If I started a gofundme would you hook me up?

[rachmaninoff_forever]

Okay as some of you guys know...

MY PIANO SITUATION SUCKS

I grew up playing a digital and never practiced on anything besides a digital until junior/senior year of highschool.  Once I hit college my digital broke down but it was cool because I was in school and I had a harem of pianos I could play WHENEVER I WANTED.  Over the summer I could kinda find a place to practice and sure I would get kicked out but it wasn't a big deal.

But now I don't really have much access to an acoustic instrument and when I do, it's usually just an upright.  WHICH IS FINE I'M HAPPY TO GET ANY HOURS ON ANY INSTRUMENT.  But it's starting to get ridiculous now.  I have to travel mega far just to find an instrument, wait for an hour, then I get kicked out an hour after I grab a room.

BUT THAT'S OKAY CAUSE I GOT A SIGN FROM THE PIANO GODS!

At the local piano store around here they're selling a used Yamaha upright for...  2 and a half grand?  Something like that.  So I teach and I work, but all that money is going to rent I'm moving out July 1stand parking and food and furniture and basic adult stuff.  So I won't be able to save up to get this piano in any decent ammount of time.

SO...  Sure I could tank the summer and just not practice a lot until school starts, but my roommate told me she was already down with having a piano in the apartment and it would be cool to have people over and parties and I would play stuff and people would sing and I would get to practice as soon as I get out of bed and it would be mega convenient and I don't have to travel to everyones house when I'm teaching.  Cause even when school starts, I still have to take the red line to depaul to find a room.

So if I started a gofundme would you guys spot me?

[mjames]

Go make a similar thread on a popular website like reddit/r/music, and post a video of one your (awesome) performances along with it - you'd get a lot more feedback than PF. I would definitely donate, but I'm also a student that works part-time so I don't have much money to spare to make a signif. contribution.

[Bob]

I'll take some money too if anyone's giving it out.

I need a grand piano.  9 foot is ok.

I also need a room to put it in.  Something like a small recital hall should work fine.  I'd like it to be air conditioned, temperature and humidity controlled and all that.

You should include money for tunings and work on that piano too.  I'm not made of money.

I also don't want to pay property tax on that room, so add in more money for that.

And money for the energy bill to climate control that room.

While you're at it, if you can include money to offset pay from work so I've got more practice time or even just more time to rest that would be great.

I haven't checked, but off the top of my head I'd guess about $200,000 for the piano, maybe a half million for the property and recital hall, and then some kind of yearly fee you'd pay me for the climate control and piano maintenance, so let's say $50,000/year for that.  We can round up to make it easier.  You owe me a million dollars.




You better get moving.  I'm going to need that million dollars soon.




Oh, and I really like music, so it's ok.

[Bob]

   *Bob realizes on day he might actually be able to afford a grand piano....*

[Bob]

More seriously, I have heard there are tricks with student loans.  You can max out what you can take out and eventually get enough for a piano.  (Keeping in mind you pay even more in the future with the accumulating interest.)  Or, I also heard of a situation where a student needed an instrument, so the professor "required" the instrument as part of the class.  This was a $10,000+ investment.  Since it was required for a class, the student loan rules allowed the student to increase the amount they could take out for a student loan.  They got their instrument using student loans.

[klavieronin]

I'll take some money too if anyone's giving it out.

I need a grand piano.  9 foot is ok.

I also need a room to put it in.  Something like a small recital hall should work fine.  I'd like it to be air conditioned, temperature and humidity controlled and all that.

You should include money for tunings and work on that piano too.  I'm not made of money.

I also don't want to pay property tax on that room, so add in more money for that.

And money for the energy bill to climate control that room.

While you're at it, if you can include money to offset pay from work so I've got more practice time or even just more time to rest that would be great.

I haven't checked, but off the top of my head I'd guess about $200,000 for the piano, maybe a half million for the property and recital hall, and then some kind of yearly fee you'd pay me for the climate control and piano maintenance, so let's say $50,000/year for that.  We can round up to make it easier.  You owe me a million dollars.




You better get moving.  I'm going to need that million dollars soon.




Oh, and I really like music, so it's ok.

Hey Bob, don't forget the recording studio, microphones, top end computer for mixing and mastering, audio engineer's salaries, etc.

[hardy_practice]

I have a serious violin bow addiction - well over £3000 of bows in the last 6 months alone!  All donations gratefully received.

[Bob]

Hey Bob, don't forget the recording studio, microphones, top end computer for mixing and mastering, audio engineer's salaries, etc.

Plus printed music.  I wouldn't mind having several editions actually to compare.  Henle for sure. Manuscripts would be interesting too.  Copies are ok there.   The pressure's on with a recording studio set up added.  That could be an extra room off the recital hall.  Everything should be sound-proofed too.

Let's also add some kind of oncall access to teachers, for performance or for literature questions.  Fast internet access for that too.

