First Day of Spring

 

I Played Today 

With so much to do in New York it is often the simplest thing that is overlooked.  Everything has been at our fingertips when we needed it, an apartment, transportation,
infinite choices for food, art supplies, entertainment and spectacle. 
 But the thing I most wanted has been the hardest to find; 
a place to play the piano.
 
Twice I traveled to Times Square where I had a wonderful time sitting in a tiny and dark “studio” with an upright honky tonk piano.  I played to my heart’s content then forked over a chunk of change for the room rental, walked back to the subway with my case of music books  and made it through the throngs of tourists gawking at everything I gawked at the first time I walked through this electric light wonderland.  It’s not difficult but it’s not convenient and I just knew there had to be  a better place to play.
 

I asked everyone who I thought would know, even to the point of walking in to
 Electric Lady Studios which is “right around the corner” from where I live.  Surprisingly, the door from the street opened and I walked in, only to find myself in a closet sized entry with another locked door in front of me.  “Can I help you?” I heard from a hidden squawk box.  “Um, yes, am I on camera or do I just speak?” “Just speak.”  I explained what I was looking for and
 hoped they might know of a place to rehearse and play the piano.
“I know there are places like that, but I don’t know where.”

“Oh, okay, well thank you.”

So went my first experience at The Experience.
 

A few days later, still looking, I found Greenwich House, which was founded in 1902 and whose Mission states, “... is to help individuals and families lead more fulfilling lives by offering social and health services, cultural and educational programs, and opportunities for civic involvement to New Yorkers of all ages and backgrounds.”
Wonderful! But that’s not the point.
 

Greenwich House is a large building with pretty rooms on the 3^rd and 4^th floors looking out onto the neighborhood through mullioned windows
and in each room is a piano available to play.

Grands and uprights. Steinways and Kawai’s.

  For a nominal fee one can join and then pay a small room rental and the place is yours. 

Pick a piano and play! 

 

It’s two streets away from the apartment.   Pretty good start to Spring!