I cannot recall if I've mentioned anywhere on HVIE that I have taken up playing the piano. Come to think of it, I think that I have, but only really in the replies to comments of things about other pieces of music... and mainly the ramblings of a very particular @mobbs, but I finally have a real world piano story to share.
One that doesn't start with me saying that I'm photographing a wedding, and then suddenly, there's a piano and I sit down and play some sweet tunes. Rather... this is a story of a public piano and a request from a special person in my life.
In any case, before I get to that story, allow me to ramble about enjoying the fact that, as a sometimes wedding photographer, there exists pianos at wedding facilities, and I like to improvise something slow, sad and sweet - and people are often shocked that I can take pictures AND play the piano at a level that sounds impressive to someone who has never taken the time to learn.
The story that I will now return to is not such a story.
I went, recently, to a place far, far away from my home. While its the next cloest capital city, it is still a fucking long way away, especially when you spend eight hours in a vehicle to get there.
I saw my sister in law the night we arrived, we had some dinner, then went for a roam through the shopping district. She mentioned that there was a public piano in the mall, so we went to it, as she had never heard me play in person before (it had, after all, been far too many years since the last time we had seen each other).
I confessed that it had probably been a few months since I had played anything on a piano, and was likely to be fairly rusty, but I seemed to do pretty well. No one was throwing tomatoes or other fruits at me - and importantly; I wasn't mnaking any major mistakes. (Perhaps other than playing chord progressions in the wrong order) - a major is a type of note / chord, so for music nerds, there's a joke there.
I played a bit of Prelude, from Final Fantasy, some improvised chords and scale progressions, and then we wandered off to gaze over the nearby balcony and people watch. Someone else played the piano. They made mistakes. They didn't stay long.
My musical set up at home
As I was chatting with my sister in law, she mentioned that she didn't know how chords and scales worked on the piano. She plays guitar and bass, so I offered to educate her in the ways in which the scales and chords were laid out.
Returning to the piano, I played the C-Major Scale (using chords instead of the individual notes) and we saw someone approach.
"Play better" they insisted.
I started improvising again. "Is that better?"
"Play better"
I went back to playing "The Prelude" from Final Fantasy. its a complex piece (especially in its later parts) - and looks impressive to passers by because you're doing flourishes with both hands as you play...
"Play better"
"I can"
My brother in law tapped me on the shoulder, "Time to go bro"
We got up and left, while I kept insisting that I could play better.
I didn't realise that this passer by just wanted to fight me.
I just wanted to play the piano better.
Sometimes I ... miss social cues.