creative-social encounters at public pianos
Art should comfort the disturbed, and disturb the comfortable.
What a blessing it is to enjoy music – on both listening and performing ends – at public pianos.
Let me recount some memorable encounters while I was plonking away at the keys.
“my father is dead”
- Venue: National Library Building, Singapore. Level 1, Lobby
- Song request: “Golden Hour” by JVKE
- Requester: a young lady, age-wise, maybe in her late twenties
“My father is dead. Before he died, he used to play this song for me. Can you play it?”
“sure, I can't play it fluently, as I'm unfamiliar with it, but I can try.”
“Thank you.”
“my mother likes it”
- Venue: Tan Tock Seng Hospital, atrium, facing the food court
- Song request: “Always with me (theme song from the anime, Spirited Away)“, by Joe Hisashi
- Requester: middle-aged lady, standing next to her elderly mother, who was seated in a wheelchair
“excuse me, can I request something? My mother likes this song. It's from an anime.”
(thinks to myself) your mother likes anime?!
“sure, I can try. I'll play it slowly though.”
“let me buy dinner for you”
- Venue: National Library Building, Singapore. Level 1, Lobby
- Request: “Love story” by Taylor Swift
- Requester: young Chinese-looking male, appearing to be in mid-thirties of age
Thinking on hindsight – I wasn't used to being paid, but okay, no problem, I can try letting others pay me. The gentleman took me to a road-side food stall, some fifteen minutes' walk away from the piano. He also gave me SGD$1.50 in coins, to buy myself a drink at a vending machine.
Thank you, kind sir.
“I like Studio Ghibli”
- Venue: Orchard MRT Station, near the corridor facing Wisma Atria
- Song request: any song from a Studio Ghibli anime. I picked “The changing seasons (theme song from the anime, Kiki's Delivery Service)“, by Joe Hisaishi
- Requester: a young lady, who appeared to be in her mid-twenties
She was very enthusiastic in recording my performance with her smart-phone's video-recording function. She was recording the video for such a long duration that I worried that her phone would run out of (digital) storage space.
After my performance ended, she shyly handed me a little key-chain, and then blushed, her face turning a deep crimson in colour. The key-chain featured a figurine of Totoro, the panda-like character from another Studio Ghibli anime, My Neighbour Totoro.
References
- “Find a public piano to play.” https://pianos.pub/
- “Play it Forward Singapore: Public Piano Movement in Singapore. Public pianos around Singapore for all to play!” https://playitforwardsg.org/
- “The Creative Economy: Arts, Cultural Value and Society in practice”. a book by Ashley, and Loh, et al. Publisher: Routledge. Publication date: May 8, 2024