{"product_id":"a-natural-history-of-the-piano-isbn-9780307279330","title":"A Natural History of the Piano","description":"\u003cp\u003eA fascinating celebration of the piano, including tales of its masters from Mozart and Beethoven to Oscar Peterson and Jerry Lee Lewis, told with the expertise of composer and author of \u003ci\u003eTemperament\u003c\/i\u003e, Stuart Isacoff. \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eThis history takes us back to the piano's humble genesis as a simple keyboard, and shows how everyone from Ferdinando de’ Medici to Herbie Hancock affected its evolution of sound and influence in popular music. Presenting the instrument that has been at the core of musical development over the centuries in all its beauty and complexity, this explores the piano’s capabilities and the range of emotional expression it conveys in different artists’ hands. \u003ci\u003eA Natural History of the Piano\u003c\/i\u003e is fast-paced and intriguing, with beautiful illustrations and photos, a must-read for music lovers and pianists of every level. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePraise for Stuart Isacoff's \u003ci\u003eA Natural History of the Piano\u003c\/i\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e“Isacoff’s heartfelt history of the piano will make you want to Stop! Read! and then go Listen! . . . Like listening to a fascinating raconteur who informs and entertains and really knows his stuff . . . Passion and unstoppable enthusiasm are palpable throughout this beautifully written and illustrated book.” \u003cbr\u003e—Eugenia Zukerman, \u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“A generous, welcoming book, full of oddities and insights. . . . A history written by a pianist and historian with a lively touch and a reach that spans octaves of science, culture and politics.” \u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe Dallas Morning News\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“Anybody who cares about the piano—past, present and future—will find this book irresistible reading.” \u003cbr\u003e—Tim Page \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“Wonderful. . . . The perfect gift book . . .\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003eSo layered with anecdote that it reads like a novel or a good biography.” \u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003eHudson Valley News\u003cbr\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Isacoff follows the piano into the honkytonk, the drawing room, the middle-class home and the jazz club, tracking the evolution of the physical instrument itself as well as the composers and performers who made the piano an emblem of cultural variety and a laboratory for musical form.” \u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe Wall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“That rarest of treats: a substantial book about music that’s actually easy to read. . . . As a primer on the piano and music history . . . it executes the job with distinction.” \u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe Plain Dealer\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“A big slice of heaven for piano lovers.” \u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“An exhaustive and entertaining cultural history of the piano . . . ‘Sparkling discourse’ is his aim, and he succeeds . . . An enjoyable read.” \u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe Star-Ledger\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“Fascinating. . . . A rare journey of discovery and delight. . . . Every detail is conveyed with a vivid sense of ‘you are there,’ and on every page we sense Mr. Isacoff’s enthusiasm and lifelong dedication to the art of the piano. . . . This is no obvious retelling of the piano’s development. . . . It contains a wealth of information, lavish illustrations, thought-provoking comments, and, most of all, it is a pleasure to read.” \u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003eClavier Companion\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“Deft . . . In\u003ci\u003e A Natural History of the Piano, \u003c\/i\u003eIsacoff proves as fleet-fingered as any virtuoso.” \u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe Chronicle of Higher Education\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“It’s almost like listening to the music as you read Isacoff’s relaxed, compelling prose.” \u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003eHuffington Post\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“[A] historical tribute to the piano.”\u003cbr\u003e—NPR\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“A lively, virtually all-inclusive survey of all things pianistic . . . Isacoff’s ability to convey his formidable erudition in the most engaging terms, coupled with his infectious enthusiasm for music of all kinds, make this a charming and highly readable potpourri. Informative fun for every variety of music lover.” \u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“Engrossing . . . Witty . . . Pianists at all levels, music history buffs, and academics will appreciate Isacoff’s insights and clever way with words; this is an enjoyable and informative book.” \u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“An encyclopedic and argumentative overview of all things piano. . . . Readers will be impressed . . . by the depth and diversity of Isacoff’s research and references.