Long before TikTok, the piano was the original high-stakes social broadcast. As a young middle-classer living in the 19th century, every note you played in the company of guests might be judged and remembered, making it a musical performance that could make or break you.
For a long time, the piano, invented in 1700, was only accessible to the aristocracy until around the 1800s when it became more common in middle-class houses where it served as a cornerstone of social engagement and, sometimes, as a high-stakes, key-studded status symbol.
Though it appeared to be a seemingly innocent piece of furniture meant for low-key (wink), high-brow mini-concerts, it often doubled as a strategic vehicle for climbing social ladders. If you played well, you might entwine yourself with rich landowners. If you were bad at it, well — you could personally suffer humiliation, ruin your marriage prospects, and certainly damage your family’s parlor cred.
At least that’s how it seems if you’ve read Jane Austen or watched any Regency era-based BBC mini-series. In a scene where a young woman is playing piano and singing for her guests, she might be courting a suitor and his family or she might be trying not to in order to avoid an unwanted marriage. Then again, if you’re someone like Anne Lister, you’d be sending coded romantic signals to the wealthy landowner's sister.
Playing piano was art and survival.
It was also, unlike a social media platform, a way to gather families and guests in a cozy, domestic setting — one that fostered irl community. In the 1995 adaptation of “Pride and Prejudice,” Mary Bennet plays the piano in the parlor accompanied by her sisters, and her earnestness and social awkwardness are striking, but in this social context, forgivable. The piano played another key role in society: as a central component of cultural salons where wealthy households hosted amateur and professional musicians playing the latest compositions that helped define the tastes of the elite.
The home parlor tradition faded in the early 20th century and the act of playing the piano for people found new life through public and community pianos. And of course the piano has its place in concert halls, big and small, played by emerging talent and virtuosos. This weekend, in fact, you can experience the glory of piano entertainment at the University of Montana where students and faculty of the School of Music are keeping the tradition of piano performance alive in a very fun way — and with significantly more keys.
Pianissimo! brings multiple pianists together on multiple pianos playing multiple styles. This year’s theme, “The Last Best Piece,” features arrangements by Montana’s own Dr. Jeffrey Shumway, who has donated the arranged works to the School of Music Keyboard Division.
There are two Pianissimo! concerts, on Friday and Saturday evenings, and a smaller version of the concert called Poco Pianissimo! on Sunday afternoon. This whole event is billed as an "exhilarating" annual favorite — one that looks like the perfect social gathering, but without the corsetry and with no anxious parents calculating the musical-to-marriageability ratio (I assume).
—Erika Fredrickson
FEATURED EVENT
Pianissimo! The Last Best Piece
Fri., Oct. 17, and Sat., Oct. 18, at 7:30 PM and Sun., Oct. 19, at 2 PM @ the Music Recital Hall. $25 general for Friday and Saturday, $15 general for the Poco Pianissimo! on Sunday afternoon. Senior and student discounts. Children get in for free.
On Saturday at the PEAS Farm, you get to pick out pumpkins and carve them right then and there. Bring your family, your costumes, and a heroic attitude for pumpkin artistry, whether you consider yourself more of sculptor type, a future surgeon or a kind of demonic Dr. Frankenstein. Kid-safe tools, buckets, and hoses are on hand at the farm, because pumpkin dismemberment will never ever be anything but messy. The beauty of being at the farm is you can check out the produce stand, sip fresh apple cider, and let the crisp Montana air invigorate you. Every squash, every carrot, every sip of cider helps keep the farm thriving — so technically, you’re supporting agriculture while creating your
masterpieces.
Sat., Oct. 18, from 11 AM to 3 PM @ PEAS Farm. Free to attend.
16th Annual Pumpkin Festival weekend at Turner Farm
It’s the final weekend for Turner Farms’ 16th annual Pumpkin Festival, which has been happening all throughout October. Don your cozy sweaters and beanies and head out to one of the most magical farms around. Expect a glut of bright orange pumpkins lounging on haystacks and, if you stroll through the gourd tunnel (whimsical, not creepy), you’ll find the pumpkin patch where pumpkins of every size and shape await adoption. On Friday, you can catch live music and sip cocktails from Bamboo Bar. Saturday and Sunday has more stuff going on (especially for kids) and you can expect live music and food trucks and drinks: arepas from Deli Arepa, adult bevs from Bamboo Bar, and fresh donuts from Stuffed 406.
There will be activities such as face painting and you can buy homegrown Indian corn to add to your fall décor, plus the Fall Shop — stocked with enough autumn treats to make you question your self-control. And, of course, there are the farm animals. (Side note: don’t bring your pets.) When I stopped by a few weeks ago, the baby goats were tiny and absurdly cute. One of them whispered in my ear, “Take me home with you.” And I said, very sternly — to the goat and to myself — “No.” And I shed a single tear.
Fri., Oct. 17, from noon to 7 PM; Sat., Oct. 18, noon to 6 PM; and Sun., Oct. 19 ,noon to 5 PM @ Turner Farms. Free to attend. Check out their website to find out more about the schedule for live music and food/bev trucks.
