Harper Dalton (with Lemon and Cindy)- “ One of my dreams was always to buy my own home and put a piano in it. You can’t really do that when you’re renting so that was my dream. I was in Sydney living briefly for a time and I got this piano from an elderly lady who was about to go into a care facility. The piano had been in her family and in her house for 40 years. It had never been moved so was in perfect condition. I got the piano for free, bought my house in South Lismore and took the piano home with me. I kept it in storage for 3 months while I settled and then put it in my house, a 110 year old piano in perfect condition. When it arrived I had it tuned and it was a dream come true.
Then the flood happened and it was completely destroyed. We had to chainsaw it up to get it out of the house. I lost absolutely everything but the piano was one of the biggest losses of mine because it wasn’t just a piano to me, it signified that whole dream and the fruition of years and years of hard work.
There was a program on the ABC about Pianos for the People by Yantra De Vilder who puts pianos around Sydney in public places. She is the main proponent of that project where you see beautifully painted pianos around the city for anyone to play. Yantra also organised Pianos for the People who have been flood impacted and she’s in Sydney co-ordinating all of this. Yantra and volunteer Tamara organised getting the pianos from people who were giving them away and organising the funds through donations for the delivery. My piano was delivered by proper piano movers and she also organised to get the piano tuned when it arrived so I can play again.
I’m so happy that I can play again because that’s what personally gives me quality of life. That’s how I express my emotions. I don’t have any training but I play what my heart is feeling and to me it’s so therapeutic. In terms of healing from the flood after losing everything, I didn’t have any way to express my emotions and have that cathartic process I was used to with the piano. I had months and months without it and I was concerned I couldn’t play again but just now, a year on I’m getting back into the swing of it. I don’t write any of my music, I just improvise.
Music brings people together, it’s healing and it’s something that’s so universal no matter what language you speak. The piano tuner was a guy called Joel Breski. He’s done piano tuning all over the world but I wanted to give him a shoutout because we have our Fred Cole who we love but if he’s travelling or away this guy came over from Mullumbimby and he was really kind and empathetic.
I’m so grateful to Yantra and what she’s done. It’s been a Godsend. If I’m feeling good and happy I can express myself, if I’m feeling sad or moody I can express myself. I can start to learn again. It’s good for anybody to learn new things. It’s keeping me focussed on positive things and also giving me that creative, healing outlet as well. So I’m back in my home, still rebuilding, but without Yantra I never would have done this for myself.”
