Ten Ways to Look at a Piano # 3

As Notes

Unlike other instruments, the piano does not hide its notes. They are represented by a stark keyboard of black and white rectangles, each providing a unique tone across the range of the scale. One pluck and you get a sound. What you see is what you get. No pretense. Nothing dependent upon the flow of air through the mouth or the tossing of a clandestine switch to raise the octave.

The piano is harmony and cacophony and joy and struggle all at once. The entirety of human experience is contained in its keyboard.

Sit down, pluck a chord, toss up a single note. There are sounds inside. Like the surprise witnessed on a child's face we wonder: where does it come from? From inside. Like all music. Beginning inside the person on the bench and flowing through the rectangles. A nice combination. Something spiritual.