Humans of Old Town
“Anything that you try to get better at, it has a resonating effect to the rest of your life, and that’s why I play piano. I’m trying to improve myself as a human being, and this is just a tool that I was fortunate enough to be given.”
There are a million people in this world, each with their own unique story. Fort Collins, Colorado is no exception and Andre is one of the many Humans of Old Town. Four months ago, our Piano Man decided he needed to just get away from the overwhelming city of New Orleans, so he got in his car and left. He ended up in Fort Collins, and soon found himself perched at the various painted pianos that are dispersed throughout the city.
“[Playing piano] is a little different out on the street because so many different things go through your mind like…any kind of noise is jarring to the creative process…It’s hard to pin point it, but I feel like there’s different — it’s really hard to describe stuff we haven’t quantified yet but — there’s a different flow. There are different states of mind that you can find yourself in, and there’s this state where everything kind of comes second to what this is. Even if someone’s tapping me on the shoulder, it wouldn’t bother me in the least. But then there’s moments like today where I’m like f***ing terrible…I’m just struggling to get through a song I’ve played a million times much less write my own or make something that I’ve written before better. So you can really drive yourself insane trying to get yourself back to that moment. But I think if you just let go then what happens is you don’t have any thought. Like nothing in my head is worth even remarking about at that moment. All of my attention and all of my being is dedicated to [playing piano] at that moment and it’s rare that I find myself in that space, but when you do you’re like ‘oh this is great!’ and you don’t want to get up from it.”
