Baby Grand Piano at Ottawa City Hall Hitting all the Right Notes

Joanne Schnurr, CTV Ottawa
Published Friday, November 9, 2018 5:07PM EST

A fixture at Ottawa city hall is a resounding success, hitting all the right notes. The baby grand pianohas become the “go to” for kids at lunch time or pedestrians passing through. Where politics sometimes divides people, this public piano is bringing them together.

It’s a rare sight to see the piano bench empty here but it doesn’t take long before someone takes a seat and the rich sounds of music fill the air at Ottawa city hall.

Grade 12 student Aidan Prince is on his lunch break from Lisgar Collegiate.

“I always enjoy making people’s day better,” he says, “It’s always nice to see if I can make a positive change in someone’s life.”

He comes to play about 2 to 3 times a week.

“I’m self-taught. I can’t read sheet music for the life of me.”

Michael Mitchell has never taken lessons either but that doesn’t stop him.

“Even when I’m playing,” he says, “parents will go by with their children and the children are fascinated.”

The baby grand has been at city hall for 4 years when it was donated by wine writer Natalie MacLean.

For those who work at city hall on a regular basis, like Ottawa Citizen Reporter Jon Willing, that music can sometimes sound more like noise.

“Well sometimes I come to work every day and hope the piano was covered up so I can try and get some work done in peace and quiet,” he says. “Sometimes you hear the same song over and over again but sometimes you hear a really beautiful piano player and you can’t help but poke your head out the door to see who’s playing.”

The fun part, says Michael Mitchell, is that you never know what might happen at city hall.

“One time I was playing here,” he recalls, “and a couple asked me to witness their marriage.”

You also never know who you might meet, like councillor-elect Glen Gower, who has been playing piano since he was little.

“I really enjoy playing,” he says, as he skims over the keys with a flawless rendition of Bruce Hornsby’s “The Way It Is, “and it’s a great way to great rid of some of the stress and take a break from what’s going on in the day.”

 

 

I’ve back-dated this post so that it doesn’t appear at the top of the blog since it’s not wine-related, unless I offer some wine and music pairings, but I’ll spare you that … for now.

I just wanted to collect together some memories here of a very special day.

 

 

 

 

 

Donated piano brings music to the lobby at Ottawa City Hall

Ottawa City Hall’s lobby will be a livelier place for the holidays, now that a baby grand piano has arrived, the donation of an Ottawa woman.

Mayor Jim Watson took delivery of the piano from Natalie MacLean during a ceremony Tuesday.

Then, Chamberfest’s Jenna Richards played and the Capital City Chorus performed. Watson himself even tickled the ivories.

City Hall says you’re welcome to play the piano when you visit. There’s even a hashtag, #ottpiano,  if you’d like to share your performance on Twitter.

Piano music gifted to Ottawa City Hall for the holidays

Christmas music filled the Ottawa City Hall lobby Tuesday, as a pianist played on a newly donated baby grand piano.

Ottawa wine columnist Natalie MacLean said she donated the instrument to the city because it was sitting unused at home.

“It does feel good to see it placed here and used. I was feeling so guilty looking at it at home,” she said. “It was just sitting there like a piece of furniture and it’s not a piece of furniture. It’s a gift of music and it brings people together like today.”

MacLean said she was initially hoping to donate the instrument to the National Arts Centre, but found out City Hall was looking for a piano. Last year the City found having a piano at 110 Laurier was popular with the public and so they wanted to continue the tradition from last year.

The Capital City Chorus joined Chamberfest pianist Jenna Richards in playing Christmas music on Tuesday.

Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson even played a few chords of Jingle Bells, noting that anybody can come in and play while they’re waiting to pay a parking ticket or get a marriage license. It can also play on its own music.

Along with the Sens Rink of Dreams and the Barbara Ann Scott Gallery, the piano helps make City Hall a “people’s place,” said Watson.

“If we can give everyone from students to seniors a chance to come and play the piano and serenade people walking through this building, I think that’s a great thing,” he said.

The city is asking piano players to share their talents on social media using the hashtag #ottpiano.

In January, the piano will be moved to the Horticulture Building at Lansdowne. It will return to City Hall for the holidays every year.

Tickle the ivories at City Hall

Wine aficionado Natalie MacLean donated a baby grand piano to the City of Ottawa.

Residents can drop by city hall during the Christmas season and play a tune and are encouraged to post their pictures on Twitter and Facebook, captioned with #ottpiano.

The piano will be moved to the Horticulture Building at Lansdowne Park in January.

