Sing for Hope Pianos: Days 15 and 16

Hello there! I really don't know why I keep saying hello with each new Sing for Hope piano blog, but it's just become routine now. Today is Tuesday, June 24th, and I am happy to report that I wrote down quite a bit of my experiences when they were happening on Day 16, not only on my iPod Touch but also on 750words.com. Mainly, I'll just add captions to the photos, but I'll fill in a few stories here and there.

Day 15: I didn't play any unique pianos on this day, as I had already established a new personal record on Day 14 and will, of course, want to beat my personal best in 2014.  Instead, I did one final check on the piano in my neighborhood that morning and played one song from my core trio (yes, the song that I haven't revealed) and Lullaby for Eliana. The piano was scheduled for pick-up that afternoon, but I went home to rest and relax, as piano buddies weren't required to be present for the delivery or pick-up of the pianos.

Day 16: I had checked social media that morning and saw posts from Sing for Hope that people were already playing the pianos! Very exciting! I went down to Lincoln Center at noon for the beginning of the Sing for Hope concert.  There would be performances every hour.  When I arrived, I was overwhelmed with joy.  Talk about piano heaven! It was so much fun!

First sight of the pianos at Lincoln Center!

This piano reminded me of Minnie Mouse.  I can't remember if I played it.  Someone had just put a stack of "Art For All" cards at the piano when I took a picture.

Got to play this piano.

And this one.

I like that this photo captured the word "HOPE." (Click on the image to see a larger version.)

New "Guy" in the cast of Once.

New "Girl" in the cast of Once.

Yes! The keys recovered from the rain! Also, I didn't notice them before, but the words written on the side are "hope" in different languages.

Put lots of birds on it.

Another bird. (There's another bird on the other side, too.)

I don't think I played this piano, but that's okay!

Piano buddy reunited with her piano AND the temporary music rack from the piano at Morningside Park! Perfect combo.

This couple visited all 88 piano locations.  Major props to them. I was too shy to say hello!

Yep, played this one.  Actually, I might've played it twice, haha.

When Once the Musical was performing, I couldn't help myself.  I initially wanted to film the pianos, and then I thought, "Ooh, 7 minutes in heaven would be cool."  Well, I ended up filming 8+ minutes in heaven. Haha, bonus minute. Bonus pianos! Oh, I kind of wish I had more songs to play, but whatever!  I properly played the piano that was in Tompkins Square Park. I played Central Park Cherry Hill. I played pianos I hadn't even seen or recognized from the Sing for Hope website.

Here is the 8 Minutes in Piano Heaven video, and yes, Gothamist.com included it in their coverage of the Sing for Hope pianos. I captured the "atmosphere of Lincoln Center."


After Once finished performing, that's when I played several pianos, and it was sunny and HOT.  When I sat down to play the mermaid piano, Erin (the community coordinator of the project) and I spotted each other and we smiled hello. She listened to me play "All Fall Down" by Anna Nalick. I'm glad she stuck around because I had the chance to congratulate her and tell her my impression of piano heaven and the perfect reunion of all the pianos. She said she was overwhelmed when she saw all the pianos together at 8 o'clock that morning. Erin asked me if I was going to be among the pianists participating in the finale. I answered no, but I asked her if they still needed players, and she said yes! She went to check with the coordinator of the finale and then told me to check in at the table by Avery Fisher Hall at 6 o'clock.  I knew it was going to be Bach's Prelude in C.  Sing for Hope had a party at their piano studio with all 88 pianos, and that was the piece that people played in unison.  I neither volunteered nor attended that party, but I ended up downloading/printing Prelude in C for free.

I played a little bit more and watched the second concert pianist talk and play.  But then I got hungry and sweaty and decided I needed cool down and eat lunch.  So, I decided to get falafel again from my "go to" cart at Lincoln Triangle, and then I went home to rest and practice Prelude in C.

The mermaid piano.

Back of the mermaid piano.

I can't remember if I played this piano, but I liked the quote by the artist.

Hello, Piano! I finally played it, and the keys were just fine!

Oops, I forgot to look for all 10.  I think I saw maybe 5.

I put my water bottle there.

Love it.

This piano would become significant to me later.

Play on, Playa!

I played this piano standing up, and when I finished a woman joked, "Guess you have to bring your own bench!"

The concert pianist who performed in the 1 o'clock hour.

After resting at home, writing on 750words.com, and practicing Prelude in C to perfection, I was ready to return to Lincoln Center. I arrived sometime between 5:30 and 6, I think, and what struck me was how much louder it was. Lots more people were playing! I took more photos of pianos I hadn't seen.

Yay, got to play it.

Played it.

Played it! (Oh, and I ended up seeing this girl play several pianos.  Piano Hoppers unite!)

Didn't play it, but loved looking at the piano!

I wrote about meeting this woman below if you're interested in that story...

Got to take a proper picture of the young girl growing up!

When it got close to 6 PM, I stood in line to check in with the finale coordinator, and two people behind me remarked that it was like having 88 simultaneous concerts, with applause bursting every 5 seconds. And though I didn't engage in a conversation with them, I totally agreed with that description. When I checked in, my name wasn't on any list, but my name was taken down, and I was assigned piano #41. All the pianos had been assigned a number on a sticker. It took me a while to find my piano, and I got excited when I thought I was going to get Opus the Octopus, but I got the purple baby grand from the AirTrain Terminal in Queens. Not bad, not bad! I still had an hour to kill, so I decided to wander some more, but then I looked at the sheet music that the coordinator gave me versus my own print-out, and it turns out, my print-out had a measure missing! I asked the coordinator for a writing utensil, so I could use the sheet music and fingering notes I was familiar with instead of the new sheet music. I sat down at the piano I looked out for as a piano buddy to add the measure to my copy, and people took pictures of me doing that. I may never see those pictures, haha, but I hope to.

