It has been quite a big week for me. On Monday, I had my new piano delivered!

The upshot of this is pretty much everything I needed to do this week that’s not *playing* this piano went out the window. This includes finishing an interview with a lovely member of the piano-press, properly re-writing my bio, following up with radio stations, reaching out to other members of the press, putting up singles for sale on my website, and figuring out how said website can take multiple currencies. You know, all the stuff I’m supposed to be doing as an indie musician, on top of practicing my instrument and creating new music for my next album.

I know. You should see my to-do list.

So why *is* this such a big deal? I mean, if you’re on social media with me you know I’m making a pretty big deal out of this.

Consider.

David and I came to Auckland to settle almost a year ago (what?! I can’t *believe* it’s August already!). Up until about a month ago we were living in a house-sharing arrangement with five other people. An acoustic piano was just not a possibility, so I had a little Casio digital piano that I could play with headphones.

Let me tell you what every experienced pianist knows: NOTHING compares to the real thing. It’s hard to put into words, but if you consider that an acoustic piano is made of organic materials, it makes sense that it would respond in an organic way. A digital piano is, by nature, NOT organic. No matter how much money you put into buying a digital piano, it just can’t be as responsive as the real thing.

What’s more, because Wandering Soul has done well, David and I decided to invest….ah, who am I kidding? We splashed out. On a very nice piano. It’s a 1990 Yamaha C7, and my amazing new technician tells me I got an unbelievable deal on it. I think the seller loved my music (I played in her basement for about half an hour) and wanted to see this piano go to me….for 20% less than what she was asking for it.

For those who don’t know, the Yamaha C7 is the most common grand piano in recording studios around the world. It is a top-end piano, and this particular one is so spectacular I’m going to be able to record at home. This is definitely what I was hoping for, because it means I can release new music more often than once every few years, without shelling out a few grand to a recording studio every time I do it. Plus I can keep it immaculately well-taken-care-of, which honestly will give my piano a leg up on sound-quality over most recording studios here in Auckland.

Take into account that before we came to settle in Auckland, David and I were traveling for a year and I usually didn’t have a piano around.

Finally, I’ve never in my life gone so long without a piano I could play every day.

So yeah. It’s a big deal.

And finally, the moment you’ve all been waiting for. The big reveal.

My glorious new piano…complete with janky squares of cardboard to protect the floor. So sue me, I forgot all about it. I’ll get something nicer soon, I swear!

Getting it in the house was a fun adventure, as these things usually are. At 7’6″ this piano is the largest (and most precious and expensive) piano I’ve ever owned. Rather than paint a picture with words, I’ll tell this story in picture form.

At least it was a sunny day!

Getting this beast up the steps was a *project*. I’m so glad we don’t live farther from the street, because this is one heavy piano.

The guy on the left actually fell back as I was taking this photo, which was dramatic, but he was okay! …and if you’re wondering, I did get their permission to take photos. =)

They’re all panting with exertion, while I’m in here absently humming Jingle Bells because my new piano looks a bit like a sleigh.

Alllllmost there! No, this way. Hmm, a bit to the left? Can we just take it back out entirely and start over?

And then it was here, and the rest of the week has been spent in an exhausting ecstasy of playing and creating and loving on this creature-like instrument, this new partner of mine. I’m so deliriously happy with it, I’ve been high on amazing new piano all week.

Here’s a video I took that first crazy day of me playing Kingfisher. I can’t wait to get a proper audio and video recording situation set up, but for the time being iPhone videos will have to do.

Finally, today my technician David Jenkin is here tuning and checking in on the piano. By the way, if you’re in Auckland and have a piano you should consider giving him a call. His website is http://www.jenkinpianoservice.co.nz. He checked this piano out for me before I purchased it, and overall has simply made me feel like family with his wonderful friendly helpfulness. He gave me great advice about buying this piano, and now I know he’s going to help me take great care of it. He’s been here for a few hours already, I think he’s spent more time even than he planned to. I just *love* working with professionals who take great pride in what they do.

I’m endlessly fascinated, watching a technician work on a piano.

So that’s my piano story. I’m still just mindlessly excited about it. Hopefully I’ll manage to get some non-piano-playing things done over the next week, I know my old shoulder injury will thank me for it.

Thanks for reading, lovelies! I hope your day/night/evening is going beautifully and only gets better from here on out <3 Love you all, peace out, and stay tuned because I’ve got more to say soon!