Our house in the Catskills has been in our family since 1962. It has gone through many changes.
When my grandparents purchased it, the house had been divided into four apartments. Slowly, slowly it was returned to a single-family home, with an attached apartment. Rooms that were divided were opened up or reunited with the house. Small additions were redone. New additions were created. (See blog below.)
In the living room, a stone fireplace is the focal point. At one time the back side was covered up and behind it a tiny kitchen and bathroom was put in. My grandparents restored it to one room. Behind the fireplace they put a trundle bed for grandchildren and, eventually, their old upright piano.
That piano was the bane of my summers. Over 100 years old now, the piano was purchased second hand for my Mom to use when she was a child. But Mom’s abilities outpaced this piano, and in the late 1930s, when Mom was about 10 years old, my grandparents purchased a baby grand piano for her use in their New Jersey home. (See blog below.).
Mom eventually became a special student at Julliard. She studied music there all through high school and had hoped to go there for college. But my grandparents thought a music career was not a good choice. So Mom went to Douglas University in New Jersey and studied education.
When the baby grand piano arrived, my grandparents had the old upright taken up to the Catskills to their bungalow in the small colony they had created. Their bungalow was one of the bigger ones, with two bedrooms, a kitchen sitting area, and an enclosed porch. The piano was put on the porch.
As little children, before my sister was born, my brother and I actually stayed in this bungalow with my parents and grandparents. But once my sister arrived, we started staying in our own bungalow. The piano stayed with my grandparents. Whenever Mom wanted to play, she just went over there.
When I started piano lessons, I was expected to practice….even during the summer when I had NO lessons. At first it was not a problem, I just showed up to my grandparents and went in and played. I got treats and lots of positive reinforcement for practicing, even though I would rather be outside playing.
However, my feelings changed after the 1962 summer. My grandparents moved up to the new “big house.” We moved up there as well, to live in a bungalow behind the house. That freed up two bungalows at the colony that now could be rented. The piano stayed down at the bungalow for at least a year.
Here is where my angst began. I was expected to go down to the colony, which I wanted to do to see my cousins and my friends. But instead of playing, I was expected to go and practice the piano. It was no longer my grandparents’ bungalow. It now was rented by my sort of aunt and uncle. They were actually the brother and sister in law of my uncle by marriage. My Grandma Rose and their son, who I considered a cousin, lived there as well. (See blog about Grandma Rose below.)
The last thing I wanted to do was practice the piano. Two reasons, first I felt like I was invading their territory. I now had a set time when I had to be there to practice. Also, I wanted to play! Everyone else might be in the lake, but when my set time came, I had to go over to their bungalow. There were many fights over this with my Mom. But eventually she let me stop. It was just not fun.
My angst ended then. The next summer a space was made for the piano. That little kitchen and bathroom behind the fireplace were gone, as was all the plumbing and fixtures. The walls were cleaned and wood paneling was put in. In the area that was once a bathroom, the upright piano now stood, back in my grandparents’ house.
So now, I could practice anytime of the day. I left my music in the house. On a rainy day, I could practice for as long as I liked. While, on a beautiful day, I could just run in after a day at the lake. A low note chord broke when I was young, and we never replaced it. I used the note so rarely, that at the times I did, I would be shocked when no noise came out.
Over time, I went to college, got married and moved away. The piano was rarely touched and soon went out of tune. When I started going up with my children for two weeks each summer, I wanted to get the piano tuned. But the person we called said it was impossible, it had sat untuned for so long and it was too old. That made me so sad. But we left the piano there, and occasionally I would still play even with the discordant sounds that came out.
But in this time of COVID-19, the piano has been revitalized. My nephew, who also plays the piano. Needed a place to stay. He had planned a long trip to Europe and had not renewed his big city apartment lease. He asked to stay at the Catskills home. We all agreed. It was perfect for all of us, because we have used his time there to get some chores done and things fixed that were benignly neglected as we are usually there only on weekends.
Thanks to my nephew, we now have internet in the home and we have tasked him with meetings with an electrician, plumber and other workers. He got a dock put in at our lake front section of Kauneonga Lake..
However, his greatest success, for me, is the piano. My nephew plans to spend the winter there as well. As it is a four-season house, he can. It was my grandparents’ full-time home. So he decided to get the piano tuned!!! He found an old-time piano tuner, who has restored the sound! This gentleman slowly got it back into shape, by doing it correctly. Over several months he came and tuned the piano just a bit until the sound board and strings could accept a full tune.
But besides tuning it, the piano tuner has dusted it and oiled the wonderful old wood. The piano looks better than it has in 20 years. It brings me joy that the piano behind the fireplace is now a working piano giving my nephew a chance to practice his hobby as he experiences the cold winter months in Sullivan County.
(Exact dates of when of when the piano moved to the house and when I practiced at the bungalow are somewhat unknown, as it was many many years ago.)
https://zicharonot.com/2016/08/02/a-chair-a-baby-grand-piano-and-yiddish-songs/
https://zicharonot.com/2014/07/24/movie-night-in-the-catskills-was-a-wonderful-magical-night/
zicharonot 
Great story, and I’m so glad the piano has been restored. Someday I should blog about my piano story. If I ever finish the family history of all these long ago distant relatives!
You are much more focused than I am. I meander and write about objects using them to tell family stories. And then return to genealogy. But so much of my family ends in the Shoah. I only can handle a bit at a time.
I am finding that now. The posts coming up in the next couple of weeks are so overwhelmingly sad that I am feeling a need to stop and focus on something else. It’s bad enough that our current world is so sad—living in the past isn’t helping.
Yes. After I write about those who perish, I have to take a break and focus on happier topics. But with the 9/11 anniversary, our lunatic in the White House, I have to focus on the Catskills memories. Unfortunately I now do understand the rise of Hitler (May his name be wiped out!)
Totally enjoyed your post this morning. It was wonderful. Thank you for sharing your Catskill and piano memory. I was curious if you had any memory of the Brickman Hotel (Catskills – S. Fallsburg) through marriage there is a connection for me
Although I did have a friend in South Fallsburg, Exit 109, I don’t remember the hotel. Most of my time was off Exit 104, and in the Liberty, Swan Lake, White Lake and Kauneonga Lake area…and Monticello.
Such a great story. It shows that something can get done if someone has the patience. Thanks for sharing this story.
Thank you. My nephew is spending the winter up there. I think having the piano in tune will bring him joy. But yet, patience and having mindset to wait helps.