In March this year, a video of a 13-year-old Chennai lad went viral. Winning ‘The World’s Best’ global talent contest, pocketing the $1 million prize, and flooring the judges by playing 280 beats per minute going up to a stupefying 325 beats, young Lydian Nadhaswaram also brought his prized instrument, the piano back into the limelight.
For diehard fans of this ‘king among all instruments’, it never really went away. Vouches the indefatigable Louiz Banks, “Some of the greatest and most loved music of the world has been written for the piano.
It's an orchestra by itself encompassing both melody, harmony and rhythm with a range of seven octaves and more. No other instrument can match this!”
We are catching up with the music wiz on the eve of the fourth edition of Mumbai Piano Day (September 14), curated by Banks and the NCPA. Featuring some of the finest pianists and keyboard players in the country and from around the world, the evening covers all genres from jazz to funk to classical.
Surprised? Don’t be--”The piano is anything but fuddy-duddy,” informs Joseph Gomes, Director, Furtado’s Music India. “It is very modern age, and is used by big performers across the board like A R Rehman and Arijit Singh; internationally too, all the big artistes prefer the piano.”
The array of musicians playing at the Piano Day event are clearly smitten. “As a composer, it covers the entire spectrum of the orchestra and it has been used in various genres of music,” points out Loy Mendonsa, while Gino Banks rapturously calls it, “THE Mother instrument”.
He explains, “It is melodic, harmonic, percussive, staccato and legato. All the octaves are visible and it covers the whole spectrum in music so it makes it the best for composition and arrangement.” Ronnie Monsorate declares, “A piano is the grandfather of all instruments as it covers everything due to its wide range. You can do a solo act, band or classical orchestra.”
Even Sheldon D’Silva, who will be accompanying the piano players on bass guitar, admits, “Though bass will always be my primary instrument, the piano is always inspiring to write music as it gives the range to hear and play harmony and melody simultaneously.”
The piano, despite its inarguable strengths and devoted following, has not exactly been enjoying a purple patch, since a while. Joseph Gomes blames the space crunch in the city as one of the reasons for the piano being overshadowed by its younger, flashier, lighter cousin, the keyboard.
“The keyboard culture is very vibrant; you have very many people buying keyboards and learning it,” he shares, adding, “The piano often gets misunderstood as the keyboard but they are vastly different. Besides the major difference of the look, feel and output, a keyboard would usually be five octaves, while a piano is seven and a quarter octaves.”
What’s more, the keyboard has a range of different sounds and ready-made accompaniments, including Indian sounds, which many find interactive and entertaining.
In these dizzyingly electronic times, the city evidently does need a dedicated Piano Day. Avers Louiz Banks, “Mainly because of the wide usage of electronic keyboards in the industry, pianos are not being used as much for concerts and recordings and related performances.
Our Piano Day presentations will fill that void and feature our very talented musicians displaying their artistry on acoustic pianos, apart from a few performances on other keyboard instruments.”
Sheldon D’Silva believes the piano is a beautiful instrument that needs to be celebrated. “The piano is a core instrument which shares its history with classical, jazz and modern music and is one of the strongest instruments used for composition along with its modern avatar known as the keyboard that has become the ultimate medium for music production.
Besides being a supreme accompanying instrument, the piano has also established itself as a leading solo instrument. There are some phenomenal piano players in the country that need to be showcased, so this is definitely one such day that brings these pianists to the centre stage.”
Initiatives like this allow musicians who have written, arranged and composed some great music, to come into the spotlight. “Most times there is heavy concentration on vocals but this is their opportunity to be showcased upfront, playing and performing their own music or their favourite tunes,” adds Gino Banks.
Besides the obvious showcase of talents, Ronnie Monsorate feels “it also helps the audience to be inspired and learn music as music is a source of peace.”
Even as the digital piano grows in popularity, purists like Louiz Banks believe a lot can and should be done to keep the acoustic piano in tinkling good health. “Acoustic pianos should be available for performances; at the best of times they are not.
The option of playing on digital pianos is preferred because of convenience. Piano players must insist that they are provided with acoustic pianos for their presentations.
All genres of music can be explored beautifully on the acoustic piano. Pianos should be made available in schools and youngsters should be taught to play acoustic piano at an early age. It will be an invaluable lesson towards appreciating acoustic music. Nothing compares to the piano!” Clearly, for some, it’s less Piano Day and more Piano Life!
