The Traveling Piano
by Mickie Friedman as told to Alison Fox
My father Nathan Gandelman was a remarkable man. When he was barely the age of twelve he was sent off to the U.S. — from Minsk, then in Russia — by his parents to join relatives in New York City, but then chose to settle in New Haven, CT, with other members of his family. He obviously thrive and from a young age showed great spirit, a spirit tht would follow him into adult life and evolve into a passion for knowledge, nature and music. This passion would color our lives throughout our childhood.
I was ten and my brothers twelve and fifteen, when my father decided to provide all of us with musical instruments so we could become a family ensemble. One brother got a violin, the other a horn.For me he bought a baby grand piano, a Knabe. My mother took singing lessons and my father played the mandolin.
It soon became apparent that the boys were much more into sports than music. they hated practicing. I didn’t do much better, even when I switched to jazz, and before long my father’s great aspirations fell apart
Time we on. I married and my husband and I took over the family home. The piano stayed but was seldom played. When two children came along, we moved to our own home. The piano went with us. Because it had become rather worn looking, we had it refinished, it’s crackled glaze removed, and the keyboard replaced. It stood in our living room, a handsome ornament, but seldom played.
When we started going to Florida and were ready to sell out house, the question loomed — what should we do with the piano? Our older daughter wanted to sell it, but the younger daughter, reasoning that it would be difficult to get what it was wroth, asked if she could have it, mainly as a memento from her youth. And off it went to Hamden. After some time the first daughter changed her mind and decided to take piano lessons. She asked her sister if she would give her the piano, as it was seldom played, to take to her home in Massachusetts. Once again the piano traveled.
The story does not end here, however. When the Hamden daughter’s seven-year-old grandson showed a serious interest in playing the piano, her sister decided to make a gift of the well-traveled piano to the young boy and his family. And so it moved to Cheshire. Today the grandson shows a definite flair, maybe even a talent, for playing — and he happily practices every day. Not only doe the piano look magnificent, it is being enjoyed the way it should be. It has now been in the family for seventy-nine years and the wish is that it will remain in the family for many generations to come.
(Editor’s note: Mickey Friedman is a longtime Connecticut resident and TMV Editor-in-Chief Joe Gandelman’s aunt.)