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Brian King could play the upright piano in his Carlingwood-area home. But he prefers the baby grand at city hall so much more that he makes the trek downtown almost every day.
It’s hit-or-miss. Sometimes when King arrives, the piano is locked and he has to go home. Sometimes his performance — Chopin and Debussy are among his favourites — invites questions from passersby, and he’s happy to provide advice. A piano teacher since 1964, King says coaxing the music out of the piano, making it sing, is a matter of relaxed arms and wrists.
“You’re trying to make the piano be a singer. It breathes like a living organism. Sink gently into the key.”
The piano arrived at city hall in December 2014, a gift to the city from wine columnist Natalie MacLean, who had first approached the National Arts Centre to see if it was interested in the donation. By coincidence, the city was making inquires at the National Arts Centre about a piano it could make available to people who don’t mind playing for a passing audience.
Retired piano teacher Brian King drives from his home in the Carlingwood area almost every day to play the baby grand at Ottawa City Hall.
The piano, a Yamaha, was valued at $65,000 and tuned five times a year at a cost of $141.25 for each tuning. It’s such a fine instrument that it can make a pair of novices stuttering through Heart and Soul sound good. The piano was installed in the main hallway on the main floor, a shortcut often taken by pedestrians taking a shortcut between Laurier Avenue and Lisgar Street.
The original plan was to keep it at city hall for the holiday season, then relocate it to the Horticulture Building at Lansdowne Park.
“But then the piano arrived. And it became a very popular thing,” said Dan Chenier, the city’s senior manager of parks, recreation and culture.
A year later, the piano is in the same spot and the city is looking for a second piano for the Horticulture Building. The city hall piano has become a fixture, open from early in the morning to 11 p.m. unless there’s an event going on in the reception space nearby. Lisgar Collegiate students stop at lunch or on their way home to play a few tunes. Prom-going teens have their photos taken on the glossy bench. Musicians post performances under the piano’s hashtag #ottpiano.
Not all city hall workers appreciate being serenaded. It’s not unusual for doors to slam when the piano starts at mid-day. There are no posted rules about using the piano, but if it’s disturbing people, players are asked to pipe down.
“People hosting a reception are not expecting to have Elton John playing in the background,” says Chenier.
In fact, Elton John is rarely played at city hall. Chopin’s Nocturne is a common choice. So is Beethoven’s Für Elise, Schubert’s Ave Maria and Pachelbel’s Canon in D Major. On the popular music side, there’s Leonard Cohen, Coldplay, more recently the soundtrack of A Charlie Brown Christmas, the occasional Stairway to Heaven.
Nicole Bowen, who owns the Happy Bird Music Studio in Westboro, urges students who are preparing for a recital or an exam to practise on the city hall piano. Most piano students practise on digital instruments or upright acoustic piano. Playing an instrument of this quality is a different and rare experience, she says.
King often leaves sheet music in the bench for others to discover. Sometimes when he’s at the keyboard, he loses track of time and pays the price in parking tickets. But it’s all worthwhile, says King, who retired five years ago.
“When you can create the colour that this piano is capable of, it’s amazing. It’s so clear in the treble, and it has power in the bass.”
Keenan Reimer-Watts often practises on the piano Sunday mornings. The sonatas of the Italian composer Domenico Scarlatti are favourites of his because of the way they shift through emotions. “It shows you that people haven’t changed. If you think that people have evolved over 400 years, they haven’t,” he says.
Reimer-Watts started playing piano as soon as he could sit at his parents’ old upright. When he heard Canadian pianist and composer Oliver Jones for the first time, he realized that he had found his calling. He studied music performance and composition at Wilfrid Laurier University, and started looking for a place to practise when he arrived in Ottawa about a year ago. The hall piano offers both a superior instrument and the space that gives the music resonance and depth, he says.
“The acoustics in here are amazing.”
Practising can be lonely at home, but this piano has created a community of music lovers. Mike Myers, an engineer who works downtown, discovered the city hall piano a few weeks ago.
Myers’ favourites are Chopin and Bruce Springsteen. “I’m just a big Springsteen fan. Nothing like Roy Bittan on piano,” says Myers, who took piano lessons a long time ago, but plays by ear and finds the sheet music unhelpful. He bases his interpretation on vintage performances posted on Youtube.
Myers travels often for work and has found that many large hotels have pianos, but they’re often locked.
