A new career in a new town

[Sulphagne]

Right then. I've been meaning to do a self-serving thread such as this one for months now, but I figured it would be best to give it a go while gripped by the terror of coming off just like Ratto with capitals and full stops in. In other words, a pale imitation. But anyway.

Just over two months ago, I left Hobart-Tasmania-Australia, where I'd lived all my life, to move into a flat in Edinburgh with two friends I'd known online, both of whom were also moving to Edinburgh from their respective home towns as part of this joint venture. Of course, we didn't even find a flat until a month ago, and had to pull all our respective lives' possessions through packed youth hostels for the entirety of the Festival, but that's another story. This one's about me and my piano music.

http://excellent.199x.net/music/horizontal_illegal.mp3">Horizontal Song/Illegal Ghost Bikes | http://excellent.199x.net/music/persevere.mp3">Persevere | http://excellent.199x.net/music/flamesescape.mp3">Flames Escape
http://excellent.199x.net/music/blindfolded.mp3">Blindfolded | http://excellent.199x.net/music/privateplateau.mp3">Private Plateau | http://excellent.199x.net/music/fbombs.mp3">F-Bombs

These are from a couple of CDs I made earlier this year back in Hobart, mainly for family and friends, although I did manage to sell half a dozen or so online (I don't yet have the tools to make such discs over here, so there's nothing for sale right now, which is probably just as well, as far as this post goes). It was all recorded on a Bernstein upright piano that spent most of its life gradually sliding ever so slightly out of tune due to the pounding I was always giving it.

But now I don't even have that luxury. What I do have is an old and kind of decrepit rented piano in the flat (old in that the keys, I'm told, are made of actual ebony and ivory, and kind of decrepit in that some notes don't sustain properly due to the dampers not moving far enough away, and others just sound a bit off even after tuning), which is okay for writing songs on (I've got another album's worth ready to go) but it just won't do for recording.

My point is that I kind of want to make a career of this, given that I don't really have any other talents or even competencies, but (and I'll list these quickly to make up for all the previous rambling):

1. The two recording studios I've found in Scotland with working pianos of any sort have both had Bosendorfer grands, and charge around 750 pounds a day for the privilege.
2. Live music venues don't have pianos.
3. Record labels can't be bothered with piano music that doesn't even have any singin' in it.
4. I'm sure there are rare exceptions to 2. and 3. in Edinburgh, but my tendency to get disheartened far too easily and my inability to "sell myself" as a musician leave me with no idea what those exceptions are, and not a great deal of motivation to try and find out.

I don't really know what I'm asking for here (trouble? a slap?), and I apologise for both the vagueness and the length of it all, particularly as I haven't really contributed a great deal to these forums before, but forget "seem like", you are a respectable and diverse bunch, and it's quite possible that someone(s) may have a far better idea of what I'm supposed to be doing, and how exactly to do it. Thankyou for however much of your time.

[Borboski]

Have you heard of Ben Folds?

He plays the pianner.

[falafel]

Ooh, and Keane.

Sorry.

Haven't a clue what you could do. Sorry again.

[elderford]

There's always that MIDI thing (I am hopelessly analogue).

Yer modern plug in piano has digital samples of real pianos/touch sensitive keys/pedals, etc.

Perhaps it's time to make the jump to technology. Once you've got it, it'll be portable, well more so than an upright.

...and you'll be able to record your own stuff at home digitally.

Can't you hire yourself out as a keyboard maestro?

[Marty McFly]

i know "it doesn't sound the same!" and all that, but i'm sure  you could hire a fairly decent keyboard fairly cheaply..

[Sulphagne]

i know "it doesn't sound the same!" and all that, but i'm sure  you could hire a fairly decent keyboard fairly cheaply..

The thing is, I've been playing the piano in some way or another for my whole life (or at least since I gained full use of both hands), and I've become far too accustomed to not just the sound, but the feel of the thing, so playing anything that doesn't have strings and hammers and all that unwieldy rubbish is right out. Sorry, I feel a bit shit just shooting down the first bit of proper advice I get, but I've tried keyboards before, and it's just not an option. Even the cheap Casio ones make some bloody great non-piano sounds, mind you, but nothing that works particularly well on its own without a band around.

Have you heard of Ben Folds?

He plays the pianner.

He's what got me started on wanting to write music, actually, although I never managed anything even halfway decent until a couple of years ago.

He was a hell of a lot better with his Five, though. I'm just sayin'.

[Borboski]

Heh really? Good - I felt a bit guilty for being sarcy.

Good luck though... It's the only big middle class luxury I'm after - a house with a room big enough to just have a piano in it.