Better add a second piano too in case a teacher comes over in person, and it can be backup for the first piano.  That also allows practicing while a piano tech is working on the main piano.   *Bob considers a third piano as backup just to be really safe.*  You can never be too careful.

[klavieronin]

Plus printed music.  I wouldn't mind having several editions actually to compare.  Henle for sure. Manuscripts would be interesting too.  Copies are ok there.

Now you're talking, although… there is plenty great music that is now out of print. It would be a shame to not have access to it. Better get a printing house, editors, engravers, perhaps a few researchers on staff. You know, just to milk the joke dry.

[Bob]

Also more seriously....

$2,500 needed
at $50/hour (for teaching private lessons)
= 50 lessons needed to give.   That's one student for a pretty much consistent year.
Or two students for six months.
Four students for three months.

Disregarding taxes.
If you added in paying taxes, you'd need to earn about $3,750 (2500/.666, assuming paying 1/3 in taxes here) to buy $2,500 (with any sales tax already included in that $2,500).
In terms of teaching students, just add another half year for one student, etc.


If you took the lowest federal minimum wage....
https://www.paywizard.org/main/salary/minimum-wage
...of $7.25/hour   (take out a 1/3 for taxes... so $4.83/hour net....)
$2,500 / $4.83/hr = about 518 hours needed
assuming it's a 20hr/week part-time job....
518 / 20hr/wk = 25.9 weeks or 30 weeks.

Adding in a dose of reality.... which means just adding more time....
It's still entirely possible to earn the money from working a minimum wage job or teaching and get that piano in a year or two.

Some of that reality might be transportation costs.  You might have to support a car to get to the job if you already don't have one.

Teaching definitely compliments performance, and who's only surviving off performance alone?  Working at music store or something music-related adds to the music side.  Otherwise, anything for money for job.



Another idea -- Rent or lease to own a piano. 

[hardy_practice]

Better yet, get one from ebay - they're giving them away there!  and besides, I wouldn't have one of those souless Japanese/Chinese pieces of crap in my outhouse!

[rachmaninoff_forever]

Also more seriously....

$2,500 needed
at $50/hour (for teaching private lessons)
= 50 lessons needed to give.   That's one student for a pretty much consistent year.
Or two students for six months.
Four students for three months.

Disregarding taxes.
If you added in paying taxes, you'd need to earn about $3,750 (2500/.666, assuming paying 1/3 in taxes here) to buy $2,500 (with any sales tax already included in that $2,500).
In terms of teaching students, just add another half year for one student, etc.


If you took the lowest federal minimum wage....
https://www.paywizard.org/main/salary/minimum-wage
...of $7.25/hour   (take out a 1/3 for taxes... so $4.83/hour net....)
$2,500 / $4.83/hr = about 518 hours needed
assuming it's a 20hr/week part-time job....
518 / 20hr/wk = 25.9 weeks or 30 weeks.

Adding in a dose of reality.... which means just adding more time....
It's still entirely possible to earn the money from working a minimum wage job or teaching and get that piano in a year or two.

Some of that reality might be transportation costs.  You might have to support a car to get to the job if you already don't have one.

Teaching definitely compliments performance, and who's only surviving off performance alone?  Working at music store or something music-related adds to the music side.  Otherwise, anything for money for job.



Another idea -- Rent or lease to own a piano. 

FedEx pays 12.20 an hour for the first month and 12.45 for the second and it's a raise every 3 or 6 months or something. 

Problem is I got bills to pay!  Food to eat!  Tuition to pay! Hookers to- okay I don't buy hookers butyiu know what I mean

[Bob]

Yeeeeeahp.....   What about your finally graduate or they won't let you take out any more student loans?

[georgey]

I'll take $250 if someone wants to give this to me.   Just kidding.

My piano situation is the reverse of yours.  I have a mint condition Yamaha Avantgrand N1 that I bought 11/2014 (with specialized REAL grand piano action).  I was never so happy, but I can't play it seriously now due to my osteoarthritis of the hands development.  So I put it up on ebay yesterday afternoon for $3800 (paid $8900 for mine that was shipped fresh from Japan to my order).  This morning, I have 3 very interested buyers.  I will hold firm at $3800 though, cash in advance.  

After it is sold, I'll pull my old CP300 from under my bed to noodle around with. I wish us ALL luck with our piano situations.

[rachmaninoff_forever]

Yeeeeeahp.....   What about your finally graduate or they won't let you take out any more student loans?

I mean I'd rather not take out any loans cause I feel like that's a portal to hell 

Anyways I've spent almost a month at FedEX and they don't pay nearly enough for the amount of work I do.  On paper it says I'm supposed to work from 4am-7:30am cause it's part time but they're giving me full time ass hours!  I come in at 2am and don't get off till like 9:30 WITHOUT BREAK!!!  And they always give me the hardest jobs because we're low on staff and everyone else is lazy!!!  Today I had to load almost 700 boxes onto two trucks and the other day I almost broke a thousand what???  This is a violation of human rights or some sh*t.

