Sorry I went missing. I’ve been rearranging my house. Why? My father’s college roommate passed. Sad but not tragic. It was fast so no suffering and he had a long, full life. Yes, he’ll be missed but there are many memories.
And one major one now resides in my house. When I was a kid my dad would take me along when he went to visit. Not that I went to chat with them. No, they had things to discuss, none of which needed to involve me. Especially since I was five to eight at the time. I went for an entirely different reason.
Mr. Earl, as I called him since I couldn’t pronounce his last name, had a player piano. With many, many, many rolls. Yeah, I was taking piano lessons at the time but in no way sounded remotely like a pianist. But put a roll in and let me at the pedals, I always used the pedals, and I was magnificent. Gosh, there were lots of good days spent at that piano.
Now, half a lifetime later it, and three cabinets full of rolls are in my living room. What fun! I have a keyboard but playing it just isn’t the same as a real piano. So I dug out all my old books and have been having a blast. Instead of blogging or putting the last few things back in place in my house. Bad me. Or not. I’m enjoying myself and sometimes that’s more important.
Beau, as it turns out, is quite the musician. He and I are playing duets and will be going public in the near future. I play the written notes. He improvises. We’re quite a pair considering it’s been at least twenty-odd years since I’ve played. I suspect he’s played in a previous life.
The player piano feature? Oh it still plays. I’m just not sure how to rewind the roll. It’s a Playotone piano, manufactured by Hardman Peck. Can anyone help me out with that? I sure would appreciate it. There must be at least 300 rolls here and I’d like to play them.
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