Public Pianos of Rotterdam; Part One

It’s an amazing coincidence that the two most adorable little boys on the planet happen to be my nephews. I was out walking with them and their mother last Wednesday, and our meanderings took us to the largest bookstore in Rotterdam; the Donner.

Now, I’d heard rumours that there was a public grand piano in the store waiting to be played, and since we were around anyway I figured I might as well give it a tune. This, of course, to the great delight of aforementioned adorable nephews. The eldest, now three, first clapped and danced and then proceeded to join me at the keyboard.

I am of the wholehearted opinion that three-year-olds should be placed behind keyboards as often as possible, and encouraged to press the buttons to find out what happens. Preferably one key at a time, of course, but one can't have everything.

However, a public venture might not be the ideal place for that… so his mother quite literally kidnapped him and distracted him with the children’s books section (which, by the way, features a book about an elephant and a poop cannon. It's a riot).

The youngest, meanwhile, was left sitting next to me in his pram. Whenever I glanced over to him while playing, I found him saucer-eyed. Whenever I stopped, he first looked at me, then at the piano, then at me again, and then pointed at the piano saying something along the lines of “muhm!”, which of course I took to mean “why did you stop?”.

The combination of my playing and The Cute was a great success; there were quite some people who stopped over to compliment us on our duo. My youngest nephew, true performer that he is, took all this positive feedback with a big smile and some giggles.

All in all, an excellent place to try out repertoire, with a lovely atmosphere and a good piano. I shall definitely be making noise there again. Plus, I have found a recipe for getting a lot of attention: bring at least one happy toddler!

I wonder how often I’m allowed to borrow them…