“This place leaves it open as the default,” he says. “This is the best accessible piano in the city.”
jlaucius@ottawacitizen.com
查看原文...
It’s hit-or-miss. Sometimes when King arrives, the piano is locked and he has to go home. Sometimes his performance — Chopin and Debussy are among his favourites — invites questions from passersby, and he’s happy to provide advice. A piano teacher since 1964, King says coaxing the music out of the piano, making it sing, is a matter of relaxed arms and wrists.
“You’re trying to make the piano be a singer. It breathes like a living organism. Sink gently into the key.”
The piano arrived at city hall in December 2014, a gift to the city from wine columnist Natalie MacLean, who had first approached the National Arts Centre to see if it was interested in the donation. By coincidence, the city was making inquires at the National Arts Centre about a piano it could make available to people who don’t mind playing for a passing audience.
Retired piano teacher Brian King drives from his home in the Carlingwood area almost every day to play the baby grand at Ottawa City Hall.
The piano, a Yamaha, was valued at $65,000 and tuned five times a year at a cost of $141.25 for each tuning. It’s such a fine instrument that it can make a pair of novices stuttering through Heart and Soul sound good. The piano was installed in the main hallway on the main floor, a shortcut often taken by pedestrians taking a shortcut between Laurier Avenue and Lisgar Street.
The original plan was to keep it at city hall for the holiday season, then relocate it to the Horticulture Building at Lansdowne Park.
“But then the piano arrived. And it became a very popular thing,” said Dan Chenier, the city’s senior manager of parks, recreation and culture.
A year later, the piano is in the same spot and the city is looking for a second piano for the Horticulture Building. The city hall piano has become a fixture, open from early in the morning to 11 p.m. unless there’s an event going on in the reception space nearby. Lisgar Collegiate students stop at lunch or on their way home to play a few tunes. Prom-going teens have their photos taken on the glossy bench. Musicians post performances under the piano’s hashtag #ottpiano.
Not all city hall workers appreciate being serenaded. It’s not unusual for doors to slam when the piano starts at mid-day. There are no posted rules about using the piano, but if it’s disturbing people, players are asked to pipe down.
“People hosting a reception are not expecting to have Elton John playing in the background,” says Chenier.
In fact, Elton John is rarely played at city hall. Chopin’s Nocturne is a common choice. So is Beethoven’s Für Elise, Schubert’s Ave Maria and Pachelbel’s Canon in D Major. On the popular music side, there’s Leonard Cohen, Coldplay, more recently the soundtrack of A Charlie Brown Christmas, the occasional Stairway to Heaven.
Nicole Bowen, who owns the Happy Bird Music Studio in Westboro, urges students who are preparing for a recital or an exam to practise on the city hall piano. Most piano students practise on digital instruments or upright acoustic piano. Playing an instrument of this quality is a different and rare experience, she says.
King often leaves sheet music in the bench for others to discover. Sometimes when he’s at the keyboard, he loses track of time and pays the price in parking tickets. But it’s all worthwhile, says King, who retired five years ago.
“When you can create the colour that this piano is capable of, it’s amazing. It’s so clear in the treble, and it has power in the bass.”
Keenan Reimer-Watts often practises on the piano Sunday mornings. The sonatas of the Italian composer Domenico Scarlatti are favourites of his because of the way they shift through emotions. “It shows you that people haven’t changed. If you think that people have evolved over 400 years, they haven’t,” he says.
Reimer-Watts started playing piano as soon as he could sit at his parents’ old upright. When he heard Canadian pianist and composer Oliver Jones for the first time, he realized that he had found his calling. He studied music performance and composition at Wilfrid Laurier University, and started looking for a place to practise when he arrived in Ottawa about a year ago. The hall piano offers both a superior instrument and the space that gives the music resonance and depth, he says.
“The acoustics in here are amazing.”
Practising can be lonely at home, but this piano has created a community of music lovers. Mike Myers, an engineer who works downtown, discovered the city hall piano a few weeks ago.
Myers’ favourites are Chopin and Bruce Springsteen. “I’m just a big Springsteen fan. Nothing like Roy Bittan on piano,” says Myers, who took piano lessons a long time ago, but plays by ear and finds the sheet music unhelpful. He bases his interpretation on vintage performances posted on Youtube.
Myers travels often for work and has found that many large hotels have pianos, but they’re often locked.
“This place leaves it open as the default,” he says. “This is the best accessible piano in the city.”
jlaucius@ottawacitizen.com
查看原文...
