This is the image that greeted me when I finally found a few minutes to read the New York Times article about pianos being sent to the dump. The piano looked so much like my own – and I could never imagine that being its fate. My latest column, title above, appeared in Wednesday’s Virginian-Pilot.
Given how busy I’ve been, I’m lucky if I have a few free minutes to read an article like that. But seeing it retweeted on Twitter by such disparate folks, I finally did.
The responses to my own column have come from nearly every quarter. It seems lots of folks have a love affair with a piano, for so many different reasons. Part of one of the emails I received contained this:
I started off the morning feeling a little out of sorts, tired, and maybe a bit over-stressed. I got ready for work and sat down to read the paper and was drawn to your piece… After closing the paper, I went straight over to my own piano, an old Yamaha baby grand that still needs some refurbishment but has a glorious sound, and I played two songs – “Let It Be Me” from my Elvis Book, and “I Dreamed a Dream” which I have in sheet music. You know what? I am in a much better mood now and ready to face whatever the day presents. I tend to forget the ability and power of music to heal us, particularly when we can mentally and physically attach ourselves to it, either through playing, singing, or dancing.
Yeah, that’s the power. My beloved Knabe is a source of comfort and joy. I hope it never suffers the fate of its cousin in the photo.
My column appears in The Virginian-Pilot on Wednesdays (unless something comes up, in which case it’s Thursdays). You can see the columns as they are published here, or navigate to them from the PilotOnline.com homepage by clicking on Opinion and then choosing my name at the bottom of the dropdown list. You can also see the columns by liking my Facebook page. Although my column appears weekly, I am not and have never been an employee of The Virginian-Pilot.
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