Mauro began by saying he came to this country in February 1981, he recalls that because it was a leap year. He has studied classical music since he was 6 at the conservatory; however, since he was 13 or 14 he knew that the piano with the keys “was enough for me.” After many years of inspiration he began looking at the inside of pianos, and he called that “a little background on his piano ventures.”

A little history on the piano: He characterized it as an extension of keyboards; before it came the organ with its bellows and pipes, and the harpsichord and a few other instruments; but all of them use a plucking mechanism, meaning that when you hit the keys, a little plug will pluck the string and make that sound. So, before the piano, no matter how soft, or loud, or how  you strike the keyboard, the volume is always the same.

He said: “I actually have a couple of harpsichords, and you sit there and you play, and the volume is always so little, and sometimes I think, years ago in an orchestra, like 50 members, who will hear the harpsichord? Well, you know what they did, for one thing, the harpsichord was long … we had henneman, to create the volume, to play in the orchestra.” There was an Italian guy by the name of Arturomayo Cristo, that was the maker of things for the deMedici family in Florence, and he is the first person who decides to remove the (?), little leather hammer to strike the strings. That way, you can play loud or soft. We know him as the inventor of the piano. However, back in those days, (the instrument) was clanky and heavy, like a harpsichord ...

Thirty years went by. It was a German, in Austria, a maker, by the name of Gotthead Silverman, who actually created the pianos we know of today. He invented what is called the “quick release.” In the early version of the piano, when you play a note, you have to let go of the key to repeat the note. So it was very hard to play. This guy invented the release, which had 20 different levers and springs. When you hit the note, the hammer comes back right away, you can repeat it, so we can (play at the) speed we do today. That’s the basic invention of the piano as we know it today.

Many centuries went by, (with) the Industrial Revolution; another main, main thing that happened to the steel industry, was cast iron, they started making the steel frames. Before that, in the time that Beethoven was playing, the pins that hold the strings, went into a sound board on top of the piano, went into wood. You couldn’t have the piano like we have today, tempered at 440. It was 430. Why? Because you tried to pull the strings more tense, it would fly away. Beethoven was playing loudly because he was a bit deaf, and he would blow strings. There was a very famous episode in which he was playing in the first chord he does, he blows a string and he changed the whole composition … 

So … yes, the history … the steel frame was invented … the families were mostly in Manchester, in England; that’s why a lot of pianos were (made?) in England, that eventually went all over the world. The major, majors, we all know Steinway, in Germany, the Bosendorfer in Austria, the Pleyel which was a French manufacturer, that was the favorite piano of Chopin…

Back  those days, if you were a piano company you would hired a piano player, and he would come on down and play your piano … Just to give you a quick reference, at the turn of the century, 1900, 1905 or 1910, in upstate New York, in this country, there were over 550 piano makers, Stokerach, Pappelmann, Stoer, they would make pianos …There’s only three left in the country. There’s Mason and Hamlin, one of the early American-made pianos, which was sold to China and bought (about 10 or 12) years ago, there’s Steinway which is still in Germany, and the other in Queens in New York. 

I had the pleasure of visiting the factory. There’s a film, actually, called “Twelve Pianos,” you can find on Apple TV or … It’s a film that is basically showing all these things you can do with pianos, installation here on the coast, and so forth; you can download it. Send me a quick email, and I can send you (information; he’s at www.mauroffortissimo.com, it’s on videotape; I already have (some)) 

So there’s only three or four left (pianomakers); it’s very unfortunate because pianos were basically built --- there’s a craft to it --- that uses carpenters, many, many trades involved in pianomaking, and unfortunately it’s a craft we are losing. There’s a company here in Berkeley, DC  Pianos; they don’t make pianos, they fix pianos, they repair pianos, but there’s so much of that going on … One of the largest piano factories called (?) in China, they sold 150,000 pianos a year, which is kind of – People ask me, where do you get pianos? I am offered pianos every week, they know me; I don’t only play pianos, but I make a sculpture with piano parts.   I have many pianos taken apart, I have a shop here on Highway One and Kelly (with) barns in the back. Later, you can come and see some of my sculptures with piano parts; I use only piano parts, down to the screw. There are so many things; I try not to bring any other materials into the making of the sculptures that I do. 