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“Entertaining . . . Crammed with great anecdotes and mini-essays.” \u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe Seattle Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“Informative, comprehensive, and conversational . . . Refreshing . . . A deft rendering.” \u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“Never before have I learned and enjoyed so much about the instrument and its most distinctive practitioners—transcending so many categories of music. Whether the subject is jazz or classical music, the writing is unfailingly engaging and revealing.” \u003cbr\u003e—Nat Hentoff \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“A dazzling structural juxtaposition from Mozart, Liszt and Horowitz to Joplin, Tatum and Jerry Lee Lewis, written with verve and sensitivity. Piano lovers will eat it up!” \u003cbr\u003e—David Dubal, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Art of the Piano\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Every page of this book is filled with the poetry of Isacoff’s writing as he outlines the fascinating development of the piano and its effect on music tradition throughout the centuries. The research is of great depth: how Isacoff weaves what he has discovered into a gripping and entertaining narrative is sheer magic. Essential reading for anyone who embraces not only the piano, but music, history, and culture. Bravo, Maestro Isacoff!” \u003cbr\u003e—Frank Brady, author of \u003ci\u003eEndgame\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“I loved this book. Isacoff tells the story of the piano through every conceivable device and viewpoint. . . . And he never forgets that piano lore includes the highest of high culture as well as the pop-est of pop. It’s a terrifically enjoyable read.” \u003cbr\u003e—Sara Fishko, Producer\/Host, WNYC \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“Supremely informative as well as fascinating and entertaining—highly recommended.” \u003cbr\u003e—Vladimir Ashkenazy\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“A delight, both informative and entertaining. To borrow the author’s categories, I find the writing both melodic and combustible.” \u003cbr\u003e—Dick Hyman\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“Irresistible! Stuart Isacoff charts the three-century evolution of the world’s most popular instrument with insight, love, and wit, garnished with the wisdom of today’s foremost masters of classical and jazz.” \u003cbr\u003e—Sedgwick Clark, editor, \u003ci\u003eMusical America International Directory of the Performing Arts\u003c\/i\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"The title only serves as a mere hint at the breadth of information covered in the book; the work bears a distinct parallel to Isacoff’s own considerable and multifaceted career as a pianist, critic, teacher, award-winning writer, and editor. . . . The book is a great read. . . . Any reader will part with \u003ci\u003eA Natural History of the Piano\u003c\/i\u003e having a renewed appreciation for the complexity and magic of the piano, its music and development, as well as an array of musically sophisticated dinner party anecdotes.\" \u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003eMusic Reference Services Quarterly\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"This beautifully presented survey of all things keyboard . . . is accurately and articulately mapped out by a writer who is hugely knowledgeable and, vitally, passionate about his subject.\" \u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003eInternational Piano \u003c\/i\u003e(UK), \u003ci\u003eCHOICE selection\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\"Stuart Isacoff's new book can make you fall in love with the three-legged marvel all over again. Wise, warm, witty, and always erudite, Isacoff's engaging style brings out a lifetime of love for the instrument and those who make music with it. . . . Humour and anecdote pepper the discourse, alongside vital information and an eclectic range of extra-musical references. . . . This is a treat for all pianists and pianophiles alike, one that leaves behind a rare glow of warmth.\"\u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003eBBC Music Magazine\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"So appealing. . . . A remarkable book that captures the interactions between craftsmen, composers, performers and the public in a style that is informative and entertaining. . . . Stuart Isacoff has achieved something significant in presenting a rich history of the piano in such an engaging form.\" \u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003eLiterary Review\u003c\/i\u003e (UK)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Stuart Isacoff, pianist, critic and academic, leads readers on a journey of discovery in \u003ci\u003eA Natural History of the Piano . . . \u003c\/i\u003ethe music, the musicians and 'the wondrous box' itself: a volume to inspire and delight.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e—The Independent\u003c\/i\u003e (UK), An \u003ci\u003eIndependent\u003c\/i\u003e Best Book of 2012\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eStuart Isacoff\u003c\/b\u003e is a pianist, composer, and critic; he was the founding editor of \u003ci\u003ePiano Today\u003c\/i\u003e magazine. A winner of the ASCAP Deems Taylor Award for excellence in writing about music, he is a regular contributor to \u003ci\u003eThe Wall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e and other publications. Isacoff gives lectures and performances at numerous venues, which have included the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He currently teaches at the SUNY at Purchase.