When it was getting close to 7 o'clock, I took my place at the purple piano to get ready. The sun was shining right in my face, so I set up a little makeshift fort with my binder full of sheet music. I used my water bottle, Flip camera stand, cell phone, and camera to hold the sheet music down on the piano. (There was no music rack available for my piano.)

Fort Purple Piano. I removed my coconut water after taking this picture but then didn't take another picture.  Oh well!

Around 7:08 PM, it was time for our performance in unison. I was a big ball of energy. Here's the performance... I'll describe it after you watch.


Okay. Let's get this out of the way: I did mess up at least 2-3 times.  In fact you can see me smile just after the 2-minute mark when I do. But what I will most remember about this performance was how amazing it felt to be there and be part of something bigger than myself. When we all started, it felt as if time slowed down, and the swirl of energy of the audience milling about the different pianos was really calming. I had an amazing time. You may wonder why I moved so much during the performance. Well, I didn't realize I did move so much until I watched myself back on the recording. I have a few things to say: 1) I couldn't hear my own piano very well, so I relied on the beautiful players behind me to help keep me in time, and 2) the soft pedal wasn't working, and this piece's dynamics range from pianissimo to forte, so I unconsciously moved to the various dynamics of the piece. I really admire how still the woman playing the piano behind me was.

You'll also hear cheers before some of my fellow players and I finished playing. I believe whoever finished early had the same version of that downloadable Prelude in C with that missing measure. Watch again, and you'll see me raise me eyebrow in a little surprise. :)

Following that wonderful finale, I played and listened to others for two more hours. When I walked by the PLAY ME, PLAYA piano, a woman was playing and singing "A Thousand Years." It's so funny; I know this song as covered by The Piano Guys more than I know the original, so I couldn't sing along with her because The Piano Guys' beautiful version is instrumental only! The woman had a really good collection sheet music including "Brave" by Sara Bareilles. I asked her if she knew "Brave" by Josh Groban, and she said she didn't have the sheet music. But that's not what I meant. Anyway, she played and sang and when she got to the refrain, I sang Josh's "Brave" refrain, and I loved doing that. I don't know if it falls under the definition of a mash-up, but whatever it is, I love it! Maybe one of these days, I'll record what I'm talking about. Maybe.

As I kept making my piano rounds, I bumped into a the same person 4 times. First time, she was playing while I was taking pictures of this cool baby grand with lots of educational information about the piano, music, and the ears (see photos above). Second time, she offered to take my picture before the finale performance at the purple piano. Third time, she remarked to me in passing that she kept seeing new pianos she hadn't seen before and thus had to play them! And I'll get to the fourth time in just a few more paragraphs... but first, more pictures!

See?  Piano Hopper again!

I don't think I played this piano, but of course, I had to take a picture.

Didn't play this one either, but I loved the reflection of the keys, and this boys' hands moved SO fast.

Played this one.

Played the one on the left! (And the blue one on the right is from Old Stone House.)

I got to play Opus the Octopus again, and that piano was still sounding wonderful. Yes, my favorite piano from 2013. I still didn't feel like my piano journey was done, so I wandered to a piano I hadn't played before.

Opus the Octopus at Lincoln Center -- it was meant to be.

At Girlometry's piano (see below), I felt that my voice was sufficiently warmed up, so I finally sang "All Fall Down" for the first time in public, while playing the accompaniment in the left hand. I saw a woman standing near the piano. I'm not sure if she was listening to me or someone else, but it didn't matter. I sang it for myself, and I had a wonderful time.

Didn't realize I had taken two pictures of this piano until I got home and downloaded them all!

It was getting darker, but I still wasn't ready for the night to end quite yet. I stopped to listen a guy play "Rhapsody in Blue" and yet another man play "Everlasting Love" (think Gloria Estefan's version for the tempo & energy).

At last, I was able to look at a piano that was always occupied each time I walked by it. And I pulled away the bench so I could read the words: JOURNEY TO GREATNESS. And as I took pictures I saw the woman for the fourth time. We finally introduced ourselves to other, and she said her name was Maryann. I told her that I had yet to play that piano, and she insisted that I must. So I sat down to play and sing the unrevealed song from my core trio, and a man stood close to the piano to listen and Maryann leaned in, too. The piano was right by the water fountain. And then, Maryann got the hang of the key I was in and added impromptu notes for a duet! It was great! After we finished, the man asked if we knew each other, and we laughed & said, "Only from seeing each other today!" We talked about the pianos' two weeks on the streets and how this was the first time all 88 pianos were reunited in Lincoln Center. The man remarked how great it was to wander around and listen to many different styles, and I agreed. The three of us parted ways, and I wandered around to listen to a few more pianos.

My piano journey had come to an end, and it wasn't a journey to greatness. It was a journey OF greatness.

Note #1: You may still be wondering... what is the third song from my core trio? I'll tell you that I didn't get a "perfect" recording of it, but I always dedicated each performance of it to my adopted sea lion Dewey. One day, I will record it, most likely on my piano keyboard at home. And when it's ready, I'll certainly share it. I have come to realize that I need 6 months to a year to comfortably inhabit a song, and I've only had since February with this song, and that included the time it took to figure out how to play it.

Note #2: Thank you, Sing for Hope! Thank you, my fellow New Yorkers! Thank YOU for reading and watching and putting up with my camera happiness!

What will 2014 bring? I can't wait. I will be ready to open the door.