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Piano Day ~March 29th/2023
Well…I didn’t realize it was “Piano Day today ~March 29th/2023 ( Yes.. still Thursday in my neck of woods in Canada for about 10 more mins. before midnight strikes and becomes Friday ) … My buddy Sam Reid from Glass Tiger posted on his FB about it being ” Piano Day” & posted a few Piano pix of his own pianos… and so…I thought I’d share a few of mine…as a child at my Aunt & late Uncle ‘s house on their farm , when they lived there & still married – sadly , divorced eventually )
Photos are of myself with my late Dad and my Aunt (who is still living and is her church pianist/organist ) … Thought you’d enjoy…I can’t read music , just can tinker/dabble around on piano/organ ….
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19 Replies
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Hey Jacki, thanks for that. Didn’t realize it is Piano Day. March 29th 2023 is in fact the 88th day of the year to mark 88 keys of a piano. There is still 2 hours left of Piano Day where I am. I remember back when I bought an acoustic piano (a small Baldwin upright) for my piano practices, and my mom really liked having a piano in the house. She’d sometimes came downstairs while I was at work and played around on the piano she told me. When I moved out and got my own place, it just didn’t feel right taking the piano out of my mom’s place, and it’s still there.
I don’t have any pictures of me and the piano, so here is a practice session from back then. I polished this up more and performed it at a piano competition at the piano school I took lessons. My piano teacher at the time felt it was good for me to do that, so I memorized the piece and did my best, the only time I ever performed a musical instrument to an audience.
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This reply was modified 1 year, 7 months ago by Jung Roe.
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This reply was modified 1 year, 7 months ago by
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The first MLT original with a piano, and what a beautiful song.
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And just a heads-up that April is International Guitar Month!
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A double heads up David, Ukelele day Feb 2nd. There is time to prepare! 😉
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Hooray! And I shan’t go hungry while I’m strumming, because Feb. 2nd is also Bubblegum Day, Tater Tot Day, Kiwifruit Day, Crepe Day, and Heavenly Hash Day. (I was into that sort of thing a couple of years ago; it makes every day worth getting up for!)
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That bit about it being a day when people are encouraged to showcase their piano skills in a public place reminds me of a visit to Ludington, Michigan a few years ago. Ludington’s a small city and port on Lake Michigan.
They had upright pianos, outside, on the street and in parking lots, scattered around the city. Anyone who happened by could sit down and play for a while. Which I did.
Not sure if it was in March or not, March is not always great outside piano weather around here. lol.
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Hi Chris
That sounds like a wonderful area with all those pianos. It must have felt nice to be able to play like that sort of spontaneously. That reminds me of my old work place a few years ago, there was a little square next to a shopping area where they had basketball hoops, and in the corner there was this little upright piano donated, so any passers by good play it. At lunch time when I walked by you could hear people play it. That area was a low income neighbourhood, and sometimes you would see people of all walks sit and play a tune, it was quite remarkable and heartwarming to see. Music was a bond between people no matter a person’s stature.
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You remind me of another one. There’s a club in the city where I live that has live music. Not a very big room, but they used to bring in some name acts to play there, I saw Terrance Simien, Dr. John, Buddy Guy there, guys like that.
I don’t remember who I was there to see that night, but they hadn’t opened the doors yet to let people in, so there were maybe 20 or so people waiting in the bar area, and there was an old upright piano there. 3 of us took turns playing tunes for 40 minutes or more while we were waiting, people were singing. We played all kinds of stuff. Those other 2 guys could really play too.
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Hi Chris
That sounded like a lot of fun to play with a couple of strangers who share the passion of music like that, and to have an audience who appreciated it and got into your playing. Thanks for sharing that.
When I got into practicing the piano through the 90s, while it was the classical music and new age piano sounds of the likes of George Winston, Eric Daub etc, another performer that really had an impact on me and I felt the passion of what it must be like to live a life of music was a street performer in Seattle. I often visited Seattle and I’d always go down to the Pike Place Market area to see this amazing pianist, Jonny Hahn, play. In the winter when it was really cold or rain, he use to play wearing these gloves with the finger tips cut out. He had this small upright piano on wheels he carted around and played at different locations in Pike Place Market. I remember one year I loaded my portable Casio keyboard in my trunk and took it with me on my road trip vacation and played it in the hotel room, partly inspired by Jonny Hahn. It didn’t matter what happened in my world, with my little piano and passion of playing, that’s all I needed. I was filled with that passion for a short time in the 90s. I hope I can have that feeling again when I’m finally retired.
