Laura Jones Most Wanted: A Grand Piano

Next up in our ongoing series of hope adorned Most Wanted wish lists is North of England born house aficionado, Laura Jones. Her topic for the pretty self-explanatory feature comes from her original moves into music, something that feels a world away from the jam packed 1000 strong dancefloors she's used to today - her classical training on a grand piano. Read on to hear of these early days and why she is yearning to return to the magnificent full sized percussive instrument. Apart from the more obvious and pressing matters on my wish list like an end to world poverty, the cure to every disease out there, the 75 vintage synthesizers and the nice house on the beach in South America, I’d love to own a grand piano. The first half of my life revolved around the piano. My earliest memory was sitting on a stool aged four with my legs dangling unable to touch the ground and feeling around playing the notes trying to figure it all out. My mum and dad bought my sisters and I a beech coloured wooden Hellas upright piano and we all had lessons. The lady who taught me visited our house once a week teaching us the basic scales and the rhymes and the memory tools or mnemonics for learning the notes of the treble clef (Every Good Boy Deserves Favour) and the bass clef (Good Boys Deserve Favour Always). That evolved into twelve years of classical and jazz. I hated the exams however and I hated playing in front of other people. I preferred to play with no one around and that’s when I’d really let rip. My parents always encouraged me to play for them but I’d outright refuse. Sometimes they’d sneak in and catch me or I’d finish and leave the room to find them sat there listening. The only people I’d allow to listen to me play were my piano teacher and out of necessity, the examiner, who scared the life out of me. The Royal College of Music exams took place in a big cold empty room with a grand piano and the examiner in the corner with a clipboard. It was a nerve-wrecking experience. It’s quite funny now that I’m a DJ and have to perform in front of hundreds and sometimes thousands of people. Performing was a major fear barrier that I had to cross over and still deal with occasionally. A lot of my musical inspiration came from soundtracks like Twin Peaks. I watched the film The Piano as a teenager and I immediately had to learn to play every piece of the score. The piano I learned to play on is still at my parents so I only get to play properly when I visit which these days can’t happen as often as I’d like. My take on the lead song from The Piano is pretty rusty and it’s really frustrating not being able to play it as well as I could but playing the piano is like riding a bike. All of the music is still inside me; I just need to find the time and a piano of my own to bring it out.