Playing for an audiobook... a scratchy tale to lighten lockdown

When we were considering an introduction to the audiobook of my first novel, The Housemaid's Daughter, the heroine's signature piano piece was the clear choice: the Raindrop Prelude, a sublime composition by Chopin and, to give it its correct title, Opus 28, no.15. Surely a most beautiful way to set the tone for the story to follow...

Finding an appropriate recording involved some historical and commercial challenges. Ada, my fictional heroine, was playing this piece in the 1940s and 50s, so we wanted a vintage sound - complete with a hiss or scratch here and there - to evoke the era. Then there was the matter of money: using a famous artist would bring royalty costs that might make the whole venture too expensive.
Don't you play? asked the producer. Yes, I do, I replied, and I do play the Raindrop...
Well then, he said, as if the matter was sorted. Let's arrange a date for you to come into the studio and we'll record you.

Ever felt that you were being put on the line for something you weren't fit for?
I'm an amateur pianist, the Raindrop is a famously difficult piece and the last thing I wanted was a roomful of recording execs tearing their hair out when I made a mistake. One more time, I could imagine them saying wearily. Take 25, Barbara. Just try to relax... I have an idea, I countered. Why don't I make a recording at home and you can see if you like it? Sure, they replied. You have suitable equipment?
Yes, I lied. Let me see what I can do.

This is what we did:
We opened the lid of my 100-year-old Zimmerman upright piano, my husband dangled the headset microphone of a mobile phone into the depths, and I played. It took 10 takes (I got the giggles several times) but in the end we had it.
When I sent it in, the producer was ecstatic. Wonderful, he said. How did you get that vintage effect?
Ah, I replied, that's our secret.
And so, if you listen to the audiobook you will hear me playing the introduction... not perfectly but sufficiently well enough to evoke a recording made decades ago, complete with the odd hiss as the mike swayed to and fro...
Result!