I gave my organ away today.
Jun. 24th, 2006 03:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kayreYup, I'm an organ donor.
I started playing the organ sometime before kindergarten-- organ, not piano, because that's what we had. My mom was a violinist, 2nd chair in the Cincinnati Symphony as a very young woman, until she broke her shoulder when she was thrown from a horse. She lost feeling in the pinkie of her left hand-- a minor enough injury for anyone but a violinist. She bought a little spinet organ so that she could still have some kind of music. She tried to teach all her children to play, of course. My oldest sister was a disaster; the oldest brother, almost as bad. 2nd brother was pretty good... and then I, five years younger, started copying what he learned by ear. I was reading music by the time I started school. I was playing pop music, but by the time I was 13, we couldn't find a teacher who could offer me anything-- they all kept saying "she needs to study classical to get a solid foundation." They finally talked me into it, though I was reluctant. After 6 months, though, I started to really enjoy it... and the little spinet organ was totally inadequate for practicing classical music. I had limited practice priveleges at my church, but I was used to sitting down and practicing whenever I wanted, not on a schedule; it was a frustration.
My parents, unknown to any of us, had been saving up to take a trip to Europe as soon as I was old enough to be left behind. They took that nest egg and bought me a Wurlitzer organ, a small church model with a full pedal board (and some pop drumps and such for fun as well). That organ has traveled with me from my first apartment through three houses. But after years of unlimited access to pipe organs or the lovely Allen electronic, I haven't used the Wurlitzer for years. The pedals and bench aren't standard, so they're not useful for practice, and it just doesn't sound good.
I can't imagine not being able to get access to an organ in Vermont, one way or another, and I love my electronic piano for making music at home-- so I freecycled the Wurlitzer. It went to a lovely woman who is thrilled to have an organ in her home again. I said goodbye to it and left the house before she came; it was hard. That organ was wonderful, when I needed it.. this was the right thing, just hard.
Goodbye.
I started playing the organ sometime before kindergarten-- organ, not piano, because that's what we had. My mom was a violinist, 2nd chair in the Cincinnati Symphony as a very young woman, until she broke her shoulder when she was thrown from a horse. She lost feeling in the pinkie of her left hand-- a minor enough injury for anyone but a violinist. She bought a little spinet organ so that she could still have some kind of music. She tried to teach all her children to play, of course. My oldest sister was a disaster; the oldest brother, almost as bad. 2nd brother was pretty good... and then I, five years younger, started copying what he learned by ear. I was reading music by the time I started school. I was playing pop music, but by the time I was 13, we couldn't find a teacher who could offer me anything-- they all kept saying "she needs to study classical to get a solid foundation." They finally talked me into it, though I was reluctant. After 6 months, though, I started to really enjoy it... and the little spinet organ was totally inadequate for practicing classical music. I had limited practice priveleges at my church, but I was used to sitting down and practicing whenever I wanted, not on a schedule; it was a frustration.
My parents, unknown to any of us, had been saving up to take a trip to Europe as soon as I was old enough to be left behind. They took that nest egg and bought me a Wurlitzer organ, a small church model with a full pedal board (and some pop drumps and such for fun as well). That organ has traveled with me from my first apartment through three houses. But after years of unlimited access to pipe organs or the lovely Allen electronic, I haven't used the Wurlitzer for years. The pedals and bench aren't standard, so they're not useful for practice, and it just doesn't sound good.
I can't imagine not being able to get access to an organ in Vermont, one way or another, and I love my electronic piano for making music at home-- so I freecycled the Wurlitzer. It went to a lovely woman who is thrilled to have an organ in her home again. I said goodbye to it and left the house before she came; it was hard. That organ was wonderful, when I needed it.. this was the right thing, just hard.
Goodbye.
