As a bar pianist, I have been in and out of these premises regularly since 2010. The Piano Bar is open for coffee during the day, but I mainly play in the evenings, from 7pm until after midnight. The bar is frequented by both locals and hotel guests, alone or accompanied and for very different reasons. Some come for the good cocktails, to celebrate in a round with others, or to relax after a stressful day. Some also come for the music.
Besides regulars, I often see new faces. Sometimes it's busy, other times it's quiet. When the stream of visitors swells and swells is usually hard to guess in advance. Suddenly it explodes and in the same way the rooms of the bar sometimes empty almost unnoticed. The team around bar manager Matthias Allgaier has grown very close to my heart. Some have been there as long as I have. André Todorovic, for example. He did his apprenticeship at the Piano Bar and is now already bar supervisor. He should know my music pretty well by now. It amuses me when he whistles along to my compositions as if they were popular hits.
What can basically be observed: It is the people who make up the atmosphere in the Piano Bar. So the very different composition of the audience can lead to special moments.
One of my attentive listeners is an elderly gentleman from England, who comes to the city on the Rhine from time to time. He always has an armchair set up right next to the grand piano and particularly enjoys old swing pieces. In return I get wonderful British humour for the evening. (Added to this is a good-natured encouragement which I have observed especially in people who have fought the battles of life and are now interested in making their counterpart feel good). A handwritten letter reached me weeks later after our first meeting at the hotel. Priceless!
Tastes, sensitivities and listening habits are different. As a bar pianist you therefore need more than musical talent - above all a sure instinct that reacts to the listeners in order to help create the atmosphere of the moment. Of course, you can't always please everyone. An older gentleman who had come to the Piano Bar apparently didn't fare quite as well as he had expected. His conclusion to my own composition Unusual Piano Groove: "It sounds like a record has jumped".
Sometimes quite unexpected similarities come to light: a regular guest occasionally works on his laptop in the Piano Bar. He comes especially for the beautiful ambience. Despite his work, he has all his antennae set on music and notices it every time I present a new piece. Then we chat a bit. For the first time after my composition Peanuts Song. Growing up with Charlie Brown and co, I was always elated and fascinated by the music. Without having told anything about it, he promptly approached me after the title that the piece reminded him of the Peanuts. What a nice surprise!
