Sing for Hope Pianos: Day 3

Well hello!  It is Saturday, June 15th, and after 14 days of playing pianos (okay, actually 13), I'm resting today.  Actually, the pianos are being de-installed throughout the day for tomorrow's 88-piano finale event at Lincoln Center.  So, after catching up on some TV and watching a movie today, I'm ready to blog more about this year's piano journey!

The night of June 2nd, after checking the weather forecast online, I went downtown at night to run an errand.  I thought I'd return in time to cover the piano before the rain began. Nope. When I emerged from the subway in my neighborhood, I could tell right away that it had already lightly rained. It smelled like rain. I raced to the piano as fast as I could, and I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw it covered! Yes! My community rocks. I returned to secure the tarp a little better, but I am grateful that someone else cared about the piano and made sure that it stayed dry.

Piano #11: Tompkins Square Park. On Monday, June 3rd, I set out thinking I could play two pianos and get dinner from The Cinnamon Snail in Union Square before service ended at 8 PM, but I was one for three. As I passed by Astor Place, a man was playing the piano, so I kept walking east to Tompkins Square Park. I forgot that there were several avenues between Astor Place and Tompkins Square Park, but I walked the entire distance.

I found this year's piano in its usual Tompkins Square Park location. A tarp was covering it, but since it wasn't raining, I took the tarp off and opened the lid. I was startled to see that the keys were already in such bad shape. I played the chromatic scale, but a lot of the white keys weren't working. My mind immediately assumed that the piano had been vandalized. However, when I let Sing for Hope know, they asked if it was water damage. I still didn't think that was the case, but later that night I googled videos and pictures of water damaged pianos. Ohhh... it made sense now. I had assumed that the tarp had covered the piano before the rain, but I guess that wasn't the case.  Anyway, I hope the piano has recovered or can be repaired.  I'll have to check it out at Lincoln Center on Sunday.

Love the design by students from P.S. 34, especially the #2 pencil legs.  :)

After visiting the piano at Tompkins Square Park, I walked the long avenues back to Astor Place, and I believe Jimmy McMillan aka "The Rent Is Too Damn High" guy loudly told me from his parked car to stop walking in the street. There was no oncoming traffic, and I was bypassing slower-walking pedestrians. I smiled at him and continued walking.

By the time I made it back to Astor Place, the piano had been covered with its tarp and secured with ties. A man looked at me as I inspected the tarp. Though it wasn't raining, I didn't want to cause any trouble, so I made my way to the Barnes & Noble in Union Square to use the restroom (haha, when you have to stay hydrated, then well... you also have to go). When I made my way up to the 3rd floor, I could hear beautiful music from the 4th floor performance area. After using the restroom, I decided to check out what was going on upstairs, and it turned out that a middle school was performing Once On This Island! They sounded great. Watch out for the girl playing Ti Moune. She sounded amazing.

I stayed longer at Barnes & Noble than I anticipated and ended up missing The Cinnamon Snail's dinner service. It would all work out fine though. Stay tuned...