Tickling the Ivories

Ever since I was five years old I have been playing piano. It makes me happy to play and friends love to listen. I grew up with a piano in the house so anytime I felt the urge to knock out some songs I could, so long as nobody was asleep or watching their weekly dose of Desperate Housewives (Mom!).

Coming to college scared me, however. I no longer had immediate access to my smooth Baldwin upright and I didn’t know if there would even be a place to play. As it turns out, there is. After the Student Union Building was renovated this past summer, the new Evans Student Center (the old Dining Hall in the Residence Quad) added a private room for the school’s public-use Yamaha upright piano! The building is open 24 hours to Florida Tech students and the room is never locked. If for some reason it is locked, security will gladly open it any hour of the day. And I mean any hour, 4:30 a.m. included.

I practiced on that piano for hours gearing up for the Student Government Association’s annual Talent Show. I would stumble in on other Florida Tech pianists who happened to be practicing for it as well. It’s a great way to meet people just like you who share a passion for music.

For those of you who share an extended passion for music, there are clubs here that are excellent for musicians. College Players, one of the longest running clubs at Florida Tech, has a pianist position that uses the baby Grand Piano in the Gleason Auditorium. That piano is such a joy to play, especially in a concert hall. The sound has just a pitch-perfect echo when played in the center of the stage.

After three years at Florida Tech, I still think we could use another piano, but the one we have is tuned excellently and is always available. I feel very lucky to be able to attend a technical college, fly planes and still have a piano readily available at any time of the day free of charge. Talk about getting an all-around experience.