The "real" deal

The first piano I bought was actually not a piano.

It was a stage piano, which as far as I´m concerned is a fancy name for a fancy electronic keyboard.

I was twenty-something years old, living in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

I had moved there among other things to study my Master´s Degree in piano performance.

But it turns out the school was so popular and busy, that it was practically impossible to practice in their piano cabins for any longer than 1 or 2 hours a day if you were lucky.

So the first year I did just that, practice for one to two hours a day…

(If you know anything about how much a professional or conservatory student has to practice, you´ll know that this is a laughable amount of time. You can barely scratch the surface of your due repertoire before your turn is up and you have to give the room to someone else.)

So I saved up for that whole year, and for the second and last year of my degree, I bought the best thing I could afford: an 1800€ new stage piano with the latest technology in keyboard weight and sensitivity.

I must admit it was a pretty impressive keyboard, and it sounded great. It was not the real deal, but it allowed me to practice for all the hours I needed.

However, an unexpected (and funny) thing happened the first day I brought it home:

Since it was digital, I decided to practice only with headphones so I wouldn´t disturb the neighbors (walls in low-rent apartments often seem to be made up of cardboard).

One hour into my very first practice session, my neighbor from downstairs came to ring my bell. She seemed unhappy, and a bit on her nerves.

“What´s the problem?” I said.

She asked me: “Are you going to be hammering for much longer? It´s been more than an hour, it´s late in the evening, and I´m getting a headache”.

I was so surprised! I had bought a “silent” instrument out of consideration for my neighbors (I could´ve also bought a 1800€ real piano) and now it was backfiring at me big time.

I told her about the whole thing, and she said: “Well, I love music. It would be much better and even enjoyable if at least I could hear what you´re playing!”

So ever since then, I played with my digital piano at full volume, feeling a bit like a fool…

In this link you can hear a playlist with all my “Piano Cosmos” series, all of which I composed a couple of years ago. You´ll find there all sorts of piano pieces, wierd ones, pretty ones, ugly ones, unreasonable ones… but hey, maybe you´ll enjoy them :)

Have a great day.

Claudio.

P.D. They were all written using a real piano by the way ;)

P.D. The link here: Piano Cosmos.