How to begin?
When I was a kid, in a very chaotic and dysfunctional home, one of the few good things there was, that I remember, was my Dad playing his piano.
It would be many years before I understood how accomplished he was, in reality. He played a lot and I enjoyed the music. It seemed to come to him easily and, still a child, I didn’t understand that he studied and practiced to achieve this. Alcoholism would swiftly rob him of his gift.
My Dad’s gone now, but I would like to make a gift of something from him, to his grandchildren, now grown, who hardly remember him from when they were small children. They view him, rightly, through the difficult issues they see his off spring struggle with, mostly mental health and addiction legacy stuff. I’m trying to piece together something positive for them from their Grandparents, both now gone.
I am attempting to put together a CD of the music he played on his piano. Big problem, I was a child and never looked at the music to see the titles or such. But I find I still hear classical music when I’m out and think, “Hey, my Dad could play that on the piano!”, but, of course, still don’t learn the title or author.
So, how about it? Wanna play?
He was trained at the Royal Conservatory in Toronto, Canada, during the late forties and early fifties. He played a lot of classical stuff, which I’m confident I could identify by hearing it, if it was being played solely on a piano, sans orchestra.
What I’m hoping is that piano lovers out there will be able to pretty much guess the music he was playing by the time period he was trained during.
He was quite accomplished and could also play boogie woogie and ragtime piano. I would be an adult before I understood how challenging that was. I remember him playing and my brother and I holding up the panel of the upright piano so we could see the hammers striking wildly. It also increased the volume, which we loved. But I’m not sure I could recognize any of those peieces, to be honest.
I’m hoping for links to where I can listen to the piece and see if I recognize it.
Let me thank you in advance for any help you can lend in getting me moving in the right direction on this project!
