Hey Princeton! (Frist Piano Edition)
It's 11:15 PM on a Monday much like this one. I'm on the third floor of Frist, trying to get a head start on the week's reading. I'm a few pages in when, all the sudden, the din begins. BANGBANGBANG.Who decided to put a piano in Frist? How is it that one individual can be allowed to impose his sonic stylings on hundreds of unconsenting listeners? What kind of person chooses to do this? Who hurt this person, long ago, when he was young and more easily hurtable, and why must he respond by hurting my ears? Can you ever really play the pain away?Unanswerable questions, perhaps. But of one thing I am certain: If Frist Piano Player gets to interrupt my studying, I get to interrupt his piano playing. With an interview!HEY FRIST PIANO PLAYER! How long have you been playin’ piano?Since I was six.Since you were six? Who taught you?A whole bunch of different teachers. I don’t actually have any now.Are you learning a new piece? What is it?This is Debussy. I’ve been looking at it for a while.Is Debussy one of your favorites?He’s interesting, so… [tries to turn away].What goes through your mind when you’re playing the piano? Does it go blank? I wouldn’t know because I’m not a very musical person.It’s a lot like solving a puzzle, figuring out what your muscles and your skeletal structure should do. And the intellectual challenge.Why is piano important to your life?I don’t know… it’s music. Why is music important?Why IS music important?[Long pause] Oh, you’re asking me.Yes.I think that’s a challenging question for a lot of philosophers anyways –Well, why is it important to YOU?It’s something different from what I usually do.What do you usually do?I study computers. Music’s like a hobby, I guess.Has a piece of music every moved you to tears?Yeah, I guess.Can you name that piece?There’s one called Pictures at an Exhibition, by Mussorgsky.Why did you cry?Actually, I’m not sure why. Part of it might just be at the end, at the climax, it just gets very overwhelming. So maybe it might not be just a deep emotion, just… [whoosh-ing motion]. Maybe that wasn’t the kind of tears you were looking for?No, whatever gets the job done. Do you have any funny stories from when you were trying to learn piano? Crazy teachers? Did your parents make you do anything to practice when you didn’t want to practice?[Stares, blinks, laughs nervously].No? OK. Where else do you practice on campus?Down in the basement, in the music department.Are the other ones different than this one? Is this one better?This one’s quite nice. The other ones are nice, too, but they’re older.Oh.Actually part of it is that I’m not a music student, so I get locked out at this time.Do you have any other musical musings that you want to share?Not really.Yeah, OK. Thank you!