Guest Post by Steven Kristopher. Check out links to his albums at the end of this post.
It was the fall of 2007, and I had been on the road full time (10 months out
of each year) for two years. On the road as a musician in a band was great, and
difficult, and amazing and painful, all at the same time. I had an hour or two
before our gig that night. I was in Little Rock, Arkansas on the road with
Midnight to Twelve and before a gig we had some downtime. I decided to go
on a walk and clear my head so I could focus on music. I saw a piano store a
few blocks away from the club we were playing. I went in knowing I couldn’t
afford any of the beautiful pieces that sat before me. It was a small store and the
pianos were almost flush against one another. I side-stepped toward one I’d
never played before. I sat down to a Bechstein Grand Piano.
I played the first couple of chords of a song I was writing at the time and I could not believe the
amazing tone of this beast. It was the most beautiful sounding piano I’d ever
played. I played it for a few minutes and the owner of the store walked over and
asked if I had any questions. I did. I asked him, how much for the one I was
sitting at. He said, “the smaller one next to you goes for 85, and the one you’re
sitting goes for 110.” Inside, I was astonished at the price. He meant $85,000
and $110,000. I was so blown away and tried my best to restrain myself to make
it look like I knew that’s what the price would be. The owner was very kind. He
gave me his business card, which I still have to this day on my desk. Its a
reminder of the experience and hopefully one day I can afford a Bechstein piano
for my home. Back then I was playing keyboards in a rock band touring the
country opening for bigger bands, playing clubs theaters, festivals, etc., so to
own a piano like that was a big dream.
When I was a kid, I started playing drums in my church and I knew I
eventually wanted to play an instrument that would allow me to write songs. I
wasn’t sure on guitar or piano until my friend played a song for me. Create in
Me a Clean Heart by Keith Green, was a song that had a 3 minute piano
prelude that I was very impressed with. So much so, that when the song
finished, I said the words, “I want to play piano like that.” Not six months later, I
was playing a Casio Keyboard and an upright piano my Mother had in the living
room as much as I could with a chord book in hand. I learned as many songs of
artists I loved that I could. I would put on a C.D. and play along, learning songs
by ear and figuring out how songs were written. A couple of years later, I was
writing my own songs. I sincerely love the piano very much. It calms me down
to sit and play. It brings me joy to play. It shows me parts of myself I didn’t know
existed. It helps me grow as an individual in many ways. I told my Father one
day that I would trade my bed and all the things in my room for a piano. He
asked me, “Where would you sleep?” I said, “I’d sleep underneath the piano,
where else?!”
I currently live in a house to small for a piano and use two keyboards that
are great. But there is nothing like playing an amazing sounding piano, feeling at
my fingertips the craftsmanship and the artistry of something that is so perfect to
me. I am hoping that one day, I will be able to walk into that shop in Little Rock,
Arkansas and buy a Bechstein Concert Grand Piano for my home. That would
be a pretty great day, to say the least.
Steven Kristopher
www.StevenKristopher.com
www.facebook.com/stevenkristopher
www.iTunes.com/stevenkristopher
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPYM8dgXVL0 – Psalm 23 Official Video
With Abandon (New Album) Itunes Link:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/with-abandon/id1063836099