For the last while – maybe months, maybe a couple of years – I’ve heard piano music some days when I arrived home from work. I knew it wasn’t coming from my house and just assumed a neighbor was playing classical music to unwind at the end of the day.
A couple of weeks ago, my neighbor two doors down stopped me.
“I’ve been learning piano again after many years and I have a public performance coming soon. I’m having a few people over for a living room concert to practice playing in front of an audience and I was hoping you’d come,” he explained.
I asked some questions about his lessons and said I’d love to come. So, Sunday afternoon found me sitting in my neighbor’s living room.
It was a small gathering of about eight people. I knew some and met some for the first time. We socialized for a bit, ate some chili and cornbread, socialized some more before my neighbor talked about his return to classical piano for the first time since he was in his teens. He told us that he’ll be playing in a hospital lobby at the end of the month, where he suspected the audience might be a little less attentive than we were. We laughed and joked that we could be rowdy or cry while he played to help him prepare for the performance.
When he began to play, I realized his was the music that had been serenading me on those afternoons. He played five pieces in all and expressed his gratitude because he was more nervous than he thought he’d be. I suspect I will get to hear some more as I return home over the next two weeks.
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