| PlayingPiano |
| Jim Hlavac |
One day in 1980 I sat down at a piano and started to play.
My friends looked at me and said,
"I didn't know you could play the piano."
"Neither did I," was my reply.
For nearly 20 years I only played when no one else was around.
In late 1999 I was encouraged by two friends to play publically.
One is a well-known piano teacher in Baton Rouge and the other is a
concert pianist. I figured, why not? Let me go find a place, then.
I stumbled across the C-Note Lounge on St. Charles Avenue in New
Orleans in the beginning of 2001.
Then in 2002 I was playing nightly at Tortorici's,
a fine dining restaurant in the French Quarter.
The following year I was at Schiros, Frenchy's and the Blue Nile.
Plus, I've played at a dozen other bars, restaurants and coffee houses.
Much to my amazement people who listened to my music often mistake
mine for Chopin, Mendelsohn, Schubert, Debussy and other classical
and romantic composers. But unlike those guys, I just sat down at the
piano one day and started playing, I had no idea I could play at all!
I never had a lesson, never practice, and yet it comes whooshing out
of me fully formed, ready for your enjoyment.
I can't read or write music. I can't hear a tune and then play it.
In fact, I seem to have some mental block against other people's
music. I can't even play Happy Birthday! I don't know why.
My friends looked at me and said,
"I didn't know you could play the piano."
"Neither did I," was my reply.
For nearly 20 years I only played when no one else was around.
In late 1999 I was encouraged by two friends to play publically.
One is a well-known piano teacher in Baton Rouge and the other is a
concert pianist. I figured, why not? Let me go find a place, then.
I stumbled across the C-Note Lounge on St. Charles Avenue in New
Orleans in the beginning of 2001.
Then in 2002 I was playing nightly at Tortorici's,
a fine dining restaurant in the French Quarter.
The following year I was at Schiros, Frenchy's and the Blue Nile.
Plus, I've played at a dozen other bars, restaurants and coffee houses.
Much to my amazement people who listened to my music often mistake
mine for Chopin, Mendelsohn, Schubert, Debussy and other classical
and romantic composers. But unlike those guys, I just sat down at the
piano one day and started playing, I had no idea I could play at all!
I never had a lesson, never practice, and yet it comes whooshing out
of me fully formed, ready for your enjoyment.
I can't read or write music. I can't hear a tune and then play it.
In fact, I seem to have some mental block against other people's
music. I can't even play Happy Birthday! I don't know why.
| The Story |
