A “Grand” acquisition for Trinity United

Feb 17, 2011

Photo: John Hall and Annabelle Twiddy and the new Steinway grand at Trinity United church in Verona

It arrived three weeks ago and no one seemed more excited than Annabelle Twiddy, musical director at the Trinity United Church in Verona and St. Paul’s in Harrowsmith. “It” is a six-foot Steinway grand piano, built in 1901, which Annabelle says will be a much-appreciated addition to the church's music program. “This is a top of the line instrument and I see it as a gift both to the choir and to the entire congregation.”

Though the church was not actively looking to acquire a new piano, Annabelle said, “This was a once in a lifetime chance.“ She became aware of the Steinway from an individual in Brighton, who along with her business partner had the Steinway totally reconditioned using all original Steinway parts. “Its tone is wonderful; the piano is virtually perfect for this sanctuary. And although we did have to remove two pews to fit it in - everyone felt that it was well worth it.” The price was also right and Annabelle said they paid likely less than half of what a piano of this calibre would normally fetch. She also pointed out that it was the church congregation who decided to make the purchase through the help of an endowment left to the church by a late member of the congregation, Mrs. Ila Townsend. “The original plan was to borrow the funds from the endowment to buy it and then raise funds to pay it back but the congregation decided to use the endowment to purchase the piano outright.”

The Steinway will replace a 100-year-old, ornate Wormwith upright that was made in the old S&R building in Kingston. The Wormwith, which graced the church’s dais for years, was moved downstairs and will be used in the Sunday school area. Asked to compare the two, Annabelle said, "On a scale of ten, the Steinway is a nine and a half and the Wormwith is a five.”

The other advantages of the Steinway grand are that its sound and location will make it more readily heard by the choir and will also enable whoever is playing it to hear the choir more readily. Similarly, its location, sitting on one side of the main floor in the sanctuary facing the altar, will allow for eye contact between the piano and organ player as well as the conductor. For those reasons Annabelle said, “It’s a win, win situation for everybody.”

After allowing the Steinway to acclimatize to the church hall for two weeks, piano technician John Hall, who owns and operates the Canadian Piano Museum in Napanee, arrived to fine tune it and work on its touch regulation. After opening up the keyboard to view its inner workings he paid tribute to the instrument. ”Because these instruments are hand crafted and have 10,000 individual pieces, each can take up to a year to make. They are different from other mass-produced instruments in that Steinways have a great design and are built with only the very best materials. Where mass-produced pianos will always sound very good, a good Steinway will sound excellent and that is usually determined by the ability of the technician that works on it in its final stages.”

It's Annabelle's first time playing a Steinway and after playing it at two church services she said, “Everyone was really blown away by it. And personally- I'm thrilled. Anyone who is a musician can appreciate it. The fact that it gives back so precisely what you give to it is what makes it so special.”

Annabelle is quick to point out that the piano-playing community will be able to have access to the new instrument. “ What we have here is one of a kind instrument in a public place and we definitely don't intend this to be a private, closed house resource. Instead we want the instrument to be viewed as a community resource.”

The acquisition also comes in perfect time for Twiddy, who is beginning to organize the Community Choir for Trinity United's annual Early Easter Sunday Concert, which will take place at 7:00AM. Twiddy is now looking to recruit any interested singers from the surrounding community to join the ranks. Practices will begin on Thursday Feb. 24 at 7:45PM at Trinity United church in Verona. Reading music is a plus but not a must and interested persons can contact her at 613-372-2525.

For anyone participating or attending the concert this year - it will hard not to notice the newest three-legged member of the music program at the church. Its name - Steinway. And it both is and sounds grand.