PIANO & JACK

The landlord decided to sell up. There was the immediate but short-lived fear that they’d all have to move out, until they realised that they could buy their three floors. The house was never divided up, the middle floor, with it’s pink walls and upright piano, remained a shared space. Jack and Stella hammered away at the keys – a limited repertoire, mostly ‘Chopsticks’ and the piano was never in tune but it provided a focus for the two families to spend time together. In 2010, after 25 years, Jan and Lief decided to move. The piano would have to go. They left a crowbar and a hammer. Dismantling it revealed the wood without its thick layer of lacquer, the insides were still marked with penciled measurements. Jack extracted the teeth, filling a thin plastic bag with the keys. The wooden panels now sit in his new home. He’s making them into a chest for the hallway of his shared flat.

12 May 2013