I went to Buxted Park today and played the piano for Adrian and Angela Lai's post wedding party. They had already been married earlier in the year but they had decided to have a party for all their friends. I was supposed to play in the Victorian Orangery but the guests were supposed to have drinks outside before sitting down for their meal.

I didn't know whether there was a suitable piano at the venue so I took along my digital piano and PA system just in case. On arrival I couldn't help but notice that there was a lovely white Yamaha grand piano there just waiting to be played. I tried a few notes on the piano and immediately decided that I was going to play this instrument rather than the digital piano. I then set up my PA system and placed a microphone inside the piano. The idea being that I could place a speaker outside so that everyone could hear the music while they were having drinks on the lawn.

I then walked around the building and took some photographs. I just generally killed time untill my starting time which was 1:30pm. Adrian and Angela walked in and I immediately started to play only to find that the sustain pedal wasn't working. In utter panic I raced out of the building a brought in my digital piano. It was quite easy to set up after all I had only to put the keyboard on it's stand and plug it into the PA system.I put the keyboard in front of the grand piano and hoped that I was giving the illusion that I was playing the real thing. I really learnt a lesson on this gig and I shall always check an instrument thoroughly before abandoning the idea of using the digital piano.

After this small trauma I settled down and really enjoyed entertaining a really appreciative audience. Good luck to Adrian and Angela and I hope that I'll see you both again.