Mar 28 2008
La Fille Aux Cheveaux de Lin
I got a new piano! And a new blog!
Like everything in Shanghai, getting a new piano always comes with a story. Unlike many things, you get a little song at the end. But you’ll have to wait for the song.
I went down to 金陵路 yesterday to have a 看看* at some pianos. I had worked out that buying an electronic piano was going to be cheaper than renting one, considering that I plan to play quite a bit. I had a look in a piano shop and found a display Yamaha P70 for sale. It was obviously not new, but played fine. It wouldn’t be suitable for gigging, but was ok for something to play on at home.
I went back today nervously with my VISA card in hand, but was taken aback to see a man and his daughter looking over my piano. They looked seriously interested. As quick as I could, I plugged it in and started playing. I tried to rip through something flashy so that they would feel intimidated and decide against buying it, and repeatedly pointed out to them how dirty and crappy it was. My playing wasn’t so good, but luckily they scuttled off without initiating a bidding war.
Eventually I bit the bullet and asked the price. They wouldn’t budge at all, saying that it was a display model and was already much cheaper than the retail price. As we were winding up negotiations, I asked about a box. My exact words were “盒子，什么都有吗?” or “you’ve got the box and everything, right?” The piano is screwed to a large stand, and I wasn’t going to pick it up, put it under my arm and walk home with it. Firstly, it’s quite heavy, and secondly I wasn’t about to go dodging traffic lugging a piano home.
“盒子？没。” A box? Nope.
His answer threw me off a bit.
“No box? Well how am I meant to get it home?
“Well, it’s sold “as is”, it’s a display model. See, it says right here.”
“It’s meant to have a box with it though, what am I supposed to do? Put this heavy P70 Yamaha Graded Weight Super Sounds piano on my bike and pedal home?”
No matter what I did, I wasn’t going to get a box. All I wanted was the cardboard box that the piano came in from the factory, I wasn’t asking for them to MAKE me a box or anything. The only thing that they had to do was not throw out the cardboard box that the thing came in, but obviously they already had.
“If it’s not far, we’ll just get someone to send it over.”
He was talking to me. That sounded like a good idea. Someone with a car could just put it in the back, it would probably fit in without taking the legs off, and they could just pop around. It wouldn’t take more than 3 minutes, and…
“This guy’ll take it,”
A grubby, stooped backed old guy had materialised next to the shopkeeper who had been looking after me. He stood there blinking.
“And you can give him… thirty yuan for his trouble.”
Thirty yuan isn’t much, it’s about $5 Australian. It wasn’t the money that I objected to, it wasn’t much compared with the price of the piano, but if they had kept the box in the first place, I could have just took it home myself. The thing was attached to these sturdy legs, so I couldn’t just take it as it was… I didn’t think that I had to pay extra just to get some guy to drive it over… but I wasn’t about to carry that awkward thing home, negotiating two directions of traffic in busy Shanghai streets that should probably only take one lane… like many things in China you eventually throw up your hands, give in and hand over the cash.
We worked out that the guy would bring around the piano, and I’d pay him the price of it, along with 30 Yuan for his trouble. As he wiped his nose on his sleeve one last time, and took up the piano on his back, we walked out of the shop. “Where is it?” he asked, peering out from under the piano he held on his back. “Over there“, I said, pointing. “Where’s the car?” I had to crane my head down to speak to him, as he was stooped over from the weight of the piano. “What car?” he asked, heading off in the direction that I had pointed.
As it turned out, I had hired this guy to do exactly what I had felt beneath me to do. He had thrown the piano on his back like it was a bag of cement and just head off. I walked in front of him, getting bikes, pedestrians and cars out of the way while he walked behind me, 88-key Yamaha SP70 Digital Piano on his back.
It was a weird sight, a scruffy looking would-be-musician with a funny hat, and a grubby weather-beaten Chinese peasant bent over with the weight of an electric piano.
That thing was heavy, and my house isn’t close to the music shop. But he didn’t complain (he was, after all, getting 30 yuan out of it!) or even ask to stop. We chatted only once, for a few minutes, waiting for the lights to change. He said that I should get one of those big pianos (he meant acoustic ones) that they sell on the second floor. He mentioned how popular they were. “Those big ones are popular. Grand pianos. Three went out today.” he said.
I couldn’t believe it! Three grand pianos! Selling a piano is a big deal, and they had sold three in a day. But now that I come to think of it, he only said that three were delivered today. I should have asked him if they sell three during a normal day! Regardless, three grand pianos is a big order on any day of the week, in any country.
My girlfriend loves the piano. She doesn’t play or anything, but likes to hear me play. And my ayi was pretty impressed too, particularly by the price, even though I told her it was a display model.
She also told me something interesting about pianos in China. One of her kids has put a deposit on a piano for her child. She bought it for 5000 Yuan, a bargain price for a piano. The catch is that it hasn’t been made yet. She’s bought a piano directly from a piano factory!
Now this is something that I have never heard of. I’ve heard of other musicians (particularly violin/viola/’cello/double bass players) getting instruments made from scratch, and paying exorbitant amounts of money for them, but never a piano. I think the difference is that instruments from the violin family and the double bass are often hand made, and so musicians like to have their own customisations.
Anyway, I’ve got my piano now. I played all afternoon and now my wrists hurt, a sure sign that I’m out of practice! I’ve recorded this little ditty, it’s by Debussy. It’s called La Fille Aux Cheveaux de Lin. I was surprised to be quite nervous, knowing that I’d be putting it as my first proper entry in my new blog.
So I’m happy with my new instrument and my new story to tell. Whenever I look at my piano, I’ll picture the grubby guy that lugged the thing home for me on his back.
Also, I hope you’re looking forward to more stuff from this blog. I’ve always enjoyed writing, recording etc. and this is my first serious attempt. Really, I had to pay to get this space, and had to work out how to install Wordpress onto it. So let’s hope this is the first of many posts!
If you can’t see the movie, have a look at it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLNghrQ7fkM
*a “kan-kan”, Chinese English slang for look, geeze, peek, perusal