Tickling the Ivories in Jeddah

This Yamaha CLP-625 digital piano is my prized possession. Much to my delight, I discovered a Yamaha store in Jeddah soon after we moved here. For over a year I’d stare longingly at its windows as we drove past, occasionally popping in to play a ditty on the fancy pianos and noting the model numbers and prices for further research at home. We finally decided to take the plunge and purchase one right before Ezra came along (I justified it as a “push present”…bc apparently these days the baby isn’t enough of a gift.)
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Piano playing has been a joy and a stress reliever for me for years. I started taking lessons when I was 9 years old and continued mostly uninterrupted, even finding time to take lessons in grad school. I would accompany choirs, play at church, and sometimes get gigs to play for holiday parties. It feels like home to have a piano here and to watch Ezra enjoy plunking the keys. 🎹
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When you think about it, it’s really amazing how accessible and available pianos are in the US. We had a massive upright growing up that was passed down to us from a friend, my grandparents had pianos/keyboards in their homes, as did most of my friends. In college my friends and I enlisted members of the football team to help us transport a piano across town to our house (I think it was free), and when we moved to Atlanta after getting married, I bought a cheap piano from the myriad of listings on Craigslist. People practically give them away, as long as you can transport it.
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I’ve been told that acoustic pianos aren’t a great idea here bc the humidity messes with the tuning. Digital pianos are such good quality these days anyway – plus they’re way easier to move around and there’s a ton you can do technically as far as connecting to a laptop and recording.
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I’ve toyed with the idea of offering lessons, not just for the crazy hourly fee teachers stand to make here ($80+ per hour), but because there really does seem to be a demand and I’m always delighted to see people pursue music as a hobby. Who knows, maybe it’ll still be in my future at some point… 🎶