Before my sons and I moved to Colorado in 2012, I sold my beautiful Baldwin L grand piano. That sale helped finance our new start, but I really hated seeing it go. I composed a lot of music on that piano. I owned it when I went back to university to earn a degree in composition, so I wrote a lot of things for that program: fugues, passacaglias, variations, and my four-movement string quartet, to name a few. That piano was there for me when I was working through dark days of sorrow and loss. It was my collaborator and my companion through countless sleepless nights. When the piano movers took it out my door, I wept.
Fast forward to last Monday, just over eleven years later. I play at this assisted living area at least once a month. They had an old Chickering piano, which was historically great but not in great condition. They told me they were getting a new piano. I arrived yesterday morning to play, and found the Baldwin L in this picture, the same model as my old piano.
It felt like I was reuniting with an old friend. The familiar touch of the Baldwin action, the sweet Baldwin sound—it was just perfect. What a way to start a Monday!
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Photo: Scott’s piano
Scott Hackler: What Goes Around. . .
