It was somewhat presented as “optional”, but anyone refusing to participate would surely be in the Cruise Director’s Doghouse, and by extension the Holland America Doghouse.
But who would not want to participate? Such an opportunity to showcase one’s pianistic skills in The Big Room before 600 people.
Joel Mananquil didn’t want to do it. He did it last year during the Asia-Australia grand Tour and he nearly had a heart attack. He’s the pianist/synthesist in a 4-piece Filipino dance group, and is quite comfortable in that function. Playing solo piano in the Showroom he’s way out of his element.
Same for Lynn Peacefull. This little British lady and her bassist husband Brian Peacefull, play EZ listening/dance music with recorded tracks and vocals. Lynn has been playing an electronic keyboard since the voyage began.
Steve Lynch, the Pianobar guy, didn’t particularly want to do it. He was well aware of the pianistic ability of the remaining 3 people, and didn’t care to be pitted against them in this arena. He was assured that it was “not a competition”, but he felt he needed to “step up” in some way, not just play EZ cocktail piano. No “Runaround Sue” here.
Julia Miller, the classical pianist, probably welcomed the opportunity. She and her two colleagues in the classical trio frequently have small-sized sleepy old audiences in the lounge they work every night.
Kirk Danielson, a jazz major fresh out of college, probably welcomed the opportunity.
His job in the ship orchestra is playing “synthesizer” or “2nd keyboard” or whatever you want to call it, and he gets stuck with largely dumb embellishing functions in that band.
Irving Brown, the orchestra leader and pianist, also the Musical Director on the ship, probably a) welcomed it and b) was the least fazed by it. In his long career on ships, doing solo piano in the Main Showroom is old hat to him, and he has plenty of repertoire to choose from.
It was an afternoon concert, and we gathered up backstage at about 2:45PM. Somehow I had the presence of mind to bring a camera with me and get a pre-concert photo.
The tiny lady front and center is Lynn Peacefull. Standing around her in a nice arc are (l to r) Julia, myself, Irving, Joel, Kirk
Julia went out first, playing a lightning-fast version of Chopin’s Minute Waltz, and then an amazing thing called “Firedance” She was absolutely wonderful.
Lucky me, I got to follow Julia.
Stage fright is a bitch, but it sure lets you know you’re alive. As I sat down at the piano my whole system froze from head to foot. The piano looked too big. The lights were too bright. A little voice said “you kidding me? I gotta play Maple Leaf Rag on this thing right now? No thank you.”
Then another inside voice said. “Sorry Steve, there’s no other option. Tell your hands to start moving.”
And move they did. The piano seemed SO damn loud, to my ears and obviously amplified by the Sound Tech guy to reach all those fuzzy old ears out in the audience. My hands felt like these weird shaky things at the end of my arms that I had little control over.
I barely remember how I played. In my memory it’s just a haze of fear and discomfort, my hands operating on instinct. Fortunately there was enough of that to carry the day. My piano colleagues backstage complimented me on what I did, particularly my second piece, my own little Art-Tatumesque play on “The Way You Look Tonight”
Then it was Kirk, doing lush, amazing-sounding stylings of blues and jazz in excerpts from “Rhapsody in Blue” and “All the Things You Are”.
Lynn Peacefull got out of her quandary by playing a simple piece written by her son. Quite simplistic actually, but perhaps a nice contrast to everything else.
Joel Mananquil also went simple, playing simple and pretty arrangements of Filipino Love Songs. He was funny when he returned to the backstage, thumping his chest to indicate that he was scared to death out there. He was honest about it in an endearing way, and I chatted with him quite a bit about the whole thing. His English is pretty broken, much more so than his Filipino bandmates, but for the first time the two of us really had something to talk about.
Then of course Irving came out and wowed them with his own medley he called “songs of the seas”, using excerpts of Debussey, Ravel and Chopin. We all came out and took a final bow, and it was over, thank goodness.
It would be typical of me to follow this up with a couple of gin and tonics. But it was still early, and I obeyed the more intelligent voice inside, which told me to go up to the walking track on Deck 3 and do a few laps. The immense ocean was amazingly peaceful-looking, like pond water, with the sun way low in the South Pacific sky, and it was a great 14 laps.
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