Downsizing in an Upright Fashion

NOTE:  Due to unexpected and not easily accessible changes to WordPress at the same time as my move back to Wisconsin, my blog has been in in an unexpected hiatus.  The following piece was prepared for posting on October 8.  After this very belated blog posting on November 10 (Tuesday)–I hope to return to my regular weekly posting each Wednesday evening on WORDWALK.  Many thanks for continuing to read my blog, which I initiated on January 19, 2013.  I look forward to sharing more of my writings with you.

Downsizing in an Upright Fashion

By Alice Jane-Marie Massa

                After many of us spend decades upsizing–accumulating too many things–we spend our “silver years” trying to downsize.  Due to COVID 19, the usual places were not picking up items nor accepting donated items–the fruits of downsizing–during the couple of months prior to  my move in May.  Thus, my move from Milwaukee to Michigan included too many items that I should not have brought on my journey.  While the COVID 19 persists, one can now do some downsizing.  During the past couple of months, I have jumped onto the downsizing bandwagon.  At times, the downsizing ride has been refreshing, lighter; at other times, I feel nostalgic.  Still there is another feeling:  yes, I have been heartbroken.

                Anticipating the departure, arranging for the departure, and witnessing the departure of my beloved upright Gulbransen piano was heartbreaking.  Fortunately, I am pleased that our family piano landed at another family member’s home, about one hundred miles away.  My great-niece and great-nephew were excited and happy to receive the piano which I have played since 1958. 

The couple of nights before the piano departed my home, I played the slightly worn piano until after one o’clock in the morning.  The night before its professional move, I lovingly polished all of its wood; yesterday morning, I carefully cleaned all eighty-eight keys.  Once again, for one final time, I blessed this old piano with tears. 

                The work of the professional piano movers was quite smooth, swift, and unremarkable on a sunny, but windy autumn day.  While I was grateful that I did not become too emotional as the piano was leaving–without even a goodbye–I could barely utter a few words of thanks to the gentlemen who were handling my piano so carefully.  My Leader Dog Willow and I stood at the doorway and listened until the truck drove away. 

                The space left by the missing piano seemed not as large as I had expected.  How did the upright and bench fit there?  I guess its musical sound, warm heart, and melodious presence were larger than its physical self–as were the memories.

                As I sat upon the piano bench to play on the final night, my British Black Labrador began her usual routine of tail-tapping–very quickly to indicate her excited pleasure about something.  I would like to think that she was happy to hear the piano music again–despite a few off notes here and there.  Her reaction made me think of our family’s Toy Manchester/Chihuahua, Prince, who most frequently lay under the piano whenever I played the piano during the seventeen years that he was a part of our household.  Then, I recalled my Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Chelsea, whose reaction was different.  Whenever I played the piano, she took center stage in our living room, pointed her pretty little head upward, and softly howled.  I never determined if she were trying to sing along or if she were protesting my piano playing. 

                Our Gulbransen piano was made in 1957.  After another family did not keep the piano for quite a year, the piano ended up back on the floor of a piano store in Paris, Illinois–a small rural town and the county seat of Edgar County–about fifteen minutes from my hometown in Indiana.  I distinctly remember being in the store when, my parents selected the Gulbransen piano for my older sister and me.  In 1958, the piano cost $700.  What a wonderful addition the piano was to our home!  I have always greatly appreciated the extremely easy key action of my piano:  throughout the decades, I have never played another piano that required such a soft touch. 

                In 1904, Axel Gulbransen began the Gulbransen Piano Company in Chicago, Illinois.  By 1917, the company was the world’s largest manufacturer of player pianos.  Through its decades of operation, the company made various types of pianos and also organs.

                Sadly, I decided that the piano had moved enough with me and needed a more permanent home with children of only seven and five–one or both of which who have hopefully inherited the musical gift and talent of their daddy.  I do hope that their piano brings them as much joy as it did to me.  Now, I will look forward to hearing, via the phone or Facetime, little concerts from the very young pianists Lanie and Caden.

Wishing you all many melodious days of autumn,

Alice and Leader Dog Willow

October 8, 2020, Thursday

(Finally able to post on November 10, 2020

Advertisement