March 10, 1999

The Piano

The piano is a quintessential aspect of our culture. From Billy Joel's "Piano Man" to the simple tune of "Chopsticks," piano music conjures up a unique feeling within us. Perhaps it's something about the richness of its simple tones. The piano, or pianoforte for the trivia buffs, was mean to be the next generation upgrade of the harpsichord, allowing notes to be played soft or loud. Each note, each key, has an infinite number of ways to sound. Eighty-eight times infinity makes a rich panorama of sound for us all to listen to with endless possibility. And when it comes to composition, the piano most likely has the most pieces specifically written for it.

It is so common for someone to sit down at a random piano and begin tinkering out melodies. We even invite people to do this at parties. Sure, sometimes all that comes out is "Chopsticks," "Noel," or "The Cheers Theme," but we still enjoy it. And because of the incredible number of people who take piano lessons as a kid, piano playing is a competition: who can play the most? Or, for those of us who can't play and never learned, the music is magic.

I'm not even listening to a piano right now, nor do I know why I wrote this. Still, I here someone plinking out "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" somewhere on some piano. If you listen closely, you can hear it, too.