Emotional Attachments to Objects b/c of Sound?

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Ok, so I've been playing the piano for eight years, and I noticed that I do better with some pianos than with others, and I think it has to do with me forming emotional attachments to certain pianos. For example, I played on a piano in a church a few days ago for the first time, and I sort of connected with it, and played my piece beautifully, totally got lost in the music, etc. My mom didn't even recognize the piece which I had been playing for three weeks before that. The same thing happened a few months before on a different piano, my teacher said it was one of the best times she'd heard it, and that I actually played it with emotion (they constantly complain of my lack of emotion when playing).

Has anyone experienced anything like this? There doesn't really seem to be any connection between them, one is an old upright piano in a church made of wood, and the other is a shiny black stienway in an auditorium. They both have good acoustics and a nice sound though, so I can't tell if I'm playing well because I'm attached to the piano or if I just like the sound better. Or if I'm just attached to the piano because of the sound.

I had feelings like that for certain pianos when I used to play. Some pianos I felt very attached to and others I just didn't like to play at all. I think it had to do with a lot of things and the way it sounded was just one of them. It was the overall character of the piano, like it actually had its own spirit or personality, maybe depending a lot on who built it, who else had played it, where it had been and what it had been used for. I was very fond of Baldwins and never liked Yamahas at all. My favorite piano was a Baldwin that had a really warbly sound that made it sound like it was underwater.

I am picky about pianos because of their sound and tactile feel. I like the sound to appear in the way it lifts as if it is coming off the upper surface and upper housing of the piano and feel like it's coming from the tap of the keys themselves. I actually had trouble playing on pianos that had thuddy keys and from which the sound came rumbling or warbling as you say out of its bowels. We are actually looking into getting a piano. I haven't had one in years and my piano "craving" has gotten painful. I am very picky but we can't afford a new one so we are looking on craigslist but it is hard to "shop" that way, like going into homes just to test the piano first and drive all that way? My husband thinks I am crazy, but I can't stand the thought of getting a "befuddled" sounding piano. It actually "hurts my feelings" to think about and if I am not careful, I actually feel bad for the rejected piano too. I know that's weird but I can get away with it; people personify their cars, too. The first piano I had was a Clavinova I think, which I guess was a Yamaha? I need the keys to snap back up promptly and smartly, not just sort of lazily lift back up. This all has something to do with being better at playing by ear than at reading music and when I memorize a piece it is very sense related and playing on a different piano or one with muffled sounds and lazy keys was frustrating because I couldn't get the tactile and auditory "fix" from it. Couldn't connect with it.

I hate pianos because I was forced to play them for a decade.

As far as the general theme of the thread goes... nah. That is too out-there for me.

I don't really have emotional attachments to objects but if I listen to a song that I really like for the first time, its like my brain records the moment in time in sync with the song. So if I was feeling really sad or angry then I get back that same feeling instantly when I hear the song. I learned not to have attachments for objects the hard way so that if that objects is destroyed or taken away, I would not be distraught.

I never had a piano growing up, but wanted one so badly. My son (also Asperger's) started playing as soon as he could crawl at 6 months.

But my "object fetish" (if you will) is synthesizers-- particularly old analog ones like the ARP 2600. Not just because of the sounds, but the fact that you can shape the sounds.
Analog sound gear also does it for me.

Unfortunately, I don't have too much in the way of either due to financial constraints (i.e. I'm not rich), but I have software versions of many of them (including the 2600) and that's good for now.

And this thing (weighing in at a whopping $6,660) is like porn to me:

I had a similar thing when I played piano. In college I had my favorite pianos that I liked practicing on. I never knew why I liked some more than others so what you are saying might give me some light on that. And I think it is more than just proper tuning or the particular way a piano sounds. I think you do make an emotional connection with certain instruments more than with others. I also liked practicing singing in certain practice rooms rather than in others. Some rooms just felt better.

Could it possibly be due to the symmetry and/or extension of the harmonics from the instrument?

Is the attachment to the instrument still there when you hear someone else playing it? or do you actually have to be the one interacting with it to get the good or attached feeling?

If it has to be you playing it, then perhaps the attachment comes from the nature of "response" the instrument gives such that your body agrees with the feedback from it.

When I say "response" it's in the same sense that some racecars seem more responsive to a driver than others.

Ignoring interaction/response for a minute, I am extremely partial to the harmonics present from the playing of the Beam instrument. It's a big reason why I enjoy watching the Chronos video so much. I hardly ever get to hear the Beam, or a pipe organ for that matter.

I always responded when I was playing but not when someone else was. Some instruments and rooms just felt more intimate than others and I felt more relaxed with them.