“Excuse me, what did you say?” asked a wide-eyed Jane Tolhurst. She had approached our executive director to begin what she assumed would be a long and potentially expensive hunt for a piano to place in the lobby of Maryville’s non-profit Blount Memorial Hospital.

“I said, ‘Would you like a piano?’ ” responded Frank Graffeo. “I have one I need to store for an indefinite length of time.”

The answer was a resounding “Yes!” and now a piano belonging to the Joy of Music School has a happy home at Blount Memorial, where volunteer pianists regularly play to lighten the mood of patients and visitors.

The idea for the piano at the hospital dates to last summer, when Blount Memorial board member Carolyn Forster thought it up. She and Connie Huffman, assistant administrator and director of the Blount Memorial Hospital Foundation, approached Jane Tolhurst, who has been involved for many years with musical programming, planning and fundraising in the community. When Jane later found herself talking with Frank, the idea got legs.

Donors often give us pianos, some of which we lend to families of our students when it’s practical. But this one, previously on loan to the Knoxville Jazz Orchestra, was a grand piano. School policy dictates we can only use grand pianos in our building or in a public setting.

A generous donor from the Blount community stepped forward to start a fund to pay for the piano’s needs during its stay, so just like that, there was money to pay for the moving expenses, a lock for the keyboard, a cover to keep the piano dust-free, and stanchions with black velvet roping to keep the piano even safer. There was even enough money left over to have the piano tuned twice a year.

Everyone who walks by now sees a sign explaining that the lovely piano was lent by the Joy of Music School to help further community appreciation and enjoyment of music.

It’s our great pleasure to help out!

 

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