By the time I get home I go straight to bed cause I'm completely exhausted.  Even if I had a piano I wouldn't even have time to practice cause I'm too burnt throughout the day.  I haven't played anything in weeks and I feel like sh*t.

I gotta find a new job...

[Bob]

I thought those were well-paying jobs (or maybe just UPS) for the people who survived.  You could always ask your supervisor if the hours are correct for being part-time.  They'll probably know what you're really asking.  Or ask if you get extra pay if you're working outside your scheduled hours or something like that that.  Is there a union (or one that forces you join?  Haha.)?   [Tell your coworkers you play piano, need to protect your hands, so you can't lift any of the boxes.  They'll love that.]  These supervisors and coworkers might not have much influence over things, but people do notice if you're a person who does things vs. the ones who slack off.

Oh, I see what I was asking up there.  Brain fart, word-left-out-or-something typo.  What about when you finally graduate from school completely and go 100% in the real world?  You'll have to have a job and still practice somehow (on something) then.  Between undergrad and grad, there is the option/incentive/pull to go to grad school to avoid the real world.  Ditto for the doctorate.


Are you seriously saying you did an entire undergrad degree with no loans at all?  Bravo but... how the heck did you do that?  Scholarships I would think.  Even still...   *Bob infers he must live in hell....*



"Come join us rach4.  There's plenty of money/loans down here.... We've got balloon loans!  And the interest rates, they float!  They do indeed float!"








"Come pay with us... forever and ever and ever... [or up to 10 years or 25 years max depending on your circumstances, unless they change the laws during that time but that's really unlikely]."

[rachmaninoff_forever]

I thought those were well-paying jobs (or maybe just UPS) for the people who survived.  You could always ask your supervisor if the hours are correct for being part-time.  They'll probably know what you're really asking.  Or ask if you get extra pay if you're working outside your scheduled hours or something like that that.  Is there a union (or one that forces you join?  Haha.)?   [Tell your coworkers you play piano, need to protect your hands, so you can't lift any of the boxes.  They'll love that.]  These supervisors and coworkers might not have much influence over things, but people do notice if you're a person who does things vs. the ones who slack off.

Oh, I see what I was asking up there.  Brain fart, word-left-out-or-something typo.  What about when you finally graduate from school completely and go 100% in the real world?  You'll have to have a job and still practice somehow (on something) then.  Between undergrad and grad, there is the option/incentive/pull to go to grad school to avoid the real world.  Ditto for the doctorate.


Are you seriously saying you did an entire undergrad degree with no loans at all?  Bravo but... how the heck did you do that?  Scholarships I would think.  Even still...   *Bob infers he must live in hell....*



"Come join us rach4.  There's plenty of money/loans down here.... We've got balloon loans!  And the interest rates, they float!  They do indeed float!"








"Come pay with us... forever and ever and ever... [or up to 10 years or 25 years max depending on your circumstances, unless they change the laws during that time but that's really unlikely]."

Well...

I'm looking on craigslist for one 500 or under or a free one.

[hardy_practice]

I mean I'd rather not take out any loans cause I feel like that's a portal to hell 

Anyways I've spent almost a month at FedEX and they don't pay nearly enough for the amount of work I do.  On paper it says I'm supposed to work from 4am-7:30am cause it's part time but they're giving me full time ass hours!  I come in at 2am and don't get off till like 9:30 WITHOUT BREAK!!!  And they always give me the hardest jobs because we're low on staff and everyone else is lazy!!!  Today I had to load almost 700 boxes onto two trucks and the other day I almost broke a thousand what???  This is a violation of human rights or some sh*t.

By the time I get home I go straight to bed cause I'm completely exhausted.  Even if I had a piano I wouldn't even have time to practice cause I'm too burnt throughout the day.  I haven't played anything in weeks and I feel like sh*t.

I gotta find a new job...

America! America!
God shed His grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

[Bob]

What digital?

Or... Get a cheap digital for right now.  Then sell it later.  Someone else will probably be looking for one.  How much would that cost after you've sold it later?  You got finger/technique work in at least right now.

After that upgrade/buy a better digital.  The best for whatever you can get.  Keep it.  It's something at least.  Then you have the option of that all the time with headphones.

And then save up for a decent-enough upright.  Meanwhile you might find some place (ex. church, school, friend) who will let you use their acoustic.

(And then the ultimate, a grand...)


You know what you're going to get for $500 or free.  What's that going to do to your hands?  To your wallet?  You'll have to pay someone to attempt to tune the thing.  And then a crappy acoustic upright to haul around?  If you're apartment hunting that narrows down the options to a place that lets you have an acoustic (stuck practicing during the day), a first floor unit, or a building that has an elevator or some set where you can get the beast on a higher level floor.  Plus maybe paying movers.  Even a light upright is something like 3-500 pounds, isn't it?


I've "practiced" on a cheap, non-weighted but full-size keyboard for a bit, either as extra or getting something in.  It can keep your fingers in some shape but doesn't help touch at all.  I should search for the 'white whale' small, weighted keyboard again....