Take the moon for example. More often than not, we are home before dark and wearing comfy pajamas by the time the stars begin to twinkle outside of our closed curtains, blinds, doors and windows. Living at home with my parents, one step outside and I could clearly see the night sky full of stars and the moon in whatever phase it was in. Even if we go for an evening stroll in our p.j.s now around the apartments, between the frequently cloudy skies and streets lights, you can't see much. So other than a few jokes around school from coworkers about the effect of full moons on children, I don't notice the moon much these days.
It was only by chance that I heard that February 10 would host a full moon and a lunar eclipse. I love my cell phone's camera, but oftentimes pictures can't do justice to the night skies. Still I tried, and ended up having fun and taking ambient blurry light photos.
And then there's that thing in your house that you've had almost forever. When we began taking piano lessons in elementary school, grandma and grandaddy bought us a very nice 88 key Alesis synthesizer keyboard. In addition to making normal piano sounds, it had many buttons that transformed the keys into a collection of fun sounds - an organ, guitar, a drum kit, a choir of voices, helicopter blades beating the air, bird calls. Dad gutted a defunct but beautiful antique upright and created a custom case for the keyboard. So walking into our living room, there was always what looked like an upright piano, fooling guests who walked over and press its keys just to find that the piano was currently turned off.One thing our piano didn't do was dynamics. The keys were weighted to feel less like a keyboard and more like a piano, but no matter how soft or hard we pressed them, the keys had just one volume which you could control with a knob. This was very handy for late night practicing, but not helpful for learning the fluctuating dynamics of piano scores - some sections should be stamped out (forte) while others lightly caressed (piano). I remember mom staying late at church in order to let us practice on the acoustic upright piano in the sanctuary, letting us practice the louds and softs of whatever pieces we were learning.
Another quirk of our beloved instrument I found out while trying to learn songs by ear. I would listen to a song and then try to play it on the keys, but none of the notes seemed to sound quite right. I felt frustrated and tone deaf, and usually ended up just turning off the song and trying to do it from my head.
A similar thing happened whenever my friend Rachel would bring over her guitar or bass. When two or more instruments play together, you of course want to make sure that they are in tune with one another. A G played on the guitar needs to sound the same as a G played on the piano. During our jam sessions, we realized that the keyboard was not in perfect tune. I have an electric tuner used to tune acoustic instruments, and it showed that the keyboard was not quite a half-step flat or lower than it should be. It was frustrating and seemed odd, but we just tuned our guitar or bass to match the piano's unique pitch, and went on from there.
An extremely good quality keyboard that does not have touch sensitive keys and is out of tune. It doesn't make sense if you boil it down to one sentence. This is the piano we passed by multiple times every day, used year after year.
My parents brought the keyboard to Isaac and I shortly after we moved to Kentucky. Its beautiful case remains in their living room, now offering an even bigger surprise for any guests. We set the keyboard up in our bedroom on my side of the bed - the keyboard itself sits on its cushioned bench, I use a trunk for me to sit on, and a piece of cardboard to prop up my sheet music. The set-up is not the most pretty nor is it the most comfortable, but it works for now.
And it is because of this imperfect set up that I began to notice and think about the keyboard in a different way than I ever did growing up with it so carefully enclosed in our family's living room. I keep trying to imagine better ways to spruce up my piano corner using what we already own. Recently, it was during such reverie that I thought once again about the keyboard's quirks. It just didn't make sense - being out of tune and not touch sensitive. It's such a heavy, good quality keyboard - even now, two decades later.
So I hopped online and downloaded the user's manual for our keyboard. It took about 30 seconds to find on google. Another few minutes, and I had found pages that addressed both the tuning and scaling (touch sensitivity) of the keyboard. I pressed a few dusty buttons that we never bothered with growing up (they didn't make the keys tweet like birds) and it was done. Our keyboard is now in perfect tune and plays dynamics for the first time in its life.
I still can't believe how simple it was to fix. I actually remember trying while in high school, pulling out the thick paper copy of the manual, getting lost after some time and giving up. It was because of online forums and resources that I was able to find the precise terms, pages and instructions so easily. Just amazing, really. I can't help but chuckle and shake my head just thinking about it now. The whole process was another reminder to be aware of the familiar. Things get overlooked whenever you become accustomed to them.
Speaking of being overlooked, now I'm starting to feel guilty and embarrassed about sharing where Isaac and I spent our Valentine's Day evening. We usually treat the holiday as an excuse to go out to eat at delicious places. This year, he indulged me and we went to Cane's - the chicken finger place. They had a Valentine's BOGO special and since it was a week night, it seemed like a good idea. Now my reasoning just sounds like bad excuses, like I was overlooking the value of celebrating the holiday with my Valentine. I might have to suggest a redo dinner date. I'm sure he won't mind.
It was delicious though. A little grease is probably good for you now and then.
Finally, I'm starting to think that the perfect ending to every blog post is a cute Cookie photo. So here is today's photo from our ever observant rabbit. Nothing old or new escapes her attention.