I found a youtube post of him from 3 years ago still playing at the Pike Place Market. I have a CD from him from a number of years ago.
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First thing I noticed when that vid started – is that a real piano? Doesn’t look wide enough. Sure enough, it’s short a couple octaves. Bet that makes it easier to roadie around though. But then I guess you did say “small” upright.
That used to drive me nuts, not having 88 keys. I bought my Rhodes 73 in 1976, and I’d be playing it and reach for that bass note, and hit plain wood. That note wasn’t there. Didn’t matter for popular music, but Chopin thought there should be a key there. And that Rhodes is only one octave short, not two.
I have never tried playing with gloves on. Not sure I’m gonna either. I think if the fingertips were cut off the gloves like you said, it’d be easier, but it doesn’t seem to slow him down. He’s good.
Maybe I should do that in my retirement – busking. I had never heard that word before until – today. I saw it on this site a couple hours ago; I saw pics of Mona and Lisa busking in Wein back in 2010. So I looked it up. And now you mention it too. What are the chances I never heard it before, then twice in the same day?
That’s a great video and story.
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Hi Chris
That is an interesting piano indeed, I wonder if it’s custom made for him. I’ve never seen one like that on wheels and with just 64 keys, I presume like the keyboards in Bach and Mozart days.
Yeah, busking was a new word for me too, and learned it here at the MLT Club, in fact learned a lot of new things here. I really enjoyed MLTs experiences they shared about their busking. I think it takes courage and confidence to go out and do that in front of the public that can be so unpredictable.
I found this interesting interview with Jonny Hahn that really gives some amazing insight into the world of busking and life long dedication to his art, and hearing him talk, he is very aware of the world and music industry. His comment about how diverse Pike Place Market is and the wide array of people that come there, and all are touched by his music, there is that point about how music crosses all boundaries between people. Really a bright and remarkable fellow.
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Speaking of busking, I’m reminded of Joshua Bell, who I’m fortunate to have seen play a couple times, although both of those were inside a concert hall, who was famous for busking in a Washington subway one morning. Presumably with his Stradivarius.
From that website you mentioned the other day,
https://www.classicfm.com/artists/joshua-bell/violin-busking-washington-subway/
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Watching this, it makes me imagine what would happen if Paul McCartney just started to busk on the streets of Liverpool somewhere under the guise of a hoodie. How long before someone would clue in that rendition of “Yesterday” sounds a lot like Paul. That was quite an interesting video of Joshua Bell busking. It looks like that one lady in the end just stopped and stood there, wonder what must have went through her mind as she watched listened in disbelief. That Bach Partita would have probably have made me stop and look.
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I can picture it now…
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That’s funny. And a jaunty arrangement.
But that’s in London, not Liverpool.
I’ve been through that station a number of times, long ago — maybe I actually saw the Beatles and just don’t remember it(?).
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David, nice find! I would think many famous artists would in fact love to do a spontaneous street performance just for the love of playing. Problem of course is the crowd and mobbing afterwards if Paul McCartney suddenly showed up on a street corner singing like that. At first people may be skeptical thinking it’s just a Paul lookalike, like the droves of Elvis impersonators in Las Vegas.
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Jung,
Maybe this is the kind of piano Jonny Hahn’s got. 64 key Melodigrand. This one’s for sale less than an hour from me for $600, or it was, the ad looks old. Kind of looks the same. A candidate for the unusual instrument thread.
https://reverb.com/item/14896069-rare-melodigrand-64-key-spinnet-piano-1960s-1980s-plays-great
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Hi Chris
It looks like you found one, a 1960’s-1980 Melodigrand, if you put it on a sturdy trolley you have Jonny Hahn’s piano. His looks more weathered, and full of character. At 200 to 250 pounds, it’s certainly more easily transportable than your typical full 88 Key upright. What an interesting little practical piano.
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Now imagine you are an amateur musician busking for fun, and suddenly out of the crowd appears a famous artist who’s song you happen to be playing to sing along with you. Some cool spontaneous celeb street performance moments here.
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