Day 1000

Today marks the 1000th day of the piano's time outdoors. To celebrate the occasion, two Brown students made nighttime visits to the piano and shared their reflections.

Dina Pfeffer ('26.5) is a Music and Comparative Literature concentrator at Brown and plays guitar, banjo, and electronics. They write:

"I visited the piano at 8pm this Wednesday to check in on the instrument’s 1000th day outside. The night was dark, crisp, and a little windy. In the dark, the piano blends into the environment, and looks apiece with the natural world: the trees that surround the piano, and the dead leaves that blanket the ground beneath it and have begun to fill the crevices of its body. I shined a flashlight to better see what state the instrument was in. The side panels are uncurling, gracefully, from the body, and the piano’s lid has broken into planks, which now rest atop the strings in a pile. With all its finish stripped away from elemental exposure, the exposed wood of the piano begins to resemble the mottled yellow-red-brown of the New England fall. I tried playing the keys, most of which no longer move. Any sound the piano is still able to produce is quieter than the sound of leaves rustling in the wind."

Xavier Dargan ('26) is a Music and Computer Science double concentrator, plays violin and piano, and has been one of the students who has seen the piano since its first day outside. He put together a short video documenting his visit to the piano around 9 pm, observing the weather, the piano's playability, and its age:

"The cover coming off I think really cooked the piano because of course, the strings have snapped. Some of them, there's sticks and leaves in the way of the percussion, and of course things are coming apart. But for 1000 days I don't think this is in terrible shape. I remember playing for the 300th day in the winter and having to do a technique where I had to bring the keys up and down in order to play them. [...] We had rain the other day. Snow is on its way. Hopefully many more days. But I think this is a very happy 1000th celebration, and I hope more music is to come."

Days in place: 1000

Weather: clear skies, 45°F