Pop-Up Pianos: Day 13

After work, I took the M104 bus down to 42nd Street and then caught the 7 train to the first stop in Queens. Made my way to Gantry Plaza State Park. I forgot there were two pianos here last year until I saw the park. Nobody was playing the piano when I arrived. In fact, the lid was closed. I sat down to play "Arithmetic" and at the end of the song, a little girl came up to me and smiled. I asked her if she wanted to play, and she nodded yes, so I said, "Go for it!" I got up and ate my dinner (free falafel rice platter -- heh heh, it pays to be loyal). When I finished (and when she finished), I returned to the piano and started to play "Awake." Another little girl came up to the piano and smiled, so I smiled back at her. I finished the song, and the first little girl wanted to play again, so I got up and enjoyed the slowly setting sun, breeze, and view.

After taking these pictures, I sat back down at the piano one last time but for three more songs: "Shadowfeet," "Nightminds," and "Gravity."  A few people clapped softly after I played "Shadowfeet," and even though the piano was slightly out of tune, I couldn't resist playing "Gravity."  I contemplated playing one more, but "Gravity" is definitely a finale song for me.  It can't be topped.

On a final note for the day, I suppose I could leave this for my final entry, but I've been reflecting on the places I've visited over the past two weeks.  At some places, I definitely felt like a fish out of water.  Some places have kept me on my toes (ahem, Columbus Park, ahem).  Other places like Gantry Plaza State Park?  Totally belong.

Pop-Up Pianos: Day 12 in Pictures

Piano #40: Knowing that I would set a new personal record for unique pianos played, I knew Harlem Art Park had to be #40!  After two failed attempts to play this piano last year (either the piano or the park was locked), I was finally able to play at this location!

#41: Central Park - Dana Discover Center.  I was happy to see the piano when I arrived.  Nobody was playing, so I took off the blue tarp and began to play.  Just by looking at the piano, I could tell some keys were in bad shape.  Poor piano.  I guess the repairs weren't enough.  I was fortunate to have an active "audience of one."  After I played "Arithmetic," I had a little chat with the guy who was standing to my right and a little behind me.  I asked him if he wanted to play, but he just said he wanted to listen and asked me about my piano training and how long I'd been singing.  It's funny -- I was not a good piano student, and I haven't had voice lessons.  I just love both on an amateur level.  I was hesitant on which song to play next but eventually settled on "Nightminds."  Unfortunately, the ending -- my favorite part of the song -- suffered from the keys that were broken.  Oh well!  I wish that someone played the piano after me, if only to hear once again how the sound carries so well over Harlem Meer, but alas, no one did.

Pop-Up Pianos: Day 11 in Pictures

Piano #36: Times Square - Broadway between 45th and 46th

Piano #37: Times Square - Broadway and 42nd

Note: I did not take any pictures of Piano #38 and frankly have no desire to return there due to the crazy nature of what transpired.  I'm not going to go into details, but it was rudeness personified, and I chose my safety above anything else.  I am happy that I got to listen to two amazing pianists before my brief time on the piano and speak to a couple of European tourists while we listened to those pianists.  But most of all, I am thrilled that I didn't let #38 be my last piano of the day...

Piano #39: Tompkins Square Park.  The piano was in tune, so I played and sang "Gravity."  A man stood to my right a few feet away from the piano to listen.  After I finished he complimented me and asked who wrote the song, so I showed him the cover of the piano book and talked about Sara Bareilles.  I asked him if he played the piano, and he said that he played the trumpet but wished he could play.  I thanked him for listening and made my way home.  This piano marks a tie with the number of unique pianos played in 2010, which means I'm set to break my personal record with the next piano I play!

Pop-Up Pianos: Day 10 in Pictures

Piano #34: New York Public Library/Bryant Park

The piano sounded pretty good listening to other people play.  While I was playing, I found it difficult to hear with the traffic going by.

Piano #35: Greeley Square. Hello Miss Piano decorated by Isaac Mizrahi.

Pop-Up Pianos: Day 9 in Pictures

Piano #27: Battery Park.  The boy in the blue T-shirt played "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" before me, and his father offered to take pictures.

