MY APOLOGIES TO EVERYBODY, BUT THIS IS NECESSARILY LONG John-- On the 19th, you wrote, "Half way through the piece I saw a tear drop down from her cheek, from that point, I lost it and teared-up as well. By the end of the piece, she stood up from the piano and was completely incapable of voicing any words and just sobbed...." This incident was not only moving to hear, but "struck a chord" in my own psyche: "Hey, I've been there!" I wanted to share my own experiences -- there are two -- with you and the group. As an introduction, you should know that at one time I was a fairly good pianist, as well as having played organ for about a decade, as well as learning harpsichord. These incidents took place in the middle '60s, while I was associated with the Tape Music Center along with Henry Jacobs, Ramon Sender and that lot. I also became involved through my girlfriend -- soon to be my wife -- with the SF Concervatory of Music crowd (my girlfriend was preparing for her degree in viola). One evening we were invited to a musical party, with mostly Conservatory folks. During the party most of the conversation was politics and infighting, and a mutual friend (also a pianist) and I wandered away in search of a piano to play. We found a nice upright in a back room and played stuff at each other until I had the inspiration, "Let's do a play-off: stick anything in front of me by Mozart or Beethoven and I'll play it at sight." [I was cheating a little: I cannot memorize, ONLY read music.] The next day, after sobering up, my piano friend told me that I "won" only because the concert-grade player at the party was too drunk to play. FIRST EPIPHANY My wife and I were invited to a musical party by one of her friends, who thought we might put together some chamber music for the evening; "play for our supper", to coin a phtase. Over the next day or so we discussed what music to play, and whom as players to invite. The music was to be a Mozart quartet (the hostess, violin, had the sheet music) and I chose one of the Brahms Piano quintets. My wife would play viola, and I badgered two of my engineering colleagues at work to take cello and second viloin. [My friend who agreed to do violin was German, and said he had never played in a group before but was willing to try.] I cheated again in this incident -- but only a little -- since I had suggested the Brahms I also had to buy the music as well as (cheat) learn how to play it in less than a month. At the party, we started with the Brahms, which, after a few adjustments and repeats, wnet pretty well. Then I retired from the piano, and the group set up to do the Mozart, a Late quartet. [I am embarrassed to say that, even though I have since purchased recordingd of the Quartets, I cannot find the one to which I refer.] The first sections went very well, with only some intonation problems to be corrected. Then came this long, slow movement; long, melancholy, and intense. [I know at one point my hair stood on end.] After the final chord faded away nobody said a word; we just sat and stared at each other. Because something other than music had happened: this amateur group had CONJURED MOZART'S GHOST. Those musical tones had created something in the room, very like the Tibetan monks or that group of indigenous Brazilians who use music for medical therapy. After about 20 seconds I broke the spell, and quietly said, "I don't believe what I just heard; could you please play that again?" SECOND EPIPHANY My own musical experience, which your original post reminded me of, was during my first contact with a new piano (which I bought). A friend of my girlfriend called her with dire news: her husband had divorced her, she was running out of money, and can you find someone to buy my piano? Well, we were always glad to help and pass on information to the Conservatory crowd, so I said "Sure, why don't I go over?" The piano was in her Market Street storefront dwelling, which had 18' ceilings and an uncarpeted concrete floor. [You should know, that until this time, most of my practicing as well as playing experience had been on two very good uprights -- which I stil have -- and now and then the heavy-action 9' Baldwin at the KPFA studios.] This was an almost new Yamaha CF (no. 107500, I remember well)! Since this woman was a pianist as well being an artist in other media, her husband had bought the thing as a wedding present. Local myth has it that this instrument was the first CF imported into California; I can well believe it. Anyhow, under my touch it sounded and felt fantastic. ALL the nuances in dynamics, phrasing, and pedalling that I had spent years working on I could really HEAR for the first time! I know I said to myself, "S---, I'm better than I thought!" I reported this back to my girlfriend, and said to the other pianist who was there at the time, "I need your opinion on this; would you have time to check it out for me?" He returned about two hours later ranting. To demonstrate the dynamics he began on the floor, then stood on a chair, and finished on top of the kitchen table. He could NOT reach the maximum output of the piano! Needless to say, I bought it. I've edited down as much as I could, leaving out some good stuff, but I hope evrybody who reads this gets the picture. Nice sharing with you. Cheers, Dave Talcott Lurker
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