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter 1\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA Gathering of Traditions\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEven as his  body began to fail, for Oscar Peterson (1925-2007) the piano remained a  lifeline. The instrument had long been a trusted companion-sparking  early dreams, conferring a place in the history books, and easing his  way in a world of racial strife. Now, at eighty- one, he looked worn  out. Arriving at the stage of New York's Birdland in a wheelchair, after  debilitating strokes had weakened his legs and slowed his left hand, he  struggled to move his heavy frame onto the piano bench.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYet, as  soon as the keyboard was within reach, even before his torso had  completed its fall into a seated position, he thrust out his right arm  and grabbed a handful of notes; at that signal, the bass player,  drummer, and guitarist launched into their first number. And suddenly  there was that sound. He still had it-a musical personality as large as  life, steeped in tradition yet recognizably, unmistakably all its own.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFor  decades, Peterson's technical command and musical instincts had  instilled in others the kind of awe and fear he expressed about his  idol, the late Art Tatum. He once compared that older piano master to a  lion: an animal that scares you to death, though you can't resist  getting close enough to hear it roar. (Classical firebrands Sergei  Rachmaninoff and Vladimir Horowitz went to hear Tatum perform and came  away with the same sense of intimidation.) And that made his comeback  all the more difficult.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Peterson style was always  characterized by rapid, graceful, blues- tinged melody lines unfurled in  long, weaving phrases with the inexorable logic of an epic narrative;  and, equally important, a visceral sense of rhythm, transmitted with  fire and snap. Those qualities for which he was renowned-effortless  fluidity and clockwork precision-were not merely aspects of his playing;  they were the very foundation on which his artistic expression rested.  And pulling them off required the highest level of athletic prowess.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAt  times that evening in 2006, in one of the few scheduled performances on  what would turn out to be his farewell tour to the world, flashes of  the old brilliance emerged, unscathed by illness and time. Yet the  strain was also clear. No matter: playing was for him as necessary as  eating and breathing. \"That's my therapy,\" he said after the set,  nodding in the direction of the piano as a small smile inched across his  half-frozen visage. But in the memorable moments during his set, the  large, glistening, ebony Bösendorfer that filled most of Birdland's  stage meant something even greater than his personal salvation; for  everyone in that room, it became the center of the universe.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt's  a role the piano has enjoyed for over three hundred years: luring music  lovers to Parisian salons to hear Chopin's plaintive improvisations,  and to Viennese concert halls for Beethoven's ferocious, string-snapping  outbursts. The piano captured the spotlight at Harlem \"rent parties,\"  where two-fisted ivory \"ticklers\" worked furiously to outshine each  other, and consoled lonely miners in the California Gold Rush as roving  European virtuoso Henri Herz performed his variations on \"Oh Susannah\"  [sic] for them. It comforted thousands of Siberian peasants who never  had heard a note of classical piano music until Russian master  Sviatoslav Richter brought it to their doorsteps. It is still capable of  wowing crowds in concert halls, clubs, and stadiums the world over.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut  the piano is more than just an instrument; in the words of Oliver  Wendell Holmes, it is a \"wondrous box,\" filled as much with hopes,  yearnings, and disappointments as with strings and hammers and felt. It  has been a symbol as mutable as the human condition, representing  refined elegance in a Victorian home and casual squalor in a New Orleans  brothel.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eConsider the gamut of emotions, from elation to dread  and even to terror, a performer may face in conquering its technical  hurdles, as the young woman in Nobel Prize-winner Elfriede Jelinek's  novel The Piano Teacher learned: \"She gathers all her energy, spreads  her wings, and then plunges forward, toward the keys, which zoom up to  her like the earth toward a crashing plane. If she can't reach a note at  first swoop, she simply leaves it out. Skipping notes, a subtle  vendetta against her musically untrained torturers, gives her a tiny  thrill of satisfaction.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTHE CRUELTY OF THE PIANO-by Piotr Anderszewski\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen  I play with orchestra, I sometimes tell myself I'll never play a  concerto again. Too many artistic compromises. I only want to do  recitals.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen I'm confronted with the extreme loneliness of the  recital, the heroism and also the cruelty involved, I sometimes think  that I'll never do recitals ever again. From now on I'll only make  recordings.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen I'm recording and am free to repeat the work as  often as I wish, the possibility of doing better, of giving the best  possible performance and where everything can turn against me, the  piano, the microphone, and above all my own sense of freedom, I think to  myself, I'll never go into a recording studio ever again. It's even  more cruel. In fact, the ultimate temptation would be to stop  everything, lie down, listen to the beat of my heart and quietly wait  for it to stop_._._.