Ladies and Gentlemen, at the keyboard we have . . .

Many years ago -- more than twenty -- I purchased a very inexpensive Yamaha keyboard, which I played around with for a bit and then put away in storage. When we moved back to Texas, it surfaced again, and I was just about to haul it off to the Goodwill Store, when I decided to set it up and see if it still worked. It did. Then I thought why not leave it set it up in my study/music room? And so I did. I sent off to Musician's Friend for a stand and stool, and now I have a functioning, if somewhat rudimentary, 49-key electric keyboard set up and ready to play.

It's not quite as far fetched as it might seem. Many years ago -- more than fifty -- I played the accordion. I took lessons for quite some time at a rather well known accordion school in San Antonio operated by Tony Rozance, a local celebrity and performer. I abandoned the accordion for the guitar sometime in my high school years, but still retained some knowledge of musical notation and the arrangement of notes on a standard keyboard. So my right hand has come rather easily, but all I can do with my left is play basic chord formations. Of course, like anyone else I can easily play one of these keyboards that plays chords, bass, and rhythms with the touch of a single key, but I was never fond of that sort of computer-assisted performance. Then I came across something known as fake books that give simple arrangements with chords and melodies that just about anyone can pick up and play with a little practice.

And so now when I don't feel like playing my guitars, I sit down at the keyboard and learn another old standard. So far I've picked up Moon River, Isn't It Romantic, Fly Me to the Moon, Try to Remember, Til There Was You, Don't Get Around Much Anymore and a few others, including my new all time favorite, As Time Goes By. As with my guitar playing, my version of the electric piano is pretty basic, but I'm getting a tremendous kick out of playing these old tunes, and I'm especially pleased that I've finally justified the purchase of that keyboard all those years ago. But now that I'm learning to play a little, I've discovered that I might actually want to get another larger, better electric keyboard, or better yet a baby grand, which would really look cool in our living room.