Bought a Used Piano

When Đán and Xuân first started piano lessons three years ago, we didn’t know if they would commit to it. We didn’t buy a piano. We hauled a free electric one from a family down a few blocks from us. The piano was made in Korea; therefore, everything was written in Korean. It needed a giant electric converter that was heavy and as big as a shoebox.

Both Đán and Xuân played well in the beginning. They picked up quickly and played “Ode to Joy” beautifully. Then the novelty wore off and they started to drag their fingers. They didn’t bother to practice. They took three to four weeks to play one tune. They refused to perform at the recital.

Ðán blamed his setback on the piano. He complained that the pedals weren’t working and some of the keys didn’t produce any sound. He wanted a real acoustic piano, not an electric one. I told him the story of one of the renowned Vietnamese composers and songwriters. When he was learning to play piano, his family couldn’t afford one. He drew the keys on cardboards and played with the sounds in his head. If Nguyễn Ánh 9 managed to do that and became one of Vietnamese beloved musicians, Trương Công Đán can do that too if he puts his heart into it.

Every time Đán asked for a new piano, I would repeat that story. We did that for almost a year. I wanted to know if he would continue to take piano lessons or if would just quit like the rest of the activities he started and gave up. Even though he didn’t want to perform due to stage freight, he continued to take lessons. We had several conversations about it and he convinced me that piano lessons were a way for him to relax. He wanted to play for himself instead of for others. I was cool with it. I no longer required him to perform. I don’t even ask him to practice.

Xuân still performed at the recitals. He struggled as the lessons got more challenging. He didn’t practice much either. Nevertheless, he hasn’t quit. As long as we can afford these private lessons, we are willing to provide them the opportunities. We hope that they’ll appreciate them later on. That’s all we can hope for.

A few weeks ago, I decided to just get a decent piano off Facebook Marketplace. I obviously knew nothing about piano and almost got scammed. I reached out to our kids’ instructor. He even drove to the seller’s house to inspect the instrument and tested out the keys. With his help, we picked up a Kawai K-200 upright. He also put us in contact with the mover company that he trusted. The piano is still in great condition. We couldn’t have done it without his help. We appreciated his support.

As I have suspected, a better piano doesn’t mean more practice. I haven’t seen them sit down to practice unless their mom started to yell at them. I am done with constantly having to remind them to practice. I just enjoy having a gorgeous piano sitting in our living room.