I’m walking along the hectic Soho streets, on a sunny Saturday afternoon, when I suddenly hear the most marvelous music tickling my ears. It’s not a stereo, it’s live, but where is it coming from? I turn around, baffled, to a young man fervently playing a piano in the middle of the street. He is not bothered by the crazy traffic, the peeving city noise or the fact that cars might honk at him at any given time. It’s just him and his piano, in one of the busiest streets in the world.
Dotan Negrin, a 26-year-old New Yorker has always had a passion for music. However, after graduating from an acting and theatre major, he became the “typical struggling actor in NYC.” To pay the bills, Dotan tried a bit of everything: real estate, day trading and selling used items on eBay.
After spending all his savings on a Box truck, a piano and some gear, he decided to start playing on the streets. One unfortunate accident when the piano broke two of his fingers, gave him the downtime to plan his first trip across America. Ever since July 2010, he has played in 53 Cities across North America, including three cities in Canada and eight National parks. And he is soon embarking on a new journey, towards Central America.
MS: I read your blog post on how To Push Your Piano Through NYC: An Experiment. I imagine transporting your piano through NYC is not an easy task. How do you do it?
DN: I have had many different systems in the past. Right now, I have a van that houses the piano. I park the car the day before because parking in NYC is such a hassle. The next day I prepare by removing the piano and setting the dollies in the right position. I then wheel over to the spot and play. When I’m done playing, I will either bring the car to the spot or wheel the piano back and push it back into the van with my ramp. I find that there is always someone willing to help me out. The difficulty and biggest challenge is pushing the piano back into the van… It’s not easy pushing a 450-pound piano back into a van.
Out of all the cities you’ve played in, what is your favorite one?
It’s impossible to just have one. Every destination is unique in itself and has different things to offer. In the USA, I would have to say my favorite cities are Athens, Georgia, New Orleans, and Boulder, Colorado. My favorite natural settings would have to be the Glacier National Park in Montana. New Mexico is my favorite American state.
I absolutely love Quebec City in Canada for the arts and the beautiful old city that they have there.
You’ve met thousands of people so far. Can you share some of the best and worst experiences you’ve had while playing the piano outdoors?
One of the worst experiences I had while traveling was getting my truck stuck in a sand pit on the way to Shiprock Monument in New Mexico. Another one was having a crack head homeless man come up to me and ask me for a dollar after banging on my piano. I told him “No” and he went around and took $5 out of my bucket and walked away. I wasn’t going to start a fight with him over $5. I also had a drug addict steal money from my bucket in Albuquerque.
I’ve has some really deep conversations with people from all over. In Salt Lake City Utah, I met a man, raised Mormon, who ended up becoming a monk later on in his life and living at a monastery. He told me things that he learned from living on the monastery that blew me away. For instance, the guru who he studied Kriya Yoga under was able to stop his heartbeat with his breath and then come back to life.
I’ve also had many people come up to me and play along. Even someone who came up to me and asked me to join his family for their annual family dinner. It was incredible. I met a drummer on the streets of Portand, Maine who liked what I do so much, he invited to his family home on Vinal Haven Island. I had to drive 2 hours north of Portland Maine and take a ferry. I met this wonderful family and had an amazing dinner with them. Afterwards, they invited me to jam with them at bar with 100 people dancing the night away. I didn’t know any of the songs but was able to play with the band very well. They ended up giving me $200 for playing the gig with them.
Tell me of three people you admire and why?
This is the hardest question for me and you actually inspired a post that I am going to write.
1. First and foremost I admire my parents and family for being the biggest influence in my life. Both my parents grew up in very tough times throughout the world. My mother’s parents lived in the USSR and had to escape by walking thousands of miles through Iran. My mother was born in Tel-Aviv when Israel was first being settled. Growing up, my mother gave me the discipline that I have now by home schooling me in math and English when I was really young. She has always been a very strong woman with vigor and stern attitude.
My father was born in 1942 in Greece during World War II and had to hide from the Nazis. He came to America with very little money in the 70’s and built his business by meeting the right people and making smart decisions. He is one of the hardest working and dedicated people I know and I saw that growing up. I have the same dedicated mentality as him.
Both parents provided me with an incredibly creative childhood, taught me important values, and exposed me to a variety of art, music, and performance.
2. I admire Miles Davis because his album Kind of Blue was the main spark that propelled me to start playing piano in 2005. This album has some of the biggest pioneers in Jazz Music including John Coltrane, Bill Evans, and Cannonball Adderley, whom I began to explore afterwards.
It was this album that opened my eyes to how music could create emotion within you and tell stories through organized tones. I became fascinated with that particular aspect of music, which inspired me to start learning piano while I was studying Theater at the University of the Arts at the time. On top of all that, if it wasn’t for my roommate in college, Nick Sapiego, it’s possible I would have never been exposed to that album.
3. Lastly, I admire Harold Clurman, who was one of the leaders of The Group Theater in the 30’s. Together with Sanfred Meisner, Lee Strasberg, Stella Adler, and a handful of others, they were pioneers in forming acting techniques and exercises for the actor that I studied in college. But not only that; why I really admire Harold Clurman and The Group theater is because they pushed the level of what live theater could become. With the piece: “Waiting for Lefty,” they were successful in creating social change by inspiring the labor strikes in the 1930’s.
To me, live theater isn’t about Spiderman and the Lion King and the multi-billion dollar business that it has become today, but more about inspiring social change in the world.
Studying theater changed my life. It opened my mind to new ideas, removed my fears, pushed me to take risks, and taught me the importance of discipline and dedication. Most of all, my years studying scenes, characters, and the motivations of human beings taught me lessons on how to live my life and appreciate living in the moment.
Future plans? Where are you off to next?
This January, I’ve been planning a road trip to Panama from NYC with my piano and my dog. I launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise money so I can pay a cameraman to come along with me and film the adventure. This is something I have never done before since I’ve always done all the filming myself.
We are going to explore Central America and meet musicians to speak to them about the power of music in their lives, and document the way music acts as the Language of the Universe.
To read the rest of the interview, head on over to Matador Network.
