the pianist

I recently met a fellow who graduated from a small liberal arts school in Minnesota who graduated in English Literature and Piano performance. Part of his music degree required participation in an ensemble and because the piano is one of those instruments that stands alone (especially in the classical realm), he was forced to join the choir.

It would seem natural the piano's size would relegate it to a life of solitude, but, as I think about my own experience with the ivories, I cannot help but feel the twinge of melancholy when I think about all the hours spent alone in the practice rooms knowing that I had no fellow orchestra buddies or larger ensemble to which to look forward.

What more, the sheer size of the instrument only highlights the fact the pianist is a slave to his craft. While others can carry their instruments with them, the pianist adapts his schedule to the availability of his instrument. He must go where his master calls--be it to large echoes of concert halls, the soundproof rooms of practice buildings, or the warm confines of a home. No doubt every art demands a degree of solitary confinement, a social sacrifice of sorts. As his reward, the pianist receives the undivided attention of all his listeners; he has no woodwinds or strings or percussion with which to share the stage; his fate rests only to him. Even in the occasional concerto, there he sits front in center; all glory belongs to him.

At the end of the day, the pianist is left only with the voice inside his head that evaluates and re-evaluates, and he is left to return to his place at the piano bench, alone. As he warms up with scales and drills his passages, his mind immersed in the music, other times worlds away. Yet as he plays through the wee hours of the night there still remains a hope that somewhere out there a passerby might stop and listen, and in that moment where each is aware of the other only in spirit, share an intimacy that is all too often lost in individual recognition; it is music belonging to no one but speaking into the hearts of all.