and useful….and where it will teach yet another small girl to love music.
I’m grateful.
Reader Comments (9)
Oh my! My heart would be full and breaking at the same time! So fantastic that it gets to begin anew with another sweet little girl. Makes me imagine you at that age. :)
Exactly! It's so, so bittersweet. But it also feels very right. ;)
Music is such a gift and blessing... I love how you are sharing the blessings of your piano... lovely, Helen :o) ((HUGS))
Hi! It has been too long since I visited your lovely space here, and this post actually brought tears to my eyes. I'm so happy for you that you were able to let your precious piano go, knowing that it will go on to touch others the way it has touched you! xo
Oh, Faith! It was hard to let the piano go. It’s taken me YEARS to reach the point where I was prepared to part with it. But it looked so happy in its new home that I feel really good about the whole thing – which is a very pleasant surprise (I can get horribly sentimental about stuff!).
Wonderful life-story Helen. Very moving, and it feels very true. Right. How things should be. Shifting hands. Small happy hands!
Oh, dear...what a bittersweet moment for you. My goodness, I'm tearing up just thinking about it. I'm hopeful that you are getting another piano. Tell me it is so. I understand how it could take years to get to this place. Oh, to paint that little girl and you playing a duet on that instrument. Precious...
LOL! I actually got a new piano five years ago when we moved to the States. I'd had to leave the upright here....so, for three years, I had a piano on each side of the Atlantic! Two years ago we returned to the UK and the two pianos finally got to meet. For a while, they even lived in the same room. It's taken me the whole of those two years to reach the point where I could contemplate saying goodbye to my childhood companion. But, now I have, there's no need to fret. I have another very lovely instrument waiting in the wings! :)
Hi Helen!aww very sad to see the piano that taught me to go but glad to see it go to a good new home:) xx