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e[Yet] sometimes I may not want to play at  all, but upon striking the final chord, I say to myself, Something  happened here. Something that is completely beyond my control. It's as  if the audience had co- created something with me. That's life. Giving  is receiving.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFROM THE BRUNO MONSAINGEON FILM Piotr Anderszewski: Unquiet Traveller\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNevertheless,  the piano can also exert an almost mystical attraction, seducing  devotees into lifelong bonds. The magic, when it happens, is  inexplicable. Even the technicians who maintain the piano's working  parts can seem at times like initiates in a mysterious cult. \"A tuner  makes a good husband,\" claims a character in Daniel Mason's novel The  Piano Tuner. \"He knows how to listen, and his touch is more  delicate_._._._Only the tuner knows the inside of the piano.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThose  innards are a miracle of invention. With wood and cast iron, hammers  and pivots, weighing altogether nearly a thousand pounds-and capable of  sustaining twenty-two tons of tension on its strings (the equivalent of  about twenty medium-sized cars)-this majestic contraption will whisper,  sing, stutter, or shout at the will of the player. Its tones range from  the lowest notes of the orchestra to the highest. It has the remarkable  ability to express music of any time period, and in any style-Baroque  fugues, Romantic reveries, Impressionist sketches, church hymns, Latin  montunos, jazz rhythms, and rock riffs. In the process, it makes  everything its own.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTHE WONDER OF THE PIANO by Menahem Pressler\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI  was recently asked by Indiana University, where I teach, to select a  new piano, and I found one that I felt was exceedingly beautiful. I've  chosen many pianos over the years, and most of the time there were some  colleagues who complained about my selection, saying, \"It's not  brilliant enough,\" or \"It's not for chamber music,\" or \"It's not for  solo performance.\" It's like when you choose your mate and someone else  says, \"I would never have married her.\" But this time it seemed that I  had selected the Marilyn Monroe of pianos-everyone loved it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe  other night I was playing the Schubert B-flat Sonata on it, and the  piano was like a living soul. This was at the end of the day, and I was  very tired. And yet I was reminded of what a happy man I am playing on  such a piano. You become elated, invigorated, and inspired_._._._all  through something built by a factory. It tells me that there is more to  life than we can see.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAt birdland, Oscar Peterson again proved  the instrument's enduring power. By the end of the evening he had the  crowd on its feet, cheering and whistling. It was a special moment, and  the audience knew it, the culmination of a unique career, and a last  chance to experience the Peterson style, crafted by melding many of the  disparate strands that ran through the piano's history. His artistry  encompassed them all.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFor dazzling technique, he followed the  lessons of the European classical tradition, culled from childhood  sessions in his native Canada, first with his sister, Daisy, then with  local pianist Louis Hooper and the Hungarian teacher Paul de Marky. He  was so serious about his lessons as a young boy that he would practice  for up to eighteen hours at a time, he said, on days \"when my mother  didn't drag me off the stool.\" De Marky was a good model: he had studied  in Budapest with Stefan Thomán, who had studied with the great Franz  Liszt-a musical titan of his day and the founder of modern piano  technique.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLiszt's phenomenal facility-in trademark rapid-fire  passages and streams of double notes, along with other exciting  displays, such as the quick alternation of hands on the keyboard (which,  he explained, he had taken from the music of J. S. Bach)-created such a  sensation that poet Heinrich Heine described him in 1844 as \"the  Attila, the scourge of God.\" Indeed, claimed Heine, audiences should  take pity on the pianos, \"which trembled at the news of his coming and  now writhe, bleed and wail under his hands, so that the Society for the  Protection of Animals should investigate them.\" Liszt's musical tricks  had made many of the breathtaking piano feats of Art Tatum possible.  (Peterson was so flabbergasted when he first heard Tatum on record that  he almost retired on the spot. \"I still feel that way,\" he admitted that  evening at Birdland.)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDe Marky trained Peterson in that great  tradition, and assigned the pianist other staples of the repertoire,  such as Chopin's treacherously difficult Etudes, along with the \"big,  rich soft chords\" (harmonies, or simultaneously sounding tones) of  Claude Debussy. \"Oscar is our Liszt and Bill Evans is our Chopin,\"  commented composer Lalo Schifrin, referring to the popular conception  that Liszt conquered the piano while Chopin seduced it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt's only  partly true: the dreamy, impressionist character of a Bill Evans  performance does suggest comparisons with the hushed, poetic approach of  Chopin, who, according to witnesses, played the instrument using a  dynamic range that fell somewhere between a whisper and a murmur. Yet  the intricate melodies spun out in an Oscar Peterson solo also owe a  great deal to the lyrical genius of Chopin, a composer whose \"irregular,  black, ascending and descending staircases of notes,\" wrote critic  James Huneker, could \"strike the neophyte with terror.