Posted on 12/15/2017 12:14:02 PM PST by SandRat
I love piano, it’s my favorite instrument. I was lucky enough to spend my formative years with a beautiful piano in our small Los Angeles apartment.
I took lessons for a while. Although I had the ear and eye for music, I didn’t have the pinkies.
To this day, skillfully crafted and executed piano solos bring me to tears. I have four separate Pandora stations featuring piano. Like I said, I love piano.
While the household piano was fairly commonplace in middleclass homes decades ago, few modern homes house the magnificent instrument. Weighing hundreds of pounds — if not tons — pianos are difficult to move and maintain.
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Best handled by professionals, keeping a piano tuned and arranging its transport between homes proves too much for today’s ever-evolving families who are more likely to change addresses multiple times.
Perhaps it was one such family that decided to donate their piano to a Goodwill thrift store in Norwalk, Ohio.
Given the previously mentioned maintenance requirements, I’d imagine that the piano has been sitting in the store for quite some time.
A typical household wouldn’t want to take on the expense. On the other hand, an organization in need with a savvy shopper could probably get a great deal on the intricate instrument.
With Christmas right around the corner and the holiday season in full swing, stores across the globe are filled with patrons looking for the perfect gifts for their loved ones. If they can do so and save a little cash by thrifting, even better.
On Dec. 12, a man shopping in the Norwalk Goodwill spied a gorgeous piano on the sales floor.
Dressed in jeans, sneakers, and a plaid winter coat, he didn’t exactly stand out. No one was prepared for what was about to happen.
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With astounding skill, the man sat down and played “Alley Cat,” a classic piano piece made famous by composer Bent Fabric. Most of us remember the piece from old movies, self-playing pianos, and perhaps as the music to one of our early dance or music recital pieces.
A beautiful piece in its own right, this man put his own style on it by speeding up the tempo and adding quite a few stylistic flairs.
Performed masterfully, prodigies in their prime wouldn’t be able to keep up with the older gentleman’s passionate rendition.
The piece exuded joy with every keystroke. In the video, patrons can be seen lingering in the background likely equally floored by the casual man’s storefront performance.
The store owner was even moved to tears while recording.
By the end of the video, I wanted someone to purchase the piano to leave it right there so that the man could come back and brighten people’s day on the regular. Particularly now when shopping days grow as short as tempers, delightful performance art can turn anyone’s mood around.
“has woman in tears”
He couldn’t suck that bad.
We have a 1927 Kimball player piano in perfect condition. Beautiful condition. I don’t know whether we could give it away.
It’s like my last boxing match.
I climbed into the ring and took of my robe.
Men screamed and women fainted.
I’d forgot my trunks.
Tip of the hat to Red Skelton.
He looks my age!
“We have a 1927 Kimball player piano in perfect condition”
You mean it stays in tune pretty good, the action works ok, the notes sound (hammers and soundboard) us ok)?
If so it’s hard to believe you can’t get money for it. Maybe the “player” aspect reduces interest in it.
What is a piano doing in a Home Depot store?
Re-read, slowly
Alley Cat was one of the first songs I learned when I was taking piano lessons as a kid. I never was very good, but I have always loved piano music.
When I had my own children, we bought a used piano, because I thought it was important to have it around for the kids to experiment with. Only one took lessons, and those were short-lived. Still, that instrument graced our home until we moved. It wasn’t worth selling, because it wasn’t in very good condition and couldn’t be tuned all the way.
So we partnered with a neighbor a block or two away, and split the moving charge. He was in a band, and was bringing his own kids up with that same love of music. It made us happy that it had a loving new home.
Does the player still work?
My wife has a piano just like that.
That happened in San Francisco at Rincon Center, huge atrium with a waterfall in the eating area and a wonderful piano in the middle, guy walks in during the lunch hour in tenni-shoes, hooded sweats and bouncing a basket ball, sits down and starts pouring out Chopin, everyone stopped eating and they place went quite except the waterfall and piano
I tried the street musician thing but it seems our Cul-de-sac isn’t big on the arts.
I live in Houston near the bayou. Hundreds of homes near me flooded due to the hurricane.
They put all their ruined stuff on the curb.
A city truck with a big claw would come by a scoop it all up after a while.
I drove past those piles every day for a month before they were cleaned up. Those piles represented people’s lives and dreams. Lots of beds, cabinetry, drywall, and armoires.
It was sad.
But the saddest sight, besides all the children’s stuff like bassinets and toys, were all the pianos ruined by the flood, just sitting there on the curb, waiting to be picked up by the claw.
It was a tragedy. Others say “meh”, but I say “tragedy”.
old buddy in SF played SAX at the end of the cable car stop at the bay, knew 6 songs, a good day he made $500 cash, bad day $200 - this was in the 1980s
Perfect question. My father in law put an electric motor on it years ago and damaged the bellows but my husband son have a plan to fix it. The son is a professional musician and really wants the piano. In the meantime it plays beautifully and is a nice piece of furniture. Over Christmas they are going to move it out to my husband’s shop. haha. Glad its not mine. I’m learning to play banjo.
“What is a piano doing in a Home Depot store?”
Trying to meet another attractive piano to spend the evening with?
When my wife and were dating 42yrs ago I went to a Christmas eve dinner at one of her aunt’s house. They had an old player piano that worked beautifully. Plus they had to be 50 rolls. Man it was a lot of fun to play, until I got on everybody’s nerves and made me quit!
We have at least 50 rolls but I’m pretty sure that a lot of them will fall apart when/if we try to play them. 75 year old Mr. Mercat does not accept that things get old and fall apart.
It is the Freeper disease. There’s no cure.
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