Owen Biesel

This is not the blog post I planned to write this week, but for a happy reason: our piano came today! This piano is the one I played on when I was taking lessons in high school, and it’s been living with my parents ever since I moved out. Until now!

Finally choosing to bring it to our Minneapolis apartment is a big part of the many things we’re doing to make our apartment feel more like home now that we’ve decided to stay put for at least another couple of years. And I’m so glad we did—here are a few of the things that make me excited to have a piano again:

• Playing with Clara. Clara has had her violin with her since we got married, and all the other instruments we have (recorder, ukelele, duduk) I am very much a beginner at. But this is an instrument I can make music with, and I’m looking forward to making it together.
• Learning more music. I have Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier and a book of Beethoven sonatas waiting for me. Yes please!
• Playing piano duets. We have at least one good friend in the area who enjoys playing duets, and I would love the chance to get better at sight-reading music and playing with people.
• Learning sight-singing. Sight-singing is the ability to sing (aloud or in your head) music just from reading written notation. While sight-singing is not strictly a piano-playing skill, having a piano helps a lot with checking to see whether you’ve read notes correctly, and conversely, knowing what the music you’re playing is supposed to sound like makes you better able to catch mistakes while playing.