\" And as he taught  Peterson, Paul de Marky homed in on Chopin's most important trait. \"I  don't hear the melody singing,\" he would tell his student. \"The melody  is choppy. Make it sing.\" And so the works of the celebrated classical  composers-great improvisers, all-served as his training ground.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePeterson's  immersion in classical studies made him an easy target for some of the  jazz crowd. Writer Leonard Feather, using the pseudonym Prof. S.  Rosentwig McSiegel, authored a lampoon about a technically astounding  pianist named Peter Oscarson who dumbfounded other musicians at a  concert by playing a \"somewhat esoteric interlude, a set of quadrilles  and French-Canadian folk songs.\" But those studies with de Marky put him  in good stead for the artistic heights that would come.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePaul de  Marky's classical expertise notwithstanding, he also encouraged Oscar  Peterson's immersion in the jazz canon. \"Mr. de Marky was a very great  pianist and teacher,\" remembered Peterson. \"What I loved about him was  that he was not shortsighted. He was a fantastic classical pianist. But I  would come to him for a lesson, and he'd be playing jazz  records\"-greats like Teddy Wilson, Nat \"King\" Cole, and Duke Ellington.  \"Their playing served as my rudiments,\" he reported.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe was swept  into almost instant fame when producer Norman Granz, visiting Canada,  heard him in a live radio broadcast in 1949, and soon after coaxed him  into playing in a Jazz at the Philharmonic concert at Carnegie Hall in  New York. Introduced as a surprise guest performer, no sooner did he  take the stage than, as Mike Levin reported in the magazine DownBeat,  the event was stopped \"dead cold in its tracks.\" According to Levin, \"he  scared some of the local modern minions by playing bop ideas in his  left hand_._._._Whereas some of the bop stars conceive good ideas but  sweat to make them, Peterson rips them off with an excess of power.\"  Reminiscing about that time, Peterson revealed that he had decided the  only way to get attention was \"to frighten the hell out of everybody  pianistically.\" He did, and the Peterson-Granz partnership was cemented.  The two ended up touring across the continent together, building larger  and larger audiences, while battling the pervasive racial prejudice  they encountered along the way.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThat American debut helped  Peterson move beyond an early reputation as an expert in the  rhythmically charged, perpetual- left-hand-motion technique of  boogie-woogie. After winning a Canadian amateur contest in the style  when he was just fourteen, he became known for a while as \"the Brown  Bomber of Boogie-Woogie,\" a takeoff on the nickname given to boxer Joe  Louis. (\"That was RCA Victor's idea, not mine,\" Peterson recalled with a  glint of anger. \"They insisted that I do that. As for whatever name  they gave me, I'm happy not to remember.\")\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJAZZ VS. THE CLASSICS\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOscar  Peterson was not, of course, the only jazz great with a classical  foundation. Even Louis Armstrong, whose sound seemed hatched from the  streets and sporting houses of New Orleans without a hint of European  influence, spoke of studying the classics as a child in the city's  Colored Waif's Home for Boys. \"I played all classical music when I was  in the orphanage,\" he recalled. \"That instills the soul in you. You  know? Liszt, Bach, Rachmaninoff, Gustav Mahler, and Haydn.\" Pianist Lil  Hardin, who eventually married Armstrong, had been a classical-music  major at Nashville's Fisk University before she joined the Creole Jazz  Band. She found the transition a bit of a challenge, however. \"When I  sat down to play,\" she said, \"I asked for the music and were they  surprised! They politely told me they didn't have any music and  furthermore never used any: I then asked what key would the first number  be in. I must have been speaking another language because the leader  said, 'When you hear two knocks, just start playing.' \" She did, they  hired her, and her life as a jazz musician was launched.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLeonard  Feather was just having a little fun with his \"Peter Oscarson\" portrait.  Yet, even today, it's easy to find \"experts\" guilty of such silly  pigeonholing. Ironically, just at the time the \"original instrument\"  movement in classical music was reaching the conclusion that the quest  for absolute stylistic authenticity in the performance of early works  was futile, the leadership of Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York was  attempting to frame the parameters of \"authentic\" jazz, as if a sort of  purity test were possible. But Whitney Balliett got it right when he  wrote that jazz was \"the sound of surprise.\" It thrives on unlimited  possibility, not hidebound categories.","brand":"Vintage","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46301352034533,"sku":"NP9780307279330","price":19.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780307279330.jpg?v=1767720669","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/a-natural-history-of-the-piano-isbn-9780307279330","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}