Christmas Present
My present from Megan arrived yesterday: a Yamaha DGX-620. (Well, she got me some other presents too, but this was the big one.) I’m having a blast, because I haven’t had a keyboard in a long time.
My first electronic keyboard was a Micromoog, purchased on Halloween Day of 1975. Dad was out of town on a business trip, and I had just sold my ‘68 Chevelle SS muscle car the day before, after losing my driver’s license at the tender age of 17. I figured I had to buy the keyboard fast, before he came home and told me to save the money for college or some other boring idea.
Since then, I think I’ve owned 12 electronic keyboards, three grand pianos, a couple of uprights, and I’ve rented a few pianos too. But I sold all my keyboards in 2004 and have only had a rented piano in the last year, which I barely played and we didn’t bother to move to this place in October.
This thing is amazing. The grand-piano patches are extremely realistic, it has the feel of a real piano, and the pitch-bend wheel is tight and responsive. Oh, and it has 500 other sounds too, and a zillion features I’ll never use because I’d rather be playing music than fiddling with the technology. I fiddle with technology at work, and this week is all about fun.
It even comes with a drink …
I was already taking the week off, and this just makes the chances of me doing anything productive drop to absolute zero. Thanks, Megan!
This entry was posted on Saturday, December 30th, 2006 at 5:27 pm. You can subscribe to comments on this post through its RSS feed.
on December 30, 2006 at 6:34 pm nick wrote:
dont you wish you still had that chevelle in todays economy? just think of what a wealthy gear head would pay for it on line,wowsers.and how do you put up with that view in the morning?
on December 30, 2006 at 6:48 pm Lynn wrote:
Wow!
on December 30, 2006 at 7:36 pm Doug wrote:
Yeah, Nick, it’s unbelievable what those things sell for now, the few that are left.
It was sure a great way to get tickets, though — took me just a few months to get three in WA and lose my license, and that doesn’t include the ones out of state (Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota) or the times I successfully ran away. Those things were fast.
on January 1, 2007 at 7:49 am AUNT MARSHA wrote:
But, do you FEEL like you’re playing a grand when you play it?
I have always felt kind of silly when trying any of these new age, micro instruments. Like the little xylophones you got when you were 6 or 8….that tinny sound (for almost any cord/key)…it made while I was doing my Ray Charles movements with my head and body. If only they came with a bigger body.Even a cardboard one.
The only instrument I ever REALLY played was the piccolo for the Nishren Sho Shu (spelled it phoenetically…sort of…to the extent that I can even do that)Society. Was in the marching band in Hawaii. Jack Lord (Book him, Danno. Was that his name?) was the Grand MarshalL, and we had rehearsed in Dodger Stadium. I marched along, wearing something synthetic and shiny, playing the two notes I had learned—and felt like Vivaldi or someone (yes, yes–I KNOW VIVALDI DIDN’T PLAY THE PICCOLO). But, I so wanted to play something truly grand–and to do so on a piano. I wanted to lean way to the left and then sort of roll to the right. maybe it was Liberace I was thinking of. I missed your performance at the wedding rehearsal dinner. Will you play for me when I come there for the warming of the house? By then, I will have sharpened my spelling and whipped out some of these mitakes that I hope readers will think are typos. I used to win spelling bees. HUH.Is life a mystery or what? Just asked Granny how to spell it and she said it is spelled with 2 c’s. Go Granny! Go, Granny! Go, Granny!
You ran away from home??? FROM LAVONNE??? Why?
on January 1, 2007 at 10:56 am Doug wrote:
Yes, Marsha, I’m practicing away to get ready to play for you when you get here. The song I’ve been practicing the most starts with this verse, which I imagine as an ode to your bartending skills:
Check this strange beverage that falls out of the sky,
splashin’ Baghdad on the Hudson in Panther Martin’s eye.
He’s high and outside wearin’ candy apple red,
Scarlett gave him 27 stitches in his head.
With a pint of green chartruse, ain’t nothin’ seems right
you buy the Sunday paper on Saturday night.
… and continues through gems like …
Can’t you hear the thunder, someone stole my watch
I sold a quart of blood and bought a half a pint of scotch.
… and …
I can’t go back to that hotel room, all they do is shout.
But baby I’ll stay wit you till the money runs out.
Recognize it? Ha! You’ll be sick of that song by the time you leave Seattle. Ask my wife.
You’re right, it doesn’t quite feel the same as a real grand piano. There’s something about the way the sounds comes rumbling out of this whole big massive frame when you’re playing a real grand. But a decent grand, even if you get a deal on a used one, costs several times more than this thing. And this one only weights 80 pounds with the stand and all, so I can move it myself any time I want to re-arrange the furniture. (For a big party in February, say. :-))
on January 5, 2007 at 7:47 am AUNT MARSHA wrote:
MY GOD. HE’S A POET!
signed,
Jim
on January 5, 2007 at 7:48 am AUNT MARSHA wrote:
And a damned good one, too! (also)
signed,
Elizabeth