Sing for Hope Pianos: Day 6

Hello. It's Wednesday, June 19th, which means I am now writing about my piano experiences that took place about two weeks ago. These pictures are great reminders of the experiences I had.

It was another rainy day, but I took my chances heading to Queens during a lull in the rain that evening after work. I also knew that the piano at the JFK AirTrain Terminal in Jamaica was indoors, so I could play at least one piano in the event of more rain. And as luck would have it, I was able to play two.

Piano #19: Rufus King Park. I decided to check out the piano decorated by the Sing for Hope staff. It was covered with its tarp, but kids were exploring the keys when I arrived. I stood and listened to them. Then another set of kids played. They're in the 3rd and 4th pictures below. I held the tarp up for them so they could play with both hands.

After a while, two older boys (maybe late elementary school or early middle school) came over to the piano and they started asking me questions. It was a fun interview. I told them that I was a piano buddy for a piano in my neighborhood and was going around all five boroughs to play as many pianos as I could. They asked if I could play something for them, so I did. I only played partial songs because they wanted to hear a variety. When I told them that one of the songwriters is from New Zealand, their eyes widened as they contemplated how far away that is from here. When they left (it was getting cold, and they were wearing shorts and T-shirts), I played two more songs and then left the park.

Gazebo at Rufus King Park

Underneath the tarp.

One piano, six hands. Though we didn't speak any words to each other,  we let music and smiles do the talking.  The little guy closest to me enjoyed running back and forth from his dad to the piano and smiling at me.

Not quite tall enough to reach the pedal.

Piano #20: JFK AirTrain Terminal. From Rufus King Park, I walked to the AirTrain Terminal. When I arrived, I assumed that the piano would be in the same spot as 2011 (on the ground floor), but it was nowhere to be found. I panicked but then took the escalator up to the second floor and spotted the piano. Phew. Nobody was playing, so I sat down and started to play my core trio. I couldn't hear the piano very well. The lid was closed, and there were lots of people talking at the food court to my left. But I played and sang anyway. During "Arithmetic," a man pushing his son in a stroller said to me, "I know that song!" He stopped to listen. I asked him if he knew how to play, and he said he did growing up but didn't want to embarrass himself. He said he'd teach his son how to play though. I played one final song and a member of the cleaning staff stood by the piano for a little bit. After I got up to take pictures and leave, he asked me to play more, but I let him know I only had three songs memorized. Ha, okay, I have four memorized, but it didn't cross my mind at the time and also I was getting really hungry and was ready to make my way back to Manhattan for dinner, which if memory serves me, was another black bean & mushroom burger. ;)

This year, the piano was located on the second floor, in between the food court and entrance to the AirTrain.

"Reflections of a Grand Metropolis" from the other side of the piano.

An appropriate backdrop for this piano.