Growing up I never had the chance to learn to play the piano. We had a piano, but lived over an hour away from any teachers. I tried to teach myself, but aside from memorizing a couple of songs (melody only), I gave up. This was a gift I wanted my children to have. I included a lot more about my journey to owning the family heirloom in the piano story, but being the caretaker of this piano is something I am grateful to have the opportunity to do. My children are 22, 19, 17 and 8. My 17 year old has perfect pitch and informed me that the piano is slightly out of tune, but not too bad. My son who composes (the 19 year old), has informed me that couple of the notes don't work they way they should. My oldest daughter (22) just moved back home from college and is playing the piano again and mentioned how much she missed having the piano while she was away. All of my children love the piano and my husband is the one supporting me in this journey to get it restored. I would love to have this gift, and as I mentioned below, we have enough pay for either the piano restoration or fixing the player, but not piano refinishing. Due to the length of time that the process takes, I would want to get it all done as once, which means years of saving. We have a son getting ready to go on a mission, one that plans to leave in a year and we are helping our daughter because of the high cost of living here. Since it is already the Christmas piano and the Birthday piano, it would be amazing to add anniversary to the list as my husband and I celebrate our 25th this year.
One of the pictures shows my oldest daughter watching my youngest daughter during the Christmas season in 2015. My youngest is now learning to play on the same piano her grandma, Aunts, cousins and siblings all learned to play on.
The player piano came into our family in 1968. My mother was home from college and had started taking piano lessons. She asked for a piano for Christmas, and since my grandfather had always wanted one, he found one. I do not know exactly who he got it from, but it was from either Blanding or Monticello, Utah. My mother was given a small music box figurine of a girl playing a piano for Christmas and told that she hadn’t said what size of piano she wanted. They then surprised her by telling her that they had gotten a piano, it just wouldn’t be ready until January. My understanding is this was because it was being fixed at the time. The piano was delivered sometime in January of 1969, but it was my mom’s Christmas present.
My mother married in 1970 and moved to Texas and left the piano with her family. Her younger siblings all loved the piano and it stayed at my grandparents’ home in Monticello, Utah. The piano was well loved by everyone, and I remember them playing it with their “smartest leg” (from the movie “Summer Magic”) when we would visit. In 1991 my grandparents downsized and moved. At that time, my mother was asked if she wanted the piano. My mother had already received a hand me down piano, and since we were in Texas she declined because my aunt in Salt Lake wanted it. The piano moved to my aunt’s house in Salt Lake City.
My cousins have fond memories of their mother playing the piano while sitting at her feet. No one remembers when the player stopped working, but it was sometime after it moved to Salt Lake as my oldest cousin remembers it working. I remember my aunt playing the piano and that it brought her great comfort.
In 2010 my oldest daughter started taking piano lessons. All we were able to afford was a small keyboard from the LDS Church Distribution center. At that time, I started praying to find a piano for her to practice on. On June 7, 2011, as I was talking to my mom, she mentioned that my aunt was looking to get rid of the piano. When I met with my aunt that day, I asked her if she still wanted to get rid of the piano and if I could have it. My aunt told me that because it was a family heirloom, she needed to check with all her siblings and children. Two days later, on my birthday, my aunt called to let me know that I could have the piano. We contacted a piano mover and had it moved to our home and tuned. When we moved in 2015, we had piano movers move the piano again to its current location in our home. We have not had it tuned or repaired since June of 2011.
My children love the piano’s voice and when I mentioned I was looking at getting it restored this year, that was their biggest concern. They are also debating as to who gets the piano as both my oldest daughter (22) and sons (19, 17) have learned to play on the piano, my oldest son composes on the piano and my youngest daughter (8) just started taking piano lessons. When I contacted you about getting the piano restored, I discovered that I could not afford to get it completely fixed. My hope had been to have it restored by Christmas to surprise my aunts on Christmas Eve. I thought it was fitting since our piano has been a Christmas and a Birthday present. If I can win this contest, I will be able to afford to get the player repaired since that is the amount I have saved. Otherwise, I will need to wait a few more years and keep saving up to eventually get the piano restored and I do not know if my aunts will still be alive. Please help me give them this Christmas present of a restored family heirloom so they can relive part of their childhood.
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YEAR 1910-1920
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MAKE Autopiano
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SERIAL NUMBER 120192
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FINISH Wood Finish
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RENTAL PRICE $NaN
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FINANCE PRICE $NaN
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CATEGORY CONTESTANT
