Everyone should have a house pianist

Raymond Chen

Last year, a request was sent out to a social mailing list that went something like this:

Hi, everybody. My girlfriend is coming to visit for a week, and she’s a pianist. Does anybody have a piano they would be willing to let her practice on while she’s here?

I offered the piano in my living room and gave him the key to my house. I came home one day to hear the house filled with the resonant chords of a Beethoven piano sonata. You can have all the recordings you want. There’s nothing like experiencing music played live right in front of you. The music fills your body in a way recordings simply are not capable of reproducing. Everyone should have a house pianist.

(The wife of one of my relatives has a degree in piano performance. He doesn’t know how good he’s got it. It’s also her birthday today. Happy birthday!)

Raymond Chen

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