Baby Grand

The Buchanons with the "Baby"

Audra Simmons, pianist and organist tries it out

Our congregation has a new 100 year-old baby in its midst – it's a baby grand piano, manufactured by P. A. Starck & Co. around 1900. The piano was donated to the church by the Buchanan family, and it has the rich, dulcet tones of a seasoned instrument. We are very grateful for this gift, which will be a tremendous asset to our music ministry. We will dedicate the instrument during the Pentecost worship service on Sunday, May 15. In preparation for this event, we asked Brad Buchanan to provide some history of the piano, as well as some personal reflections of this family heirloom. Brad writes:
"Owned by the Buchanan family for the last 50 years or so, the piano was purchased by them from Judge William L. Hungate, former U.S. House Representative from the 9th Congressional District of Missouri, and former Federal Judge in the St. Louis area. Family legend has it that the Hungates purchased the piano from Champ Clark, who served as Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives immediately preceding WW I.
"Whatever the actual history of the piano might be, it was always a magical instrument for me. My mother was the organist for the First Presbyterian Church of Bowling Green, Missouri, for many years during the 1960’s, 70’s and 80’s. She could always make magical sounds come out of that piano, and since she passed away in 1995, I miss hearing her play it.
"But as a kid, the piano was even more important to me as our play fort. My brothers and I often played cowboys and Indians, or Civil War Battles, and the piano was our fort where we used to defend ourselves from our imaginary attackers, whomever they might be on any given day. Mom called it our “piano-forte,” because we were usually very loud while in the fort.
"One Christmas, when I was probably around 6 years old, we received a toy cannon as one of our presents. It shot soft plastic balls about the size of a grapefruit. My Mom and Dad were having a holiday party, and my older brother Buck and I were holding down the piano-fort, which was in the entryway of the house, by the front door. We were engaged in Civil War play that evening. When the bookkeeper for my Dad’s company walked in the door that night, according to his own account of the incident, all he heard was, “Ready, aim, fire!” and a plastic cannonball hit him right in the middle of the forehead. At first, he thought he had been shot, and seemed thoroughly put out with our play barrage. Shortly thereafter, Mom removed the artillery from our toy arsenal, and I never did see that cannon again.
"Mom played that piano most every day, getting ready for the upcoming church services. But we boys were, well, “lively” would be a kind word for it. So if you can picture three boys running around the piano, screaming like banshees, while my mother tried to rehearse Schubert or Mozart for church, you can perhaps begin to grasp her frustration. One day she gave us some colored chalk, and told us to crawl under the piano and draw pictures and play tic-tac-toe on the bottom of the piano. As long as it was underneath the piano, where it could not be seen, it was OK. The rule was we could never draw on the outside of the piano, where it could be seen. Well, drawing up inside the piano quieted us down some, and allowed Mom to rehearse. Our scribblings are still on the underside of the piano, if anyone cares to look.
"Having a Mother who played as consistently as my Mom did, I grew up with an appreciation for music, all kinds of music. As I grew older, and began to sing in choirs, Mom and I would work up solo pieces for church, or have other kids over to form duets or quartets. I spent many hours singing around the piano as a kid. And now that I am a member of the choir at the First Presbyterian Church, I will get to sing around it again, hopefully for many years into the future.
"Looking at the piano now, through middle-aged eyes, I can see a lovely instrument, a beautiful piece of furniture. But if I can strip away the haze of my middle-aged pragmatism, now and then I can still glimpse the magic that piano held for me as a child. It was an instrument that produced awe and wonder in me (and made a heck of a nice fort), and I am happy it is in a locale where it can do so again, in the hands of our very gifted pianists, Audra Simmons and Pat Humphrey.
"My family is very happy Mom’s piano has found a good home, one where it will be treasured, and used as the fine old instrument it is. The piano symbolizes motherhood for me, and so it will always be a noble and beautiful instrument in my eyes."