Some years ago I lost a bunch of money to a Kickstarter scam, and swore I’d never consider supporting another fundraising campaign through that channel. So it has been with conflicted empathies that I’ve been keeping an eye on Brooklyn Made and Brooklyn Restored: A Wissner Grand Piano, a campaign to restore a beaten-up but fundamentally sound Concert D instrument at St. Agnes Church in Carroll Gardens.
I played that Wissner piano last month at a rehearsal for a seasonal concert of classical arias and Christmas carols. The experience of attempting to make music on the Wissner Grand was memorable for how the plastic tops of the white keys, many of which had already come loose, were flying off and onto the floor from the force of my playing. They were so loosely attached to the wood of the keys that it took little to dislodge them. By the end of the rehearsal I think I had picked up a couple dozen of these key tops and placed them under the piano’s music stand. I saved them because the technician in charge (should the piano be restored) might re-glue the same pieces back on the keys.
This was not the piano used for the actual performance. For that I played a somewhat rare 85-key Steinway restored by the folks at Big Wrench Piano Care in Carroll Gardens. Big Wrench donated the piano for the night’s event, which formally commenced the Kickstarter campaign. It was good fun, and particularly satisfying for me to work with good musicians again — it’s been a while. I don’t think I’d played publicly for about 5 years.
So, taking a break from my puny little boycott of supporting anything through Kickstarter I guess I can get behind this one. It could mean ongoing gigs for me at the church, and maybe even ready access to an amazing concert grand. Or, on the other hand, last month’s event could be the last gig I play for another 5 years…
