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So, I am out here in sunny Long Beach CA helping my husband out with a coin show. We're staying at the Westin, and right there in the lobby was a grand. Not locked. I was too chicken to play it the first day, but this morning I was suffering great piano withdrawal, so I went up to the bell desk and asked if guests were allowed to play. (Half-hoping he'd say no.)

But he said yes, so I sat down and played for the first time on a hotel piano. It was a Kawai, looked like an RX-2 or RX-3. (It was also the first Kawai I ever played that had what felt like a sluggish action, and the una corda pedal didn't work.) I was a nervous wreck, but I started with "The Gift," which I figured I knew backwards and forwards, and how could I possibly mess it up? Well, I will tell you how I could mess it up: On the third bar I hit the entirely wrong notes. So I started over. And then later on I skipped an entire part. But after playing the first piece, my nerves settled down a bit and I was able to play two more pieces ("Home" and "Nefeli") without noticeable errors.

All in all, I was pleased to break an important psychological barrier. And I hope I will find it easier and easier to sit down and play wherever I go.

Awesome. You're an anarchist...a piano anarchist. May no piano go unplayed!

Well, good luck with that. Wherever I go, I get locked instruments, instruments with prominent signs that say DO NOT TOUCH OR PLAY PIANO or the piano is a basketcase and unplayable.

Oh, by the way, congrats on overcoming fear! I wish I had a shot...

And to all you managers at Nordstroms... what, are you afraid my repetoire is so deep that I won't be finished by the time that poor chap that you're paying minimum wage to gets back from his break? Who are you kidding!

p.s. to pianarchist...Unfortunately, our fantasy of standing ovations and tip jars pressed upon us went unfulfilled. But on the positive side, my kids tell me that other guests there looked on with "mild interest" and "no disgust."

Way to go, brave Monica!

Awesome Monica! I'd have been a nervous wreck!

Of course Lee and S-H had been there, they would have jumped on the piano the first day and wondered what was taking Michelle Pfeiffer so long to show up.

TOO RIGHT Bob!...(holding sides & rolling with laughter)

Monica: And here I was feeling sorry for you, so many miles away from the nearest friendly M&H.
All the time you were captivating an audiance.

Seems like some people will travel quite a few miles, an use some pretty thin excuses just to play a different piano.

LeadFingers

top work Monica!,

just last weekend i visited a music store with some concert grands and tapped out some tunes, and i know exactly what you mean about nerves!!!. I was playing quite well until a kid no more than 10 years old strolled in with his dad and played like a maestro, and, dejected, i made my way back to the upright yamaha section...

I hope it is all good experience though!

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAY Monica!!

Now you've played one...you won't be able to resist.

It gets easier the more you do it...I think this is one of the great benefits of the recital for all of us...recording for that red dot is a very similar pressure to playing for the public.

Aint it scary the first time?

One little tip...if you make a mistake? just ignore it and keep going ...most people won't really notice


Excellent I am so pleased for you


Lee

Wooohooo Monica!!! Pretty soon you'll be ready for a stage somewhere!

Congrats Monica...was that the last day you were there? or did you have another chance to play? Nerves are great aren't they!!!

And don't feel bad that no one noticed or acknowledged you...we were shopping around Xmas and a store had someone playing...people just walked on by like she wasn't even there -and she was good- (I did stop and complimented her playing...only the right thing to do...right??) We all like compliments!!

CONGRAGULATIONS

That is really cool. I do admire your guts to do it. I'm not at the point where I could remember anything... but one day.

Ash

I did that too, at a convention for something my wife was involved in, Tupperware or La Leche or something.

It was crowded and noisy enough I didn't think anybody would notice.

guess I was wrong, they came right out and locked the piano as soon as I left.

PLAY IT AGAIN MONICA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, it's not exactly applause, but at least it was feedback!

I admire your courage, but unfortunately it is not an act of piano anarchy if you have to ask permission to play.

Good work Monica.

Now you're going to have to worry about the union, they're not going to take kindly to a performer working below scale.

Awesome, Monica!

I did this once in a little coffee house, in Nashville. My wife and I were the only customers, and they had an antique upright off to one side. The hammers had that hard, "plinky plonky" sound to them, so cranked out "Maple Leaf Rag." The ladies running the place were just beaming. And for me, overcoming a huge barrier of performing for others, (because I usually botch it so badly when I do), I was grinning from ear to ear!

Congratulations to you!

Another, slightly less funny story:
I was staying in a hotel and around midnight, got hit with a cluster headache. One of the things that helps me, if it's not one where I'm slamming my head on stuff and screaming a string of swear words, is to sit at the piano and play soft major 7th chords. It takes my mind off of the pain, and relaxes me so that I can get through it.

I sat at a grand piano in the lobby, and I was playing so softly as to be nearly silent. The hotel Nazi in his gray suit came striding over and said, "The piano's closed!"

I looked up at him, with my bloodshot eye, eyelid hanging down like a Bell's Palsy patient, and let out a long, loud sigh. I very carefully, deliberately closed the lid and stood up so that I was nearly standing on his toes. He flinched and quickly walked away.

Reminds me of that bit in "Wayne's World."

"Do I frighten you?"
"No!"
"Would you LIKE me to?"

Congrats Monica !

I have never asked permission, does that make me an anarchist ?

First time I did it, was at a small grand piano at Atlantis in the Bahamas last year. I had only started two months earlier, so all I knew was scales and 12 bars or so of Misty. But I was there for several days and so badly had the bug and didn't want to miss my daily practice that I would go down to the hotel lobby real early in the morning (around 6:30 AM - 7AM ) and practice what I knew and worked on getting down new stuff too as long as not too many people were around.
There were people in the lobby and also in an adjoining area getting breakfast but not so many as later morning. Nobody complained that I know of. I tried to be very soft in playing.

They had a band with a singer on stage every evening, but I never saw the piano being used.

I admittedly haven't done it yet in a crowded restuarant like lee

Thanks, all! I'm not sure I'll have the nerve to do it again this trip, though, as last night I was in the lobby and these two young girls sat down and rattled off 45 minutes of brilliant classical pieces and highlights from Phantom of the Operal, complete with vocal accompinament. THEY got much applause. So I may shrink back into piano timidity rather than anarchy. But we'll see. I'm here until Sunday morning so I don't know if I can go that long without playing.