The booking agent

On Sep 13, 2024, at 4:24 PM, <sheila@lauzonmusic.com> wrote:

Hi Bill,

Thank you for your interest in the Casio Privia PX-S7000. It’s a real showstopper!  We have the harmonious mustard colour currently in stock and we welcome you to visit us to try it out. It includes a free “Casio Music Space” app to download which you will also find interesting.

Sheila Alain
Lauzon Music
613-725-1116

Home

When we downsized from our house to our first rental apartment in 2014 I sold the Steinway salon grand piano.  That winter on Hilton Head Island I bought a Korg electric keyboard as a replacement; but eventually, when we downsized again to an even smaller apartment in 2022, I abandoned that so-called digital device as well. I was playing the piano less and less which naturally meant that my interest and performance were commensurately waning. Yesterday however I suddenly revitalized my interest in the hobby.  It may have been the effect of having recently played the piano at my erstwhile physician’s place when visiting for a reunion with his daughter and her family from Australia.

As luck would have it this morning while on my tricycle and recovering from what of late has been an augmented decline of enthusiasm and gusto, I passed by a gentleman walking nearby Fairview Manor (retirement and longterm care home). I greeted him affably and he returned the favour.  When I then saw him headed towards the entrance of Fairview Manor (which I knew from past experiences is locked to outsiders) I asked whether he might open the door to allow me to enter to play the piano.  He gleefully rose to the occasion.

It turns out that the gentleman who permitted my entry to Fairview Manor (he had the code) is Ernie Smith from Ottawa.  He is a 7-year resident of Fairview Manor.  More importantly however is that he is a former booking agent for local musical talent.  When he subsequently reported to me that it was a tough business I knew I was getting the straight goods.

Ernie sat nearby the piano in the large waiting room and listened to me play.  When afterwards he suggested I return for a scheduled performance – clearly that booking agent vitality in him had not disappeared – I told him he had already heard all five songs I knew; and that with my wonky 4th left finger from my latest cycling tragedy I didn’t feel I could perform to optimum advantage.

Today’s recital (though extinguishing my fleeting earnestness to play) was however sufficient to remind me that piano playing not unlike so many other things in life is passé.

Obsolescence is the process of becoming antiquated, out of date, old-fashioned, no longer in general use, or no longer useful, or the condition of being in such a state.

Obsolescence frequently occurs because a replacement has become available that has, in sum, more advantages compared to the disadvantages incurred by maintaining or repairing the original. Obsolete also refers to something that is already disused or discarded, or antiquated. Typically, obsolescence is preceded by a gradual decline in popularity.

Until today I have clung to the hope of getting a new piano. I have now refashioned my retail ambition to include instead the hope of delivering moderate entertainment from time to time at Fairview Manor or similar venues. In fact I have a history of having performed at the Almonte Country Haven, Renfrew Hospital and Colonel By Retirement home in each of which I can say with undisguised directness that my performances were on the whole well received (though of course I acknowledge it is a small compliment).  What really transpired was the emotions promoted by listening to live music. I have experienced the same thing myself just listening to the radio or my own recordings through headphones. In short, music is as we all know a palliative. It is especially a pleasure playing the piano for old people who have to confront “the evil days when the years draw nigh and thou shalt say there is no pleasure in them”.