Chapel pianist · Cinder Isle (5th island, volcano), Cinderhold (forge town), chapel (Chopin Barcarolle Op. 60).
Talk
- “Name's Bruno. I play the piano in the chapel. People ask how a piano got up here. I tell them the dwarves carried it. They ask where the dwarves went. I tell them that's a different question. Then I play louder.”
- “It's Chopin. A barcarolle. That's a boat song. The gondoliers in Venice sang them while they rowed. The nearest boat to here is down at the landing. So I row up here, in my head. Thirty years, nobody's asked me for a ride. Smart people, on a volcano.”
- “The ash comes in under the door. Settles on the keys. I don't wipe it off. It's part of the sound now. The low notes sound a little burnt. You get used to it. The piano did.”
- “Folks come in from the slopes all scorched and quiet. They sit. They listen. They leave a little less scorched. That's not the church. That's the shade. But I'll take the credit.”
- “My father said, Bruno, you'll never make a living playing piano on a volcano. He was right. I make my living fixing Torvald's bellows. The piano's just for me. And whoever's in here hiding from the heat.”
- “You ever hear the mountain rumble in the middle of a quiet part? I leave a rest there on purpose now. Give it room. You don't want to step on the mountain's line. It doesn't do second takes.”
When you walk off mid-sentence
- “Ah, you leave in the middle. It's okay. With Chopin also, nobody waits for the end.”
- “Go, go. The piano and I will finish together. We always do.”
- “Leaving the chapel early. Very smart. It's warm in here. Too warm. Is a volcano.”