Play Me, I'm Yours... Day 12

Lots of pianos to discuss, so I'm going to jump right in...

Piano 21: Riverbank State Park - blue piano
Was able to take the day off work, so I planned out my piano journey. I decided to return to Riverbank State Park because I knew exactly where the unplayed piano was. When I arrived, a young girl was playing the piano. When she finished, I sat down and played "Nightminds" and then "Remember When It Rained," my first Josh Groban song for this art project. Toward the end of RWIR, two children -- one girl and one boy -- came up and listened to me play. The sheet music started to waver from the breeze, and all of a sudden an older woman (their grandmother, I presume) stepped behind the piano and held the music for me. I looked up at her and smiled. After I finished playing, we discussed the pianos a little bit. I asked her if she played.  She answered that she took lessons over 50 years ago and joked that she couldn't even play scales now. I played one more song, "Arithmetic," and since it was still the morning, my voice hadn't fully warmed up yet, so I sang a softer version of the song -- closer to the way it was originally recorded by Brooke Fraser, actually. It was nice to give the song a more intimate feel, what with my audience of three standing right by the piano.

The girl who listened to me play Josh Groban and Brooke Fraser sat down to play after I finished.

Piano 22: Central Park: Dana Discovery Center
Got back on the 1 train, and it turned out it was going express to 96th Street, which worked to my advantage. At 96th, I transferred to the uptown 3 train and got off at 110th. Based on the Google map posted the Street Pianos website, I walked west after entering Central Park. I searched and searched for the piano. Based on pictures, I knew it was by the water, so then I started to circle Harlem Meer. It wasn't until I was halfway around the body of water that I heard the piano and spotted it across the way! It was to the east, not the west. I kept walking around Harlem Meer, but wow, it took much longer than I expected. If only the Google map were accurate in the first place...

I may have taken the long way 'round, but at least the view was gorgeous!

When I arrived at the piano, a girl was playing it, and then a mother encouraged her young son to play. He didn't really know how to play, but he was having fun pressing the keys. Then another mother encouraged her son to play, and he knew a short and sweet piece. Very cute. The girl was going to return to the piano, but I asked if I could squeeze in two songs, and she graciously let me do so. I played "Special Two" by Missy Higgins, and after I finished, a man said it was "very nice." For my second song, I played "Arithmetic." I kept my word and got up. Here's a parting shot of the piano, which sounded wonderful, and the actual keys were so smooth to play. (Same with the Riverbank State blue piano -- they were lovely-to-the-touch keys, and I'm not talking about the feel of the keys but the actual playing/pressing of the keys!

Piano 23: Metropolitan Museum (Central Park: Cleopatra's Needle)
After eating my first-ever potato knish for lunch in Central Park, I took a bus down Fifth Avenue to the Met. Luckily, I had done my research on the Street Pianos website and learned that the piano at the Met was actually behind the museum and inside Central Park at a place called Cleopatra's Needle. I'd never heard of this place in Central Park, but it's an Egyptian obelisk. Very cool.

I let the sounds of the piano being played guide me and found my way. It was HOT and sunny, so I stood in the shade of the obelisk while the man before me played. He played a wide variety of songs, including "Maple Leaf Rag" (quite a popular tune for this art project), a fun ditty I didn't recognize, and Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance." He invited everyone to sing along, but I just listened.

I played "Arithmetic" from memory. One woman came up to the piano for my second and final song "Nightminds." After I finished, she said she didn't know the song, so I told her that it was written by Missy Higgins, a singer-songwriter from Australia. She said that my performance was a "spot-on interpretation and genuine." I was -- and still am -- so humbled by her kind words. I stayed to listen to the woman play a little bit, but it really was hot, so I moved on.

Piano 24: Central Park: Bandshell
Took another bus down Fifth Avenue for about 10 blocks and entered Central Park again at 72nd Street for my final Central Park piano at the Bandshell. It's funny, I wasn't quite sure where it was, but then when I looked at a map in the park, I saw that it was just south of Bethesda Fountain, which I've been to several times! I never knew they were so close to each other. I remember the Bandshell from walking in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure last September. Unfortunately, someone stole the bench at this piano. Terrible!

Love the decoration of this piano.

After a couple men experimented with the piano, it was my turn to play. I played "Arithmetic" first, and a guy asked me about the song, so I told him about it. I asked if he played the piano; he said no but that he played the guitar. Next, I played "Grow Old With Me." It was during this song that I discovered one of the E keys wasn't working. Oh well. The guy who asked me about "Arithmetic" asked if I knew any Beethoven. Sadly, I could not honor his request. My third song was "Special Two," and my final song was "Nightminds." While I was playing "Nightminds," a woman came up behind me and started clapping and said, "I've been looking for you!" After I finished, I spoke with her. We didn't know each other, but she was just implying that she'd been wanting to see someone perform on the piano. Her name's Beverly, and she's retired now, but she said she used to work in the costume department under Joseph Papp for the Public Theater, including Shakespeare in the Park. Very cool. We both lamented on the lack of a bench. It was difficult to play standing up. I had to shift my weight to my left leg, so that I could use the pedal with my right, and it got tiring. Beverly didn't play, but we stayed to listen to a pair of men play two duets incredibly well -- professionally well. They came prepared with sheet music, and I even held down the music and turned pages for their second piece. What an honor.

