Hi Folks The short program on National TV I got to participate in aired tonite, and I simply had to tell you the story as it turned out to have a surprise sweet side to it.. You see when we went out to shoot the spot, the family that owned the piano had a young relative visiting that had heard about what we were about to do. She was 11 years old, and wanted more then anything else to be on TV playing the National anthem. I got to the house first, and went through tuning this old instrument up once more for the show, and she comes in and sort of shuffles shyly around, and when I take a short break she sits down and proceeds to play a perfect two finger version of the Norwegian National Anthem she had figured out all on her own. And then she revealed her dream to me. I mean.... what can you say... she didnt miss a note, couldnt read a note either... had never taken any lessons, but she had fooled a bit with this old Herz piano. I couldnt resist her, that's for sure. So when the TV crew showed up I told them about it and asked them if they could find the time, at least they could maybe shoot a few minutes of her playing... even if they didnt decide to use it... just as a nice thing to do. In the meantime she had excitedly gone and changed cloths into her national costume, an outfit reserved for only very special occasions. When she came out to be introduced...well everyone just melted. So they taped her in between taping the pianist and myself. We all parted that evening with a lot on our minds, including what a smile we had put on her face and in her heart. But today the show aired. We got about 5 minutes all in all to tell our little story, and the film crew did a fantastic job of putting it all together. And best of all, this little girl got featured for about 90 seconds in the whole thing. Watching the spot, the cringing feeling I had at my own heavy american acent just disapeared in the glow I just know this little girl must have been feeling somewhere out in Bergen, most certainly watching as Siri and I were. Another little gem for this instrument to put into its book of memories... Grieg, Nordraak, Bull, and all the best musicians and artists of Bergens last 150 years have had their moments with this instrument.... and now in perhaps its last performance, it makes a little girls' dream come true. Kinda neat if you ask me. Cheers RicB -- Richard Brekne RPT, N.P.T.F. UiB, Bergen, Norway mailto:rbrekne@broadpark.no http://home.broadpark.no/~rbrekne/ricmain.html http://www.hf.uib.no/grieg/personer/cv_RB.html
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC