It’s been a long time for me to write on the forum, but I have to mention last Thursday, playing piano in a SW London hospital. I play most Thursday mornings on a grand piano in the reception area – usually a combination of Jazz standards from the American Song book.
Last Thursday, was special. Ordinarily I entertain visitors, outpatients and occasionally staff for near two and half hours. All voluntarily. Very often I’ll chat to visitors who are sitting nearby. Very often people come up to me and say things like “It makes a difference.” One gentleman last week said it was like being in a hotel bar! Most often people just say “Thank you” or just smile or nod their heads.
Anyway, 3/4 through my stint, I noticed a smartly dressed man standing near to the piano and dressed in a cream jacket and grey trousers. He was middle aged and was with a boy who for the most part was sitting at a table. Both were strangely quiet. I presumed that they were waiting for an appointment, or indeed waiting for a taxi home. Neither were speaking. The boy had a school blazer on and looked very smart. Occasionally the boy would glance in my direction as I was playing the piano.
Anyway, after a medley of three to four tunes, the man approached me and asked "Can my boy play"? I moved aside straightaway and said "Of course." I usually let children have a tinkle on the high end of the keyboard - the parents are always delighted. Most often kids go "plink plonk" on the keys, just excited at making sounds. I usually watch which notes they may choose to stab at and then accompany them to bring some kind of musicality to it. That doesn’t always work!
I moved from the stool to allow the boy to sit down. The boy kind of drew breath to compose himself and then started to play. That’s when we all had a great surprise. He began to play the most beautiful Chopin piano concerto. His two hands were all over the piano keyboard, up and down the octaves. Sometimes he tilted on the stool in a rocking motion, lifting his arms in a way that made me think his arms were taking in oxygen.
Visitors and outpatients stopped in their tracks, mesmerised by what they saw and what they were listening too. The boy was only 10 years or so. It was as if the hospital just stopped in a kind of time warp. This one piece alone lasted a good 6 – 10 minutes and at the end of it there was spontaneous and loud clapping from everyone in the Reception area. As the boy rose, so I stood up to shake his hand. With hindsight I guess the father and son were waiting for an opportunity to play. Certainly the boy was keen to show off his prowess.
I could have filmed him, but at the time I decided not to. I am not even sure why - perhaps because I wanted that memory pure and undiluted in my head. Not on my phone to be replayed again and again till the magic becomes stale.
And I had a few words with his dad. He was German and the boy's mother was half German and half Russian . The boy was an outpatient at the hospital but I didn't want to inquire any further. Interestingly the father was carrying a vacuum flask of some kind of drink, tea, coffee or fruit juice. But the flask was cream coloured with geometric shapes in all primary colours. In a moment of silly humour I asked the father if the flask contained oxygen, such was the energy the boy had expended at the keyboard. (I’m not sure if his dad appreciated or even understood me.)
In a way I regret not filming that boy, for had I done so I might well have posted it on to HU to brighten everyone’s spirits. But the next best thing is to write and tell you all of this experience. I will never forget the privilege of hearing the boy play. And I was right next to him as he played.
