Polish janitor's piano talent revealed

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/glasgow_and_west/6766967.stm

Such a waste =( ! I was surprised at the end of the article that he still is in his old employment!

yeah i read about a story like this in one of them women magazines like take a break or something my mums got .. his girlfriend recorded him or something.

This is a wonderful story...there are many gifted people out there. artists & otherwise,
who labor in obscurity because of circumstance, or because they don't have the overwhelming desire to 'sell themselves'...many Polish people tend to be modest about

their talents...here is an interesting anecdote in the same vein from my area in the USA...
in the city of Camden NJ there for years worked an African-American 'ditch-digger' (he
worked on jobs for the New Jersey highway department)...well, his HOBBY was the study
of Ancient Greek culture, and he TAUGHT HIMSELF Greek!...well, on his off days, he apparently was attending a local community college, and it became known to the faculty

that this 'ditch-digger' was actually an expert on Greek culture & language...at the age of
55, they somehow got him a $50000 fellowship to go to Greece for a year, so that he
could persue his HOBBY in the nation where it began!

It is not a waste at all. The way music operate in our body is completely different from all other human activities (it is not the right word here, but I know no other English word). If he perseveres his love of music even though he has to work 15 or 20 years as a humble cleaner, he may well become a genius! He has all the ingredients there:

-First, he is a cleaner, which is a light physical work, so in many ways free his mind for musical thoughts (even when he is working).

-Secondly, he is a cleaner in Scotland in 21th century. That means as a musical person, he is not going to die horribly at the age of 30 as if he were a cleaner in Zimbabue of Lesotho. He could earn quite a 'decent' wage to support him 'singly' until 'Poland' claims him back as its greatest modern genius'.

-Thirdly, no matter how civilised Scotland may assert itself, to be a cleaner there (and elsewhere) always carries a negative connotation. The fact that he is a foreign Pole only doubles his alienation from the society. And being a classical pianist may even make him more lonely among the Polish immigration as well. Thus this tripled alienation either kills him or pushes him inexorably towards music, the greatest saviour of the depressed and the suffering (Wagner himself states that there is absolutely no need to create music if one is truly happy).

-Fourthly, Scotland is beautiful, its weather so favorable towards music making (trust me, you can NOT create a great work of art at 37 degree Celsius and upward!) In the escape from his rather miserable life, he may be drawn towards nature and as we all know, there is no musical compositions yet that can be compared in nobility and dignity with the ones fused with both musical ideas and nature.

-And finally, though I know and acknowledge that true great music demands the most dedicated and relentless studying, the art of Creating music itself owns first and foremost to life experience and feeling. Without it, the music making is just a REcreation and all those intellectualizations will turn music into mere mathematic. Our cleaner friend obviously has the most favorable situation. I hope he will persevere and, well, no matter what I have said, do a lot more music studying (it is quite easy if he is very keen, which he should be!)

To conclude, no, I am NOT sarcastic. Actually, I wanna be a cleaner in Scotland NOW!!!

a small frown follows my reading this - I only mean that the man was able to follow his passion in Poland in a professional way - it is such a shame and waste he is a cleaner now as his job instead of being the pianist he was. He may be able to do this once more - I was only surprised that after his talent was discovered, he still is not recognised for his musical talent in his current profession...

In my opinion, he should be humbled like this. It is sad, tragic but it may benefit his musicality immeasurably and so may well benefit the life of many others. Our life might not be so wonderfully enriched if Bethoven, Schuman, Bruckner and ALL other greatest composers had not suffered so horribly in their life.

Do I sound perverted if I want to see him so humbled in order that there might be some great compositions in the future? No, actually, I wish he be a happy REcreative musician in a happy Poland. But it seems we have no choice over his fate and he may have none either. So I just try to look on the bright side.

By the way, we musicians never treat music as a 'profession', it is our very way of life.

my brother does, as well as a way of life...


I had not thought of this - light at the end of the tunnel? =) Glad you pointed it out!

I play piano this guy should show the piano talent and use it to become having a good life talent like this should not go to waste. this guy should use this.

Talents need a good guidence. On many occasions these young people are unable to fend for themseleves and need an agent who is going to help them.

Being an immigrant is tough enough and often requiers few good years to establish oneself among new people. And if you are alone without family, ergo, if you do not have any support, you are going to have difficulties to break through.

I know, I have been there.

Very brave of you. I think so of all who do it. Welcome to PF by the way! :)