The keys were a little trippy to look at while playing, so I didn't look when possible!

Piano #28: Stone Street.  This Yamaha is decorated with 30,000 rhinestones!

Piano #29: Tappen Park on Staten Island.  Sadly a little out of tune, but of course, I played anyway!  When I was playing "Awake," a little girl came up to me and asked me about my sheet music.  At least, I think she did.  She asked, "Are you following that?"  So I explained to her that yes, I was reading the music so that I could play.  I asked her if she wanted to play and invited her to sit down but she smiled and ran away.  I finished playing "Awake" and then headed back to the railway station.

Close-up of the painting on top of the piano.

Piano #30:  Richmond County Bank Park aka Ballpark at St. George aka Staten Island Yankees Stadium.  People were waiting around the stadium for the game to start.  While I was playing, a musician practiced the National Anthem and another singer practiced "God Bless America."  I stopped to listen to each, and of course plunked out the continuing notes when they stopped their sound checks!

Despite the fact that the piano was out of tune, I have come to the conclusion that I really like Wurlitzer upright pianos.  :)

Piano #31: St. George Ferry Terminal.  This baby grand could've used a tuning, too.  I found it amusing that the pedal sounded like geese honking.  It made my attempt to play a sad song quite humorous.  To me, at least.  :)  Lesson learned in Staten Island?  Do not play "Gravity" when the piano is out of tune.

Piano #32: McCarren Park.  This is definitely one of my favorite pianos this year.  I love artwork, the piano's sound, and the location.  Two thumbs way up for Sohmer & Co.  They rival my new love for Wurlitzers.  

The name of this piano is called Windows, and in the artist's own words:  "Windows represents the intertwined importance and unique influence of each individual's contribution to the community that is NYC."  Brilliant!

Piano #33: Alexa joined me at my final piano of the day -- East River State Park.  

I didn't fully appreciate the view while I was playing the piano, so I'm glad Alexa took this picture!

Pop-Up Pianos: Day 8 in Pictures

Piano #19: Van Cortlandt Park.  Decorated by BD Wong.

Another shot of Piano #19.  I took this picture while I was waiting to play.  The keys were a bit challenging to press on this piano.

Piano #20: Highbridge Park!  This time, the piano was unlocked!  The sun was out in full force, so I only played two songs here, "Arithmetic" and "Awake."

Ray Charles

Piano #21: St. Nicholas Park.

Piano #22: Cathedral of St. John the Divine.  The highlight was playing "Gravity" for a few cyclists who stopped to listen while I played and sang.  I was so happy with my performance that I decided not to play any more songs at this piano after "Gravity."

Piano #23: Central Park - Bandshell.  After stopping at the Dana Discovery Center  (only to discover that the piano had been taken away without warning last night supposedly for repair), I made my way down to this piano.  There was an event going on, so there were lots of people, and there was even a band playing, but that didn't stop people from playing the pop-up piano!

Pink gorilla!  This piano had a beautiful sound.  Despite the background noise of the event, I could still tell.  If I have time, I'll try to return to this piano.

Piano #24: Riverside Park.  Last year, there were two pianos here and people took turns playing the pianos.  This year, even with only one piano, the tradition of turn-taking held up!  This woman played and sang an awesome medley!

This girl played "Here Comes the Sun."

On the way to Roosevelt Island for the first time!

Piano #25: Roosevelt Island.  This man let me play right after he finished up his  song -- I'm not sure how long he'd been there before I got there, but he could sense that I was ready to play.  When I played, a black and orange butterfly landed on the piano, and that made me very happy.  After I finished playing, this man and I compared notes on our piano experiences.  He had played 20 pianos and told me which pianos were a little funky or great in Staten Island and Brooklyn, and I told him my appreciation for the Jackie Robinson Recreation Center.  We both raved about the baby grand at Rubenstein Atrium!

Piano #26: Carl Schurz Park.  It took a while to find this piano!

Surprisingly, the piano was a little out of tune and the keys were a bit sticky to the touch, but I played three songs anyway.  :)

Pop-Up Pianos: Day 7 in Pictures

Piano #17: Rufus King Park in Queens

Close-up of the keys

Piano #18: AirTrain Terminal, Queens.  This baby grand is decorated with one continuous line!

