Steinway

Piano Adventures: The X Ambassadors Benefit Event Photo Essay

Back in June of 2004, I moved 2,782 miles from Ithaca, NY to the Portland, OR area to attend School of Piano Technology for the Blind (formerly the Emil Fries School of Piano Tuning and Technology), colloquially known as the Piano Hospital, in Vancouver, WA.

A year later in 2005, in what is to this day one of the wackiest coincidences of my life, Casey Harris made the same journey from Ithaca, NY and joined me as a fellow piano tech student.

Now a bona fide rock star as the keyboard player for the hit band the X Ambassadors, Casey no longer tunes pianos for a living, but is on the road for what seems to be 362 out of 365 days of the year, touring and performing with his band. This past weekend, in Portland for a show headlining the Widmer Brothers Oktoberfest in downtown Portland, Casey and his brother Sam, the lead singer of the band, generously detoured (ha! puns) to the ‘Couve for a few hours to perform as part of a benefit show for the Piano Hospital.

Piano Adventures: The Ten Grands Benefit Photo Essay

Over the past week, I have spent the majority of my time immersed in preparations for the annual Ten Grands concert, a benefit for noted musician and composer Michael Allen Harrison’s Snowman Foundation.

In a time when arts education is being affected by budget cuts in schools nationwide, the Snowman Foundation is dedicated to bringing access to music education to the Portland, OR community and beyond. As someone greatly shaped by having had ample access to music education, via private lessons in piano, voice, clarinet, as well as summer music camp attendance and participation in school choirs, I am a firm believer in the value of learning music and the Snowman Foundation’s mission.

Therefore, I could not have been more excited and enthusiastic about being the designated piano tuner for the foundation’s annual preeminent event, in which ten gorgeous Steinway grand pianos are situated on one stage for a concert featuring a variety of local artists, ranging from ridiculously talented middle-school guitarists to renowned recording artists such as Tom Grant.

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