A little bit more about my adventures with pianos: I used to run a yoga studio near Kelly Avenue, called Enso. One day a student came over and said, I bought a house, and (in it) there’s a piano we don’t play, would you like to have it? I said yes, I’ll take it; I put it in my truck and took it down to Enso, and I was starting to take it apart. Well, that corner there; as you know if you live in town, there is a state park to the right, and the left area belongs to the City of Half Moon Bay, but there is also a horse trail, a bike path, a walking lane. So I happened to be there (playing) on a Friday night, Saturday there were 10 people, Sunday there were 100; after a couple of weeks it became really large. There were the L.A. Times, the Chronicle, TV cameras for some 10 days, and I had my 15 minutes of fame. There was a lady there who worked in San Francisco (this was in 2013); she couldn’t get close to the piano but she knew a person here in Half Moon Bay and wound up connecting him to the yoga studio. To make a long story short, he ended up with an offer to help in the Tenderloin area and to move pianos; they gave him $35,000 to play for a couple of years; he played mostly for the homeless. 

But for a while, he was lent space in a condemned building at Market and Sixth, that had storage space big enough for grand pianos. They also had platforms with big wheels, large enough to move pianos, and lamps in every corner; so that what he did “fit right in.” After a while he went to the U.N. Plaza, which had the U.N charter founded in 1948. 

He played there for a couple of years, and then found Half Moon Bay; and a place beautiful enough to play by the ocean and to play in a boat for whales. He recalled some colorful characters and one homeless fan, Neil, who lived in a tent and came in a wheelchair with an oxygen tank, and who turned out to be “an amazing player.” He  came every Friday and played many different things there before his death.

He said that one day they wanted to do something in a more natural environment, so they approached people who were connected to Golden Gate Park. Its 75^th anniversary was coming up; they wanted to do something, and did, and “everybody had such a great time.” They had 12 pianos for 12 days, and anyone could play. They decided to have friends join them;  the decided to do it annually. No, this is the tenth year. It takes place Sept. 10-22 in s “beautiful environment” full of flowers and birds.  He recalled playing once and looking down to a little gopher looking up at him and eating clover. Sometimes you are playing there and sometimes joined by orchestras in the “Great Meadow” including the Golden Gate Symphony conducted by Boris Steiner, and the Oslo Orchestra. Pieces have also been commissioned to be written and performed there. There were also stories about what can happen when you are playing outdoors in nature.

He spoke of young musicians playing out in nature: “they’re a bit shy and they don’t want to play. But you take the piano out of the living room and you put them in nature; you can be playing and a bird would go by or a tree branch would make some sounds, and it’s been more relaxing and kids love to play

He said they have a chair which a dozen people love to use, so anybody can just come over. The event is free; you may pay depending on the time of the year. They welcome donations, it being San Francisco here there is a little more money. He said that friends may come from San Jose where they have to drive a little to get there and there can be parking fees. He also recommended getting many tickets to give some away.

He spoke a little about himself: he is a painter and a poet, hosting a poetry gathering in North Beach near City Lights, at the Adler Museum, where there is an amazing collection of posters. He does that once a month on a Wednesday night, poets’ night. He spoke of having met a San Francisco poet laureate there, and Lawrence Ferlinghetti. “To me, it as a dream,” he said. 

He said he has always loved Beat stuff, starting when he came to California and loved poetry and the Beat movement. He recalled a New Year’s Italian lunch at Union Square, when he sat with Jack, wife Aggie and daughter and himself, and they took turns reading. So he got up to read a poem by Italian poet and filmmaker Paolo Pasolini, first in Italian and then English; he admitted he did not fluently speak Spanish or Italian though his parents are from Italy (“I mix a lot of Castilian (a dialect of Spanish) into it,”) and a gentleman came up to him afterward and said, “Your poem was really good. Wh-what dialect as that?”

Later, he said, he found out that Ferlinghetti and Jack Hirschman were the two first American writers who translated Pasolini’s work from the Italian into English, which is a nice treat.

Brenda, who also served as a U.S. Sales manager for Skadi Cyber Defense, started her presentation by passing around business cards and a signup sheet for those who wanted a copy of her presentation. Also she asked listeners to put down a number from 1-100 she would use in a drawing from her phone for a $25 gift card. She also described the “honor” of speaking in this “beautiful coastal community that I absolutely love.”

Her company is Skadi Cyber Defense, and she pointed out the indigo graphic image on her business cards of a Norwegian warrior princess, drawing her bow with a long bright-orange arrow fitted to it. She said Skadi is there to “help protect the world against cyber attack.” Her company was founded to protect small businesses, because there are many companies out there focused on the big guy and big money. Small businesses that want protection often hear, you aren’t big enough. She noted that while her presentation is focused on small businesses, there are many individuals here to whom this will apply. She recounted frequently hearing of someone being hacked, or losing life savings, or having their computer compromised. So it’s important to her to educate listeners to stay safe against this threat. She gave her contact information and invited listeners to contact her (brenda.johnson@skadicyber.com).