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Newcastle Herald
Newcastle Herald
National
Damon Cronshaw

The Cardiff Heights piano that reminds us of Billy Joel

Keyed Up: A sculpture by Andrew Whitbread-Brown made from a piano found on the side of the road.

Billy Joel spotted a piano on the sidewalk in New York state last year.

The Piano Man hopped off his motorcycle and began to tickle the ivories to check out the instrument's condition.

A passer by caught the moment on a mobile phone video.

"Not bad. The action is good. It just needs tuning and the finish is beat. But it's a perfectly good piano. It's a shame to throw it out - should at least be donated to St Vincent de Paul or something," the 71-year-old musician said.

This story came to mind when Andrew Whitbread-Brown, of Cardiff Heights, dropped us a line about a piano he found on the side of the road not far from his place.

"It wasn't in good shape, but I knew I needed to turn it into art. We got a piano mover to pick it up for us. It fell to bits when it arrived," Andrew said.

"I stripped the wood off it. We built the frame to frame the piano-sounding board. But it was very heavy, so I bought an old chain block to lift it into position. It took the two of us to get it up [he and partner Bill].

"The chain block is part of the sculpture as it is too heavy to remove. I think I may aim for lighter sculptures in future. The name of my sculpture is 'Deconstructed Piano Dessert'."

This reminds us of a saying: Life is like a piano. What you get out of it depends on how you play it.

And how about this one: Life is like a piano. The white keys represent happiness and the black ones represent sadness. But as you go through life's journey, remember the black keys also create music.

The piano before it became a sculpture.

A 'European Holiday'

Jacqueline Porter.

During the summer holidays, we spent some time at The Entrance on the Central Coast. It was a beautiful melting pot of people from different cultures and backgrounds.

It felt like we were on an overseas holiday. And when an overseas holiday is off limits, that is surely the next best thing.

This came to mind as we heard about a performance in Newcastle this week.

"At a time when an overseas holiday seems a distant romantic dream, the Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra kicks off its 2021 concert season with a European musical journey from the comfort of the concert hall," a statement said.

The performance, titled Illuminate, features the music of Bruch and Tchaikovsky, with soprano Jacqueline Porter performing Britten's song cycle Les Illuminations, with text by French poet Arthur Rimbaud.

"Tchaikovsky's Souvenir de Florence begins in the tranquil air of the Mediterranean," the statement said.

The performance will be held at Newcastle City Hall on Thursday at 7.30pm.

Piano Joke

Piano tuner: Hi, I'm here to tune your piano.

Piano player: I didn't call anyone to fix my piano.

Piano tuner: Your neighbours called.

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