Tickling the Ivories

The expression "Tickling the Ivories" refers to piano playing. When I got out of the doctor's office yesterday at the Oncology Center at Bert Fish Hospital there was an electronic keyboard with no one playing the keys and asking for volunteers to play the keyboard. The electronic keyboards have everything musical attached like organs, drums background music and fast paced rhythms. It is like making a sandwich and stacking everything on top of it. It had been years, since I have really tackled the keyboard of a piano. I am one of those people a piano teacher dislikes because I like to "play by ear." This expression means I can listen to a piece of music and pickup the melody and play it without reading sheet music. A well trained musician can read sheet music and play every note exact and keep good rhythm according to the written notes. I didn't want to be well trained. My head was full of opportunities and play at the age I took piano lessons. However, I did have fun "tickling the ivories" at the hospital. I was sad to leave, but I was fresh out of songs I remembered how to play. I know I would be good with the Christmas music, but it was much too early to play those types of songs. I end with the joke from the Victor Borga" special on PBS regarding why his piano keys were yellow. He said " the elephant who contribute the ivory had cavities."