It was in an old church in New Brunswick, but could have been in just about any town in any province. I was part of a music group presenting a concert in the church that sat atop a hill in this wonderfully picturesque location in the Maritimes.
After setting up I took time to explore so I headed down a tight set of stairs into a dark and dusty basement. It clearly wasn't used anymore except for storage. A big new kitchen, bathrooms and education wing on the main floor made this area obsolete. My curiosity took me into a large open area stacked with old wooden tables and chairs no longer needed.
When I looked across the room I saw the treasure. An old piano. A big one tucked against the back wall. Clearly a decision had been made to leave that old piano where it was after the renovation upstairs was complete. A beautiful new piano was sitting in the sanctuary so it must have been deemed unnecessary to try and move this cumbersome instrument up those rickety stairs.
I moved a table out of the way and headed toward it, taking note of the beautiful wood and intricate carvings. This was a grand instrument. Lifting the cover I saw what I expected. The keys had yellowed and many were chipped but as I started to play I could hear the quality of the instrument come to life. It had been relegated to a back corner despite its ability to continue doing what it was meant to do. People may have forgotten about it but the piano was very much there. Waiting. Waiting for someone to come dust it off, sit down and play. It didn't disappoint.
I've played on similar ones over the years—pianos that have been a bit neglected or forgotten altogether. I've also had the chance to play some seriously impressive ones, notably a Steinway concert grand as well as a Bechstein Grand. The latter was an 1878 instrument nicknamed "The Velvet Touch" that once belonged to an Austrian music patron. Throughout its history, musicians like Anton Rubinstein, Franz Liszt, Gustav Mahler, Johannes Brahms and Bela Bartok graced the keys. Yes, I got to touch the same keys as those giants of music. I got goosebumps in that moment.
Surveys suggest 28% of families own some sort of keyboard instrument. However, since 2020 piano lessons are down 33% and sales of pianos have dropped 60% over the last 20 years. This isn’t surprising news really. Ask anyone looking to rid themselves of the instrument how hard it is to give away, let alone sell, a used piano these days.
We aren’t playing as we once did and that means we are missing out on some rather enriching benefits. Pianist’s brains are different—even different from those that play other instruments. Piano players (the experts say), turn their brains into better functioning, more efficient machines as a result of navigating 88 keys using left and right hands simultaneously. This connects different parts of the frontal lobe making them better integrators of information which plays a pivotal role in problem solving, language development, spontaneity, and decision making. Pianists (and these are the scientists’ words, not mine) “are masters of creative, purposeful and efficient communication because of the very instrument that they play.” What is unfortunate is that despite all these benefits, just 13% of adults who know how to play, do so anymore, and that drops to only 6% over the age of 75.
Let's think back to that old piano in the church basement many years earlier. Who had graced those keys? Perhaps a child playing in public for the first time. A senior who had played for decades. Think about the Christmas concerts it may have accompanied or the number of hymns that resonated from its soundboard. It would have played a part in so many special occasions.
Yet the same could be said of many pianos in any number of basements or living rooms that now sit idle. I have heard people say they just don’t have time to play anymore. How unfortunate. But maybe that can change. This can be a hectic time of year but this is also a season that celebrates truly beautiful music. What better time to take a few moments and rediscover a love of tickling the ivories. Find a piano, sit down and let the sound soar. It stirs the soul, exercises the brain and reminds the heart of something truly special. That’s my outlook.