 

 

 

 

December 27, 2015: Grace notes: City hall’s baby grand piano was supposed to stay a few weeks. A year later, it’s a permanent fixture.

Brian King could play the upright piano in his Carlingwood-area home. But he prefers the baby grand at city hall so much more that he makes the trek downtown almost every day.

It’s hit-or-miss. Sometimes when King arrives, the piano is locked and he has to go home. Sometimes his performance — Chopin and Debussy are among his favourites — invites questions from passersby, and he’s happy to provide advice. A piano teacher since 1964, King says coaxing the music out of the piano, making it sing, is a matter of relaxed arms and wrists.

“You’re trying to make the piano be a singer. It breathes like a living organism. Sink gently into the key.”

The piano arrived at city hall in December 2014, a gift to the city from wine columnist Natalie MacLean, who had first approached the National Arts Centre to see if it was interested in the donation. By coincidence, the city was making inquires at the National Arts Centre about a piano it could make available to people who don’t mind playing for a passing audience.

The piano, a Yamaha, was valued at $65,000 and tuned five times a year at a cost of $141.25 for each tuning. It’s such a fine instrument that it can make a pair of novices stuttering through Heart and Soul sound good. The piano was installed in the main hallway on the main floor, a shortcut often taken by pedestrians taking a shortcut between Laurier Avenue and Lisgar Street.

The original plan was to keep it at city hall for the holiday season, then relocate it to the Horticulture Building at Lansdowne Park.

“But then the piano arrived. And it became a very popular thing,” said Dan Chenier, the city’s senior manager of parks, recreation and culture.

A year later, the piano is in the same spot and the city is looking for a second piano for the Horticulture Building.  The city hall piano has become a fixture, open from early in the morning to 11 p.m. unless there’s an event going on in the reception space nearby. Lisgar Collegiate students stop at lunch or on their way home to play a few tunes. Prom-going teens have their photos taken on the glossy bench. Musicians post performances under the piano’s hashtag #ottpiano.

Not all city hall workers appreciate being serenaded. It’s not unusual for doors to slam when the piano starts at mid-day. There are no posted rules about using the piano, but if it’s disturbing people, players are asked to pipe down.

“People hosting a reception are not expecting to have Elton John playing in the background,” says Chenier.

In fact, Elton John is rarely played at city hall. Chopin’s Nocturne is a common choice. So is Beethoven’s Für Elise, Schubert’s Ave Maria and Pachelbel’s Canon in D Major. On the popular music side, there’s Leonard Cohen, Coldplay, more recently the soundtrack of A Charlie Brown Christmas, the occasional Stairway to Heaven.

Nicole Bowen, who owns the Happy Bird Music Studio in Westboro, urges students who are preparing for a recital or an exam to practise on the city hall piano. Most piano students practise on digital instruments or upright acoustic piano. Playing an instrument of this quality is a different and rare experience, she says.

King often leaves sheet music in the bench for others to discover. Sometimes when he’s at the keyboard, he loses track of time and pays the price in parking tickets. But it’s all worthwhile, says King, who retired five years ago.

“When you can create the colour that this piano is capable of, it’s amazing. It’s so clear in the treble, and it has power in the bass.”

Keenan Reimer-Watts often practises on the piano Sunday mornings. The sonatas of the Italian composer Domenico Scarlatti are favourites of his because of the way they shift through emotions. “It shows you that people haven’t changed. If you think that people have evolved over 400 years, they haven’t,” he says.

Reimer-Watts started playing piano as soon as he could sit at his parents’ old upright. When he heard Canadian pianist and composer Oliver Jones for the first time, he realized that he had found his calling. He studied music performance and composition at Wilfrid Laurier University, and started looking for a place to practise when he arrived in Ottawa about a year ago. The hall piano offers both a superior instrument and the space that gives the music resonance and depth, he says.

“The acoustics in here are amazing.”

Practising can be lonely at home, but this piano has created a community of music lovers. Mike Myers, an engineer who works downtown, discovered the city hall piano a few weeks ago.

Myers’  favourites are Chopin and Bruce Springsteen. “I’m just a big Springsteen fan. Nothing like Roy Bittan on piano,” says Myers, who took piano lessons a long time ago, but plays by ear and finds the sheet music unhelpful. He bases his interpretation on vintage performances posted on Youtube.

Myers travels often for work and has found that many large hotels have pianos, but they’re often locked.

“This place leaves it open as the default,” he says. “This is the best accessible piano in the city.”

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