The Triano Story
The Triano Story
One summer in the mid 1990's I observed a man performing ragtime music while sitting on a unicycle seat that was attached to a cocktail piano (a keyboard with only 56 keys rather than 88) that was suspended on a metal frame. I had taken my family to (the now defunct) theme park and minor league training facility called "Boardwalk and Baseball" in Central Florida where he was playing and pedaling. His contraption intrigued me. Since I had no camera, I tried to study it as much as possible as he sped away. This was back before mobile phones with cameras were available to me.
When we returned home I began searching for an appropriate piano to customize in a similar manner. After a decade of searching I finally found one buried among assorted used appliances, plastic plants, and stuffed animals in a thrift store for $100. I was excitedly perplexed. I had just recently lost my job and I couldn't justify the seemingly imprudent purchase, but then the owner agreed to accept one half of the price. I knew at once that I would never find another one like it so I brought it home. I was determined to immediately prove to the doubters who were with us that it was a worthy investment.
There are no photos of the poor condition it suffered when I purchased it, but here is another piano of mine (below) that shows how the Triano used to look like back then.
Then I learned that a 1940s era movie was going to be filmed sixty miles away in Savannah, GA. I thought, "If I were to go there and play 'WWII time' music instrumentals on a street corner, I may get discovered by someone on the crew that would introduce me to the producer.
So I reversed the hinge and flipped the lid over to make a shelf. I drew designs on the piano with a dryerase marker to help me develop my ideas. Many of the ideas did not work because of the structure of the framing and the interior mechanical parts were in the way. So I had to figure out how to work around these obstacles. Since the sound board was small and of low quality I wanted to make as many holes in the piano to maximize the volume.
(Above) You can see that at this stage I have already made a floor from wooden window blinds, strengthened the legs with more wood support, and added bicycle wheels, but I quickly realized that the wheels would need additional support for the outside part of the axle to prevent the wheel from rubbing against the piano on the top side of the tire.
(above) Here you can see the result of cutting out my design and rounding the edges with a carving tool. Next I will add a stripe of gold to separate the red and white.
(below) This picture shows me working on the interior. I painted the gold colored cast iron harp frame and installed porous material to keep the bugs out while allowing the sound to pass through the holes. In addition, you can see the support that I gave the outside of the exposed axle to help hold the wheel straight up under the weight of the piano. These are regular 20" wheels off of a child's size bicycle so I added some extra wheels underneath to offer the bicycle wheels a little relief. The wheels underneath came from a discarded portable salad cart that my school replaced.
(below) This is a close up view of the front of the Triano keyboard. The little brown strip that looks like it has beads in the middle came off of a discarded piano that was 100 years old. Upon close inspection you would see that each little bead was hand carved as they are not all uniform. The umbrella screws down on the visible post.
(below) Here is another attempt to advertise my website.
(below) Here is a close up picture of the front (drive) sprocket. I cut the pedals down to make them less conspicuous.
After the Triano's completion, however, I lost my courage to follow through with my plan of trying to get "discovered" by playing the Triano on the streets of Savannah, GA.
Then a year later, in an attempt to inspire my then 916 students at Metter Elementary School, I pedaled it through the Metter, GA Christmas parade. The crowd seemed to be very pleased with it so I decided to pedal it in the Cobbtown, GA Christmas parade, the Claxton, GA Christmas parade, and again in the Metter parade the following year. The seven foot wide umbrella that my mother made me, saved it twice from sudden and unexpected downpours.
I was becoming weary of only using it to pedal and play in parades on bumpy roads that included pot holes, small hills and railroad tracks and since I was unable to find any other more suitable venues I put it into storage. Since I could not get it back into my house without having to remove and reinstall our double sliding glass doors everytime, I built a box to store it in. It remained locked away, unused, in this box for another five years.
To encourage students at Metter Elementary School to come to the "Fall Reading Carnival," where the objective was to promote literacy, by performing for an hour on the Triano then allow the students to play on it and pose for their parents.
In October 2019 the music/youth minister at Rehoboth Missionary Baptist Church suggested that the bikers whom were participating in the "Cruisin' in the Country" event may find the Triano entertaining to see and hear. The church was a designated rest stop for the riders to be refreshed as they passed by on their 99 mile course. I brought it out and the bikers' expressed enthusiasm when they saw it and heard me pedal and play it on the road encouraged me so much that I entered it in the "Festive Five Competition" at the Statesboro Mall on 11/22/19.
I did receive a positive response from my audience, but I chose poorly when I picked Friday night because it was the night of local high school football state play offs. Football is king in these parts so most of those that had indicated that they were coming did not.
I am still seeking a suitable venue where I may be able to perform it regularly. I am thinking about making a small circuit of parks around my area to perform for the local residents.
Click here if you have a suggestion or if you would like to offer any free advice that would lead to a place where my playing it would serve an appreciative audience.
But then since I was tired of working on it and since I also had so many other neglected half finished projects to complete, I retired it to the corner of our living room. It remained in this condition for about five years. I played it a few times and from time to time it did stimulate some interesting conversations amongst guests in our home, but it was relatively ignored (except to gather dust, a few books, and neglected notices mailed from creditors).
(Below) This is what it looked like after I cleaned, primed, and painted it white. I assure you, it was no easy task to do this in my living room. Thank the Lord that I have a very patient and understanding wife.
