Playing THE Piano

Despite the fact that last Saturday was a school day (yes, Finns go to school on two saturdays every school year!), my family brought me to Järvenpää, a small city 30 minutes from Helsinki. There is a small lake called 'Tuusulanjärvi' or Lake Tuusula, located just outside of Järvenpää. There are various areas around the lake of historical significance in Finland, making it a hot spot for whatever tourists come to Finland.

Like all lakes nearby cities, Lake Tuusula is very busy throughout the winter. Finns are always ice-fishing, cross-country skiing and "ice surfing" all across the frozen area. I'm hoping to go ice-fishing with a Rotarian next month!

Around the lake are some 'beaches', churches and cottages, but the main attraction is the home of Jean Sibelius and his family which is now a museum. The Sibelius family lived in a large wood house named 'Ainola' in 1904 and Sibelius remained there with his wife, Aino, until his death in 1957. For those who don't know, Jean Sibelius was a Finnish composer who wrote many piano pieces that were important in retaining the Finnish morale in times of war throughout the 20th century. Because of this, he is now recognized as an important historical figure and his music is known to everyone in Finland.

Unfortunately, Ainola was closed for the winter! It opens again in May but it was disappointing. Instead we travelled a short distance to another popular attraction, the house of Pekka Halonen, a Finnish painter who was friends with Sibelius and his family. Apparently may Finnish artists lived around Lake Tuusula in the early 20th century, and the Halonen house, named Halosenniemi, was built between 1899 and 1902 and is almost entirely made of wood.

The house of Pekka Halonen and family in the early 1900's: (from left Me, Tuuli (host mom), Meri (14), Vilja (12). Photo taken by my host dad, Heikki)

The house was quite large, with a beautiful view of the lake. Some of the Halonen's possessions were still in place, including a very old upright piano. In the information sheet about Halosenniemi, it says the piano was given to Pekka's wife, Maija Halonen, as a gift from the composer Robert Kajanus. Because the Halonen's and the Sibelius' were good friends, they would visit each other and play music. Maija Halonen and Aino Sibelius would play duets together often. It's safe to assume that Sibelius also played this piano.

I asked the curators if I could play, since there were no other tourists there and they agreed! So, here I am playing "Finlandia" on a piano that Sibelius has played:

The piano was definitely old but sounded fine, although soft 'piano' notes were hard to play. On the piano was a music book that Jean Sibelius had given to Maija Halonen in 1910.

This was a great experience :) I have also heard that Sibelius' personal grand piano is still in Ainola. I hope to return in May to Ainola when it has re-opened and perhaps I'll get the chance to play there as well. That would be unbelievably great, since that is the piano where most of his material was created!

After visiting Halosenniemi, we continued on to Helsinki where we met Tuuli's brother and girlfriend for dinner at an authentic Lapland ("Lappish") restaurant. I had a nice big plate of reindeer!

Well today is Thursday, and tomorrow I am grabbing a bus to Jyväskylä (city 3 hours north of Lahti) where I'll meet a group of Finnish footbag players (mostly those I already know from Helsinki) for the 7th Annual New Year's Footbag Jam. There will be a competition on Saturday but I'm just going to play, not compete (as are others).

After that, the next event is a family change on the following Saturday, Jan. 24th. That's all for now, I hope 2009 is off to a good start for everyone!