Great chance of a truly grand piano for Fish Creek

Fish Creek Memorial Hall and Prom Recitals’ joint Grand Hall Grand Piano project has been given a great chance to buy a truly grand handmade Yamaha C6 piano “at a very good rate”.

The members of the group behind the Grand Hall Grand Piano fundraising initiative represent the Fishy Hall committee, Prom Recitals and in some cases, both, and they are appealing to the community in order not to miss out on such an instrument.

Grand Hall Grand Piano was launched in August 2023 with the aim of raising $50,000 to replace the Fishy Hall’s elderly upright piano with a concert-grade grand piano for both local people and visiting musicians alike to play, perform on and enjoy.

So far the fundraising initiative has received an encouraging amount of donations towards a new piano from residents and live music lovers throughout the Corner Inlet district and beyond, along with plenty of interest and promises of support.

Now Grand Hall Grand Piano wants to respectfully say to those who have indicated they would like to help; those who simply haven’t gotten around to it, and those to whom the idea of a world-class piano in a magnificently restored, heritage country hall may be new, that the time is now.

“We have been offered the opportunity to buy a gold standard grand piano at a very good rate by someone who wants to help us out,” Fishy Hall and Prom Recitals member Daryl Standfield said.

“The piano we have been offered is of far better quality than the one we’ve hoped for since Grand Hall Grand Piano began last year,” he said.

“The piano that is available to us is a Yamaha C6, handmade in Japan, and it is the preferred instrument of classical musicians all around the world.

“A piano of this calibre was completely out of our reach previously, and now, due to the generosity of our would-be musical patron, it is now within the Fish Creek and the wider South Gippsland community’s grasp,” Daryl said.

“Currently, Grand Hall Grand Piano is at about 60 per cent of our newly adjusted goal and realistically we need about $20,000 more to be able to take up our benefactor’s offer and secure this amazing piano,” he said.

“We have been given first refusal on this instrument and, with the backing of the community, we may be able to buy it and install what would be the best piano in the Gippsland region here in the hall at Fish Creek, but we have to act fast.”

Daryl said the offered grand piano is “something that has fallen into our laps”.

The situation has come about through word-of-mouth among musicians and music lovers impressed by the range and level of artists now performing for rapt and knowledgeable audiences in South Gippsland venues, including Fish Creek.

A feature of the Grand Hall Grand Piano initiative is the chance to fund one or more of the 88 keys of the new piano in exchange for a $500 donation per key.

All such contributions will be recorded on the keys of the Fishy Hall’s ready-to-retire upright piano, which will be removed and engraved with donors’ names before being mounted and placed on proud display in the Hall.

Of course, all donations of lesser and greater amounts would be equally welcome.

For more information about the Fish Memorial Hall’s grand piano appeal and to make a donation find Grand Hall Grand Piano on Facebook or https://fishcreekhall.org

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