THE PIANO

     Today, I introduce a story of man who is loved by music. Its title is ‘THE PIANO’. As you can see from the title, he is good at playing the piano. In this story, you know how does he succeeded as a piano player. I will introduce important scenes with quotation.

 

Mr. Wood came to the door and spoke to Tony’s mother. ‘Hullo, Betty. It’s nice to see you again. Thank you for your letter. How are you?’ They talked together like old friends.

     Although this scene is not important, what I am interested in is expressing ‘hello’ as ‘hullo’. When I read ‘Hullo’ for the first time, I thought it was a printing mistake or a publisher’s mistake. According the Internet, this ‘Hullo’ is mainly used in England, and has same meaning as ‘Hello’. In the same way, ‘Hallo’ is used in Germany and Netherlands. I was interested in the mysterious variation of Hello.

 

 ‘Tony is a boy’s name,’ said Mr. Gordon. ‘Anthony is a man’s name. Tony Evans was farm boy. Anthony Evans is a musician. One day, Anthony Evans will be famous all over the world. And from today I’m going to call you Anthony.’

     When Tony found his name in programme of a music competition, he asked his piano teacher why can’t programme call him Tony. I have always been interested in the culture of nicknames in the English-speaking world. In my image, American are encouraged to call by nickname even when they meet for the first time. In Japan, nickname is proof of getting along. So, Japanese do not ask man who meet for the first time to call nickname. This scene is not important too. However, I thought the idea of the name was great and I was convinced by the difference between the real name and the nickname.

 

But suddenly Anthony felt their love and their kindness. His feet stopped hurting, his hands stopped shaking. ~ he forgot about himself. He forgot about all the strange people on the theatre, and he just played for his friends.

     It is the scene that Tony played the piano in the music competition. I learned playing the piano. Every time I participated in a piano recital, I was nervous and never had a satisfying performance. So, I envy him. He was able to play calmly at the competition because he was loved by music, but he worked hard on both piano lesson and helping the farm. Only helping the farm is hard work, but he did not cut corners either.

 

 

     This book does not detail how he became a famous pianist. It writes why he want to be a pianist. So, I want to know his anguish, frustration, and joy of becoming a top pianist.