Play Me, I'm Yours... Day 5

Part 1:
Success! Before meeting Alexa for dinner, I decided to take my chance on the piano at Columbus Circle -- the piano I couldn't play on Tuesday due to the light rain that caused the piano to be covered in plastic and locked up.

As I waited for the crosswalk, I saw someone sitting at the piano. He got up, but as I started to cross the street, a woman sat down to play a song. Luckily, it was short and sweet, and she got up. At last, it was my opportunity for the taking, so I bolted for the piano before anybody else could get to it.

First, I played Missy Higgins' "Nightminds," which you may have seen me play on my keyboard (if not, the video is on my Facebook page). After I finished, people sitting on the benches clapped for me! I nodded to some of them and was thrilled by their response.

Next up, "There's a Fine, Fine Line" from Avenue Q. I hadn't practiced this one much, and it showed. But... there was a couple that was walking by, and they stopped. The man knew it was from Avenue Q and told his companion that. He tried singing along, and I pointed to my sheet music where I was in the song. And I tried to help him out by singing as well, but that song can be a toughie playing just the piano part. I messed up a bit from overthinking and worrying, but by the end, some other people came up right by the piano and smiled and clapped. Oh, during the song, it was a little windy, so the man held my sheet music down for me. So nice of him to do that!

After that, this girl came up to me and asked if I was a music student. I told her no, but I also said I took piano lessons from elementary school through high school. She told me she wanted to hear me sing again, and then I pulled out my music book of Brooke Fraser songs. Now, I've been spending time memorizing two of her songs, but I didn't want to mess up after my Avenue Q hiccup, so I stuck to the sheet music.

I first played "Arithmetic," which my friend Katherine first introduced me to. Love that song. Now, the piano is a bit out of tune, but what can you do? It's been hot and humid in NYC. I played on and sang as best as I could. It was a thrill to finally play that song in public.

My final song was "Scarlet" by Brooke Fraser. I told the girl that it was a quieter song. I knew I could do well with it. The girl turned pages for me, which was really nice of her. After I finished, people clapped again. And then it was time for me to go and meet Alexa for dinner. I thanked the girl for turning pages and asked what her name was: Simone. I told her my name was Allison, and she said to keep playing. And I certainly will!

P.S. There were strangers taking pictures of me, so if they appear on the Internet somewhere, please tell me! :)

Part 2:
After dinner & dessert, Alexa and I walked over to the pedestrian area in Times Square between 45th and 46th Street. Forever 21 (where Virgin Records used to be) has a giant screen above its storefront that shows people on the street, so a bunch of tourists were standing around looking at themselves. Good for business? Um... Fun for tourists? For sure... Annoying for New Yorkers? Most definitely. But, we played tourists for a little bit, stood with everyone else, and waved at ourselves.

I saw that there was a crowd around the piano -- the biggest crowd I've seen so far. A young guy was playing the piano, and then this woman jumped in and played along with him! That was such a highlight! Two strangers making music, and it worked! Next up, another young guy said, "And now for something completely different..." and he played and sang operatically in German. His younger sister was his page turner.

When he finished his second piece, a mother strongly urged her young daughter to the piano, so she played, and a couple of other children came up to the piano to hear her play and decided to plunk some of the upper keys. The mom of those other kids told them not to touch the piano, but one of the girls responded, "I'm helping her!" It was all very cute. After the girl finished playing, I decided to go for it.

When I sat down at the piano, a guy to my left asked me if I was going to sing, and I said yes. I covered "Arithmetic" by Brooke Fraser, and at least one person was taking video, and another person was taking pictures with a nice digital camera. I couldn't tell if he was a tourist or affiliated with this public art project. In either case, it was pretty cool. Thanks to Alexa for turning pages and taking this picture!

When I finished the song, I got up to let others play. A woman came prepared with her own handheld video cam and body microphone, and she asked someone in the crowd to film for her. She played two songs. Then Alexa played her original song "Try" which is part of her Sunland EP, now available on iTunes! Visit Little Anchor's MySpace for details.

What a day! What a rush. As I said in my first tweet/Facebook status update: More to come.

Manhattan Piano Tally: 2/29