amandapalmer

Happy World Piano Day. (Patreon)

Published:

2023-03-30 01:41:42

Imported:

2023-03

Content

Hello my loves.

I just wrote a little thing for social media and it made me so weepy I wanted to share it over here as well. I know we thinged this piece with Luke recently - but….it’s so good and it’s #worldpianoday!!! 🎹♥️🎉

So: a word.

Maybe someday I’ll play a piano to a stadium of 50,000 people like Elton John, Billy Joel. Maybe someday I’ll finally get my Beethoven down and play Carnegie Hall in a black dress.

Who knows.

But to be able to play piano in spontaneous and perfect harmony like this - with a fellow pianist - surrounded by friends and food and kids and wine and dogs….this is what success feels like to me.

If you do it right: this is how it ends. You get to do THIS.

I have been playing (and struggling with) pianos all over the world for 40+ years. i had a difficult relationship with the instrument when I was growing up. I didn’t like practicing, and I didn’t have the skills - or patience, perhaps - for sight-reading. I often felt like a failure.

I’ve learned to overcome all of that. The way I play music is the way I play music. I no longer let “good/real piano player” and “bad piano player” exist as a binary in my mind. We are all just playing.

And nothing has brought me pleasure like this eleven minutes I spent improvising with my piano-brother Luke Gajdus on a mountaintop in New Zealand a few months ago, the day before I flew home to America.

I was so full of hard feelings. Joy. Sorrow. Ambivalence. Confusion. Gratitude - so much gratitude.

The piano caught it all, held it all.

The film was released here via patreon. Had I not had patrons, I probably wouldn’t have made this film. I am always indebted to them for inspiring and cheerleading me.

You made this with me. You are holding me in this moment.

Luke and I made this entire piece up as we went along.

But it took us decades to be able to play like this. We speak a language. Piano-ese.

Play for the joy.

Sing cause it’s obvious.

Sing with your strings, with your drums, with your hands, with your brush.

It doesn’t matter how or where or when or why.

Just sing.

I love you all. I’m reading comments for new r hour or so, then again in the morning.

Althing tomorrow (probably). I’m working on it.

AFP

Files

AMANDA PALMER & LUKE GAJDUS - Neither Here Nor There

Filmed live on January 25th, 2022 at Bob's Cove, Te Waipounamu, Aotearoa New Zealand. Host: Simone Flight Cameraman: Ben Farry Song composed by Luke Gajdus & Amanda Palmer This undertaking was supported and funded by over 10,000 gorgeous art-loving patrons at patreon.com/amandapalmer. A portion of the the funds from this project will be given to recently-needed flood relief efforts run by Māori Iwi/locals. If you want to help, wherever you are in the world: please do so here: https://www.manaakimatakaoa.com/floodrelief I tell the whole story of this project (with more photos) here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/79051495 Most important: Luke is a full-time piano busker who I met out in the streets of Queenstown, on the South Island of Aotearoa New Zealand. If you'd like to learn more about Luke's work (and see some more of his beautiful outdoor piano videos), please go to: https://lukegajdus.com/. Leave him a tip. It'd mean a lot. A copy of the audio recording was sent to digital-download level patrons, you can follow the link and download the recording here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/79051495 Kia kaha koutou. Arohanui. -AFP