Laramie Dean’s ‘Haunt Me, Then’ reading and reception
If you were to ask me who Missoula’s resident Halloween author is, I’d say Laramie Dean without hesitation. Hellgate High’s beloved drama teacher and a local conjurer of gothic tales is the kind of storyteller who could make a PTA meeting sound ominous. (Ooh, maybe that’s too easy). This Saturday, Dean emerges from the pedagogical fog to celebrate his latest novel, “Haunt Me, Then,” at Frame of Mind — a book release party that I imagine to be a wonderful combination of eerie and endearing. Dean’s style is a little bit Emily Brontë, a little bit Shirley Jackson. In other words: atmospheric, unnerving, gothic, dark and full of passion and suspense. A description of the book, for instance,
goes like this: “Caught in a sudden Montana blizzard, Lockwood Linden takes refuge at his cousin Heath’s ranch, a decaying house with walls of rot and silence, land that stretches for miles. But safety is an illusion. From the dead orchard, a figure charges toward him — shifting into a monstrous dog before Heath drags Lockwood inside and bolts the door. And upstairs, in a room meant for rest, something begins to knock on the glass: a boy with yellow eyes, staring in from the storm.” Oooh. Shivers. Costumes are welcome but not required, especially if you’re already pretty ghoulish.
Sat., Oct. 18, from 5:30 PM to 8 PM @ Frame of Mind.
Clear eyes, full hearts … can’t lose? Friday Night Lights Skate takes place after Friday’s Griz hockey game. It’s one short but sweet hour of late-night skating under the glow of fluorescent lights. But be warned: The skating capacity is just 100, so be sure to register ahead of time or you won’t make the cut. The rink waits for no one.
Fri., Oct. 17 from 10:30 PM to 11:30 PM @ Glacier Ice Rink. $12 includes skates if you need them. Register ahead of time.
She Rises: Stephanie Meyers’ solo summit for the YWCA
Stephanie Meyers is a local treasure — the kind of person who can convince you to get up at 5 a.m. and work out in the dewy grass at Silver Park, and you won’t even hate it. She’s a personal trainer who doesn’t actually make me grumpy with her positive outlook, because she’s genuine and kind and easy to chat with about real life stuff. And she doesn’t pretend everything is OK, but she also doesn’t let that stop her. She’s a super selfless powerhouse who has worked so hard to get where she’s at. Why am I gushing about her? About a decade ago, Meyers became a caregiver and a single parent at the same time, which she said, “set my life on a completely different path that I wasn’t
expecting.” Even as an acquaintance, I have seen her deal with some rough realities, but she just kind of finds new ways to forge ahead. And usually that means pushing herself in healthy ways while supporting the people around her. This Saturday, she’s doing something that fits her personality perfectly: a solo running challenge that will raise money for the YWCA. For this challenge, dubbed “She Rises,” Meyers will summit Mount Sentinel, Mount Jumbo and Waterworks all in one day. That's 20 miles and an almost 5,000-foot climb. I’m out of breath just thinking about it, but I know she’s ready. She was kind of born ready. In a video she made for the challenge, she talked about starting to run at 16 years old and how terrible she was at it. But she realized, even then, how running (and other physical activities she trains in) can be a form of expression. “I realized running could carry what words could not,” she says. So this challenge is her way, she
says, of “supporting other women, normalizing asking for help, and reminding others and myself that we are stronger than we think.” All donations go to the YWCA, an organization whose mission is to work toward a community “free from violence and discrimination, with access to safe, decent housing and the resources to pursue their dreams.” And while she’s raising donations for the org, this solo challenge is also a statement about how showing up for yourself and showing up for others can be one and the same. You can follow her journey on Instagram, watch her video, or donate directly to support the YWCA.
‘My Two and a Half Years Behind Barbed Wire in the U.S. During WWII’
In our public schools here, we learn about WWII and the horrors of Nazi Germany, but the story isn’t complete without remembering the injustices that have happened — and are happening — in our own backyard. The Historical Museum at Fort Missoula presents Yukio Shimomura, who will share his family’s experience after the passage of Executive Order 9066. As a child, Shimomura and his family were uprooted and sent to three different War Relocation Authority camps, imprisoned while the country they called home treated them as strangers. Shimomura went on to graduate high school and earn an engineering degree from Weber State University. Why do we keep recalling these stories? You know why. His story
is one piece of a larger tapestry of Japanese American experiences during WWII. The pain of family separation and what happens when society loses sight of humanity aren't just shameful echoes of the past. This story reminds us to pay attention, because the lessons are urgent even still.
Thu., Oct. 23, at 7 PM @ UM’s Social Sciences Building, Room 356
Missoula’s public schools are grappling with the fine print of new education laws — including a fingerprint requirement for volunteers that comes with high costs but no extra funding from the Legislature to cover them.
The musician, who died this week, made work so sensual it prompted women at his concerts to howl for him to disrobe. But his artistry was always deeper than that.
