The new/old Piano

December, 2005

This is the Baldwin baby grand piano that belonged to my grandmother, Lina Hewitt. When she died it was passed down to my mother, and with her passing a few years ago it comes to me as my dad prepares to sell the house and relocate to Florida with his new wife. He very generously arranged to have it shipped from his home in Chicago to me in Seattle.

It means a great deal to me to have this piano. Many family gatherings took place at my Illinois grandparents house: Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, family birthdays, and just visiting Grandma and Grandpa whenever. Music was always there, either when my Grandma would play on her own or when she would accompany others like my dad on trumpet, everyone singing, or whoever might be visiting that would like to perform. I was also encouraged to play the pieces I was learning at my piano lessons. I have so many warm memories associated with this piano, and it is such a special instrument to now own.

We have dated the piano to having been built in 1960. I don't know whether my grandparents purchased it new then or whether they acquired it later. Inside the bench were a number of very old classical music books, belonging to my maternal and paternal grandmothers, both of whom were accomplished pianists. These books date back to the 20s and 30s in my estimate, being that they have both my grandmothers' maiden names hand-written on them. What a treasure trove! There were some more "modern" books, and one that has my mother's name on it which clearly was one she used as a young piano student. There is also a collection of sheet music I'll be getting at some point.

Here is the truck it arrived in, outside our house. Check out Modern Piano Moving's website. They provided excellent, caring service and I can now recommend them.

The empty room, waiting to be filled (quite literally).

Pete enjoying the piano within 30 seconds of the movers leaving.

View of the empty room from above

Now no longer empty!

Blast from the past:

My grandmother taught me and all the other grandchildren how to play "Bye Bye Blues". I'd play the melody while she'd play the chords. Here we are at the piano my parents had.

At the piano with my Aunt Joyce (playing), my mom (standing behind me) and Aunt Dixie (behind Aunt Joyce), at Christmas time judging by the decorations. Interesting note: Mounted underneath the keyboard is an organ-like instrument called the Solovox, intended for playing melodies with the right hand while providing accompaniment on the piano with the left. It had a volume control lever operated by the player's leg, and plugged into an amplifier.

Me with my Grandma Daymont visiting from Florida, playing a duet. Against the wall is my mom's Kay acoustic guitar I first learned to play on.

Here I am at a family gathering at my grandparents house, playing a song for everyone (probably something like Stairway To Heaven). I would now like to publicly apologize to my family for subjecting them to this, but what can I say, I was 13! And yeah, I'm wearing a dress.

Here we are gathered around again. I joined in on bass, the rest is history.