constuction pianoNovo

I used the story of encountering the piano being beaten in the narrative for the piece. It poetic; an object of beauty being beaten by hammers. Less poetic was getting it into the above for. First KG and I arrived with the truck. We move boulders together for her design build company, but we couldn't budge this. I came back with Al Frega and a big truck. Al specializes in massive metal art in Durham. He his son and I moved onto the truck and into the back yard. First I played with the piano, had Fiona then 1 year old dance on the strings. Then I began to take it apart with a series of bongs and clangs and ominous tones that became the score to my deconstruction work. Nothing sounds creepier than taking apart a piano. I dutifuly and carefully took it apart until I ran out of time and space. I had to clear the decks for the Sign Wave. I had to bang out the pins that held the strings with hammers and stow it in the basement. (guilt) Once I started working with it again 6 months later, I sawed out the undamaged wood sound board. This created an appealing wing like shape. With that as a fixed price, I collaged the other piano elements until it formed the above configuration. This visually resonated. I cut up the brassy harp and fabricated a base on wheels. (How things are moved, how they are transported and how they fit in doors is always consideration to ignore at peril. I still sometime do) I didn't have the space to add the wing on top so I had to mount it in the truck on my lunch break the day of the install. This was the first time it all came together. It was fun working on the truck by the Scrap Exchange. I dropped a critical screw and a little girl found it and "saved the sculpture." The actual install went off without a hitch.