Pop-Up Pianos: Day 6

Well, well! Since I have a three-day weekend ahead of me, tonight I'm doing a proper blog write-up, as opposed to using and abusing the caption feature. After having no desire to leaving my office building during the work day because of the rain, I perked up when I saw a Facebook update from Sing for Hope that the rain had stopped (yeah, I couldn't just look outside the window?) and that it was the perfect time to play.

Not really sure of where I wanted to play (I haven't been to the obvious places like Times Square yet), I browsed the Pop-Up Pianos website and formed a plan that I would eventually need to end up at a non-piano place, Cocoa V, to use my Groupon, which expires on Saturday. So I chose Little Red Square, which is located at Sixth Avenue and Bleecker Street. They had a piano there last year, so I knew where to go. The blue tarp was covering the piano when I arrived, but luckily I uncovered an unlocked piano. Phew! I started off with "Arithmetic" and then took out my songbook for Missy Higgins' The Sound of White, but when I started to play "Nightminds," the wind kept blowing the pages, so I had to stop and dig out more books to hold it down.  I was interrupted by a guy who asked about the pianos, and I told him it was open to the public and that I was just playing until it started raining again (the clouds looked ominous at the time).  He asked if his friend could play for a couple minutes while he took pictures.  I said sure and let them do their thing, and then they were on their way.

Songbook secured by two others, I played "Nightminds" without a hitch.  In my peripheral vision, I noticed that a woman with a stroller was standing and possibly listening to me.  And another woman in my line of vision straight ahead was standing several feet away, also possibly listening to me.  Or, she could have been observing a one-sided argument from a man and a woman sitting on a bench.  The woman was doing all the shouting.  While I was playing, I was thinking, "Do they have to do that here?"  Anyway... she eventually stopped shouting.  Or maybe it wasn't a one-sided argument... she could have been venting frustrations.  It was weird but very New York-y.

Next up, I played "The Sound of White," and finally, I played a song that I have been wanting to cover (as in, record myself playing on a video) for months.  I gave up on that because every single time I try to do the recording in one take, I manage to mess up something.  That song is "Shadowfeet" by Brooke Fraser.  I haven't been practicing it lately but decided to just go for it. Had a blast in all my imperfection.  After I finished, I stood up and smiled at the woman with the stroller.  Her two little ones were standing around and playing.  I asked the younger daughter if she wanted to play, but she wasn't interested, so I covered up the piano.  The woman said she enjoyed listening to me, and I thanked her.  Yay, Little Red Square!

Piano #15: Little Red Square

I love the smiley-faced notes.

As I was walking north on Sixth Avenue, I was thinking of heading straight to Cocoa V. After all, I had a long day at work, I was carrying a way-too-heavy tote bag, and I was getting hungry. By the time I reached West 4th, I put all that aside and thought to myself, "I could walk to Astor Place." And when I reached West 8th, I thought, "Yeah, I'm definitely not walking. But I could take the bus!" Five short minutes later, that's exactly what I did!

When I reached Astor Place, however, the tarp-covered piano was LOCKED! I was so disappointed. However, the social media team at Sing for Hope is amazing, and they let me know that if I ever came across a locked piano that they could help me out. So I tweeted them, and they did not let me down! I unlocked the piano and was thrilled to play. After "Arithmetic," there was no doubt in my mind what my next song would be. This was the site last year where I got a specific request to play "The Special Two," so I gave a repeat performance to no one in particular, but it turned out that people must've liked it because they gave me money! That was not expected. Seriously. My tote bag is for carrying my sheet music, but one man and one woman slipped money into my tote bag!  I am an unofficial busker. (Hehehe, using the word "busker" makes me want to watch the movie Once.) My final song at Astor Place was "The Sound of White" -- I probably shouldn't have played it because a crucial G key was not working, but people stuck around to listen. They helped me cover the piano back up after I finished. :)

Piano #16: Astor Place

Musically satisfied for the night, I made my way to Cocoa V and got some delicious vegan cupcakes. So good!