Piano 25: Little Red Square at Bleecker Street and Sixth Avenue
After resting a bit in Central Park, I almost felt like calling it quits for the day, but another part of me felt the need to continue, so I took the local C train from 72nd and Central Park West all the way down to West 4th. And yes, I napped on the train. I found the piano at Little Red Square (never knew it was called that until this project), and there were some women sitting right by it. They didn't move when I played, but they didn't exactly look like they were paying attention either. I played "Arithmetic" followed by a decent attempt at "Anthem" from the musical Chess. It was slightly difficult to hear the piano, but I did OK. After I finished, a man sitting at a bench behind me requested "one more" song, so I played "Nightminds."

This is a picture of a picture of a cat resting on the piano.  It was taped to the piano.

Piano 26: St. Mark's Church
My energy perked back up after playing at Little Red Square. I walked up Sixth Avenue and decided I would turn right onto West 8th Street. As luck would have it, there was a crosstown bus on 8th right as I turned the corner, so I rode it to the stop closest to Astor Place. There was a bit of a crowd there, so I decided to walk to St. Mark's Church. I had to wait a little bit, but it was nice to sit and rest. An elderly woman threw bread on the ground for the pigeons, and when they flocked to the carbs, it reminded me of Piazza San Marco in Venice. How fitting is it that there are pigeons at two places called San Marco / St. Mark's? Finally, the piano freed up, and I played "Arithmetic" and "Nightminds." A few people stopped to listen and then walked away.

The second player after my arrival at St. Mark's Church

I was content after two songs and decided to head farther east...

Piano 27: Tompkins Square Park
Luckily, it didn't take me to long to find the piano in the park. I was worried I wouldn't find it easily. I noticed one of the previous players from St. Mark's Church had just wowed the crowd and got up. People were taking turns, so a little boy played, followed by another man, then another, and then another.

Then, another guy was summoned back to the piano. He was very, very, very good! He could play a lot of popular (as in recognizable) music, including Neil Diamond and Billy Joel. He could play on request, such as songs by Ben Folds. There was a rousing version of "Army" sung by the crowd. If he didn't know a song from memory, he was very good at improvising. I was amazed. A skateboarder in the crowd requested "Imagine," and while the guy didn't truly know it, he was able to get the basic chords down, and he and the skateboarder did an improvised variation based on "Imagine" that transitioned into a sing-along for "Hey Jude." Several more songs were played until the talented guy's fingers started to bleed. He just said that he couldn't do more "glissandos" (I just looked it up, and technically, the plural is glissandi), but colloquially, "glissandos" sounded perfectly right to me! A violinist turned up to play and sing Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues" and "Ring of Fire" while he was accompanied by the popular piano player. A guitarist also stopped by to lend his support. The skateboarder borrowed the guitar, and they played an original song and also an improvised blues jam session. It was so amazing.

Fantastic Four: the pop piano player, the skateboarder, the violinist, the guitarist

I was in no rush and loved all the music. Eventually, the pop player got up from the piano, and it was just the skateboard sitting down on the bench with the borrowed guitar, so someone called out for another player. Some people had noticed that I'd been standing around, so they invited me to sit down. A man behind the fence asked my name. I told him my name and what I was playing. He had been the "emcee" at times, announcing people and sometimes cracking jokes, so he said, "This is Allison. She's playing a song from New Zealand." I began to play "Arithmetic" from memory, and the violinist and skateboarder on guitar were able to jump in and play along with me. I loved every second of it. The violinist had a beautiful quality to his playing, and it made that performance extra special. (There are strings used in Brooke Fraser's original recording of the song.) After I finished (and believe me, I didn't want the song to end with that impromptu band), a man asked if he could play a song. He played "Pinball Wizard" by The Who. A woman in the crowd sang it for us all. I was invited back to the piano to play another song, and I said I didn't know anything else from memory but could play something with sheet music, and people were impressed that I'd brought sheet music with me. Before I started to play again, the woman who sang "Pinball Wizard" asked if I knew "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" by Carole King, and I said no... (Second denied request of the day... so sad.) When I pulled out my Missy Higgins' songbook, a woman behind the fence commented that she'd seen Missy open for Ben Folds. I was at that same concert at Terminal 5! I played "Nightminds" for the crowd. And then it was time for me to go. I walked all the way to Eighth Avenue and 14th Street but not before stopping by Stogo on 2nd Avenue and 10th Street for some delicious mango, non-dairy, frozen goodness. I also walked by Astor Place where I saw the pop piano player waiting to play. I decided that Astor Place would just have to wait. Dinner and rest at home were calling my name.

Total Pianos Played By Borough:
Manhattan: 25 pianos
Queens: 2 pianos