Light Along the Journey: Sing for Hope Pianos: Day 12

Hello, it's Sunday, June 23rd again, and I'm going to write about Day 12 of my Sing for Hope piano journey from memory. When I say from memory, I do consult my iPod Touch to view a list of songs I played at each piano, and when I look at the photos, they help stir my memories of the experiences I had. Okay, I may also use some copy I already wrote on Facebook... why not?

During my morning check on the piano in my neighborhood, I played one of the songs from my core trio. Also, inspired by the music lesson I learned the night before from the improvisational pianist at Pier 70, I decided to work on some original music, creating on the spot, just for fun.

Piano #40: Gantry Plaza State Park. Having played all the pianos in Manhattan, I needed to venture to another borough, so I returned to Queens. After finishing up work, I took the A train followed by the 7 train into Queens. The area near the subway stop felt familiar to me, as I've visited that area twice before for the previous piano installations. It didn't take too long to find the piano, and when I arrived nobody was playing, so I sat down to play. As you can see in the first picture below, the sun was shining brightly. For the most part I kept my eyes shut, but if I looked up, I could see red through my eyelids and if I opened my eyes to look down at the piano keys, the white keys looked blue, and the black keys looked red! It was cool but a little trippy. There's actually a piano with blue and red keys that I ended up visiting on Day 14 and had known I wanted to visit from the start. I played two songs from my core trio and finished with Lullaby for Eliana. During the lullaby, I noticed that a father was carrying his daughter, dancing and listening to me play. So sweet. They sat down to explore the keys after I got up.

Piano #41: Court Square Park. Though I could have taken two different subway lines to get to the next piano, I ended up walking all the way to the piano. I actually took a wrong turn at one point but was able to see the graffiti/artwork at 5 Pointz. You can see the graffiti in passing when you ride the 7 train, but it was nice to stop and take pictures from the street.

Following the 5 Pointz detour, I was able to make my way to Court Square Park, and I must say that was one nice looking courthouse. Of course I had to take a picture!

This man played Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" and one other classical piece. He brought sheet music and said he hadn't played since he was a kid.

The view from the piano.

I played two songs from my core trio and also improvised/created music on the spot.

Piano #42: Jackson Heights Post Office. I took the 7 train to go farther into Queens and visited the piano at the Jackson Heights Post Office for the first time. I know they had one there in 2011 (can't remember if they did in 2010), but I never went. When I arrived, there was a guy playing an intense original composition, and the man standing by him seemed like he was part-conductor guiding the pianist along and part-fan, very much moved by the piece. It felt like a collaboration to me. A young girl approached the piano and played the piano next, and when she left, I approached the piano. I played the instrumental piece from my core trio, and I was in the zone. It's a nice place to be. :)

The men removed their food and drink from the piano to let me take pictures of it.

Piano #43: Roosevelt Island. I took the F train to get to Roosevelt Island and walked a short way to get to Good Shepherd Plaza. When I arrived, there were some teenage girls posing for pictures with the piano. I waited until they left to approach & play my core trio. After my final song, a man who looked and sounded like Alan Alda (but was not Alan Alda) asked if I'd taken lessons and when I said yes, he said they paid off.