Deconstructing a Piano

While living in England during the 1980s, I fell in love with an antique piano. The front was a beautiful inlayed wood design with candle sconces. Every time I looked at it, it stirred my imagination and carried me back to bygone eras. It didn’t matter that it was slightly out of tune and weighed over 500 pounds. It was beautiful.

Thirty five years later, it still sat in my living room. Still beautiful, still unable to carry a tune, and still too heavy to move far. What was I holding on to? It turns out that I was holding out for the moment when I would realize that I could take it apart and create new life with it. With a screwdriver and hammer in hand, I am in the midst of the puzzle of deconstructing…pausing every now and then to pay homage to the men who built it.

I don’t know yet what I will do with the pieces. I’m drawn to making the front panel with the sconces a mantel piece and the inner workings into wall art…or perhaps a sculpture. What I do know is that the piano will live on and I will shed myself of the weight and space that the old form took up. I also realize that it’s a metaphor for my life right now. There are times to appreciate, times to let go, times to create, times to allow space for new things to grow. What are you holding on to that no longer serves you and what might you create if you let it go? It’s something to think about this week.