Six Words: Piano, Examination, Produce, Gene, Relevance, Experience
I do not have any experience playing a musical instrument. I am what you might call tone-deaf and I have no sense of rhythm. At the Drum Circle, I watch other people to stay with the beat. That doesn’t stop me from tapping my hands or feet, or nodding my head to the sound of music, so people are deceived into thinking I can dance. Then, if I forget myself and try to dance, they’re disappointed. Somebody once actually told me “I thought you were going to be a good dancer.” I just don’t have the genes for it.
But that doesn’t stop me from being interested in how pianos and almost any other instrument produce their sounds. It has no relevance to anything else that I do, but I like to examine instruments to see how they are put together and I can appreciate fine craftsmanship.
Early in my career I got to work with a company that made organs and another that sold pianos. I learned that when someone bought a piano, the company wanted to deliver it as fast as possible, before the buyers could change their mind. But people that bought an organ had to wait until the manufacturer had a full truck before leaving the factory. I guess people that buy organs really need them. As I type this, it occurs to me that “really needing them” applies equally to the musical instrument kind of organ and the bodily part kind of organ. Maybe someday we’ll be able to produce both kinds of organs as quickly as they are needed.