Did you know today is World Piano Day? Honestly, I had no clue. 🎹
After stepping outside for the first time in a while, I was surprised by the chill in the air. I ditched my plan to ride a bike and went back inside to browse through streaming services for some music. Then, one of the recommended playlists caught my eye: ‘World Piano Day.’ 🌍🎶 There are so many quirky holidays out there – yes, even a Cat Day exists. It’s a little strange if there wasn’t a day for piano, but it made me curious about its origin, so I dived into the web. The first thing I found was an article about the renowned classical label, Deutsche Grammophon, hosting an online concert on the 28th to celebrate World Piano Day. There were tons of news about record labels offering free or paid streaming for piano concerts. But no matter how much I scrolled or changed my search terms, I couldn’t find a page that explained the holiday in detail.
So, I switched my search to English and checked international sites. There were quite a few articles, but oddly, some said the holiday falls on March 29, while others said March 28. One article starts with ’29th March will be World Piano Day…’ right above another saying ’28th March! World Piano Day!!’ 🎼 It felt a bit odd that even a well-known day could have confused dates, but my doubts were cleared when I read the explanation on the official Piano Day page, pianoday.org.
Piano Day, an annual worldwide event founded by a group of like-minded people, takes place on the 88th day of the year – in 2020 it’s the 28th March – because of the number of keys on the instrument being celebrated.
The explanation was that Piano Day is celebrated on the 88th day of each year in honor of the 88 keys on the piano. This year, March 28 happens to be that day. (Seriously, February always feels like a month that throws everyone into confusion.)
The genius behind this idea is Nils Frahm, a German pianist and composer. He’s known for blending classical piano pieces with electric pianos and other fusion instruments in crossover jazz. 🎹🎷 You’d think a day like this would be started by a pure classical aficionado, but hey, what a surprise! Seeing the diverse range of artists participating, from classical to fusion jazz musicians, reminds me that musicians are probably purer than politicians. Though, of course, these events do bring in money.
Turns out all the info I was hunting for was neatly organized on pianoday.org. If you have time to spare, I recommend checking out this site for the dazzling lineup of performances and recitals planned for this year, or dive into SoundCloud to listen to past Piano Day playlists. (I wandered in without a care and suddenly, two hours had flown by.) 🎧
Actually, if it weren’t for stumbling upon a performance of ‘Turkish March Variations’ by Son Yeol-eum on ‘Hang Out With Yoo?’, which left me breathless until the end, I might have just skipped over the ‘Piano Day’ playlist. Watching that, you realize the pro world is not just cool but also incredibly intense. 🎹🔥
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