The Pianist

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

I have written before about my pianist ability. Yes, I firmly believe God gave me a talent for playing the piano – but He didn’t give me the “gift” – the ability to sit down at the instrument and just….play.  My mother could do that, and many people I know are able to do that.

Judy with friend playing on our piano, 1959

Yes, I envy them that ability, but not to the point of “why not me, God??”  I just enjoy the music they can make.

Recently, Fred and I took our eighth cruise with the Disney Cruise Line.

Disney Cruise Line – the Fantasy

Disney (DCL) has become our favorite cruise line. Many things about Disney and the DCL are just a cut above the other cruise lines we’ve cruised with, and we enjoy them all.

One evening, before we went to our supper, Fred noticed there was a “featured” pianist that would be playing on the piano in the atrium,

The Atrium – looks like a peacock

so we got ready a bit early and went down to listen to him play.  His name is Tim Moss.  As I recall, there was a lot of activity going on – perhaps it was a time for all the princesses to come and have their pictures made with guests, especially children.

But Tim was playing as background music for it all. He was playing “by ear” i.e. without music in front of him.  He would just segue from one song into another without dropping a beat.  We were one floor above him, and when he looked up, I waved at him, and he smiled.

After a bit, we went down to his level and stood at the piano as he continued to play.  We talked with him a little, thanking him for his great music and ability. Then we went to supper.

We had one other opportunity to hear him play. He was in a smaller room (called Ooh-la-la) and again was playing by ear.

Ooh-La-La Lounge – Disney Fantasy – Credit to Google Search and Roger Weeks

There were about 15 people in the room, interacting with him, guessing the songs he was playing.  He was having a great time with them.  While Fred and I love music, I’m afraid there really aren’t too many song titles that I know.  But it was fun, anyway.

The final time we saw him, was on our way to supper the last night onboard.  We were the only two guests in the room!  He said that wasn’t unusual, and he expected more to show up later.  And so we just talked.  He is from Vancouver, Canada.  I told him that, as I watched him play, my fingers just don’t go as fast as his do!

And then I told him a story about when our church here in Orlando was presented with a new grand piano.  The donor wanted to be anonymous.  One Sunday morning, early, I was in the sanctuary, probably picking up any trash from the previous Sunday, when I kept hearing a strange sound. I couldn’t find where it was coming from!  My thought was:  do we have mice in the attic?  (I’m not even sure there is an attic there!)   When I heard it again, I finally looked around and found one of our members playing HARD on the piano.  As it turned out, the piano had some “electronic” features to it, and Al had put on his headset – which turned off the sound of the piano – and was playing furiously on the instrument!  His furiously pounding on the keys was what I was hearing!

We all three got a good laugh from that story.

I can’t seem to find Tim on line anywhere. He has played for/with Disney for more than 15 years now, and seems to really enjoy it.  We are glad we had the opportunity to hear him and speak with him.

It’s amazing how God puts us in others paths sometimes.  And I love it!

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years

Tags: Disney Fantasy, Music, Tim Moss