It’s about time that I shared with those who have never stepped inside Sonatina Enterprises at 5 Catamount Lane in Bennington, VT and show why it’s possible to rollover and play, play in the closet or out of the closet, have fun keeping up with the rhythm and agitation of the washing machine, make monster music, cram into the Harry Potter room or enjoy the concert hall aka the living room.
Room 1 – also a sunroom that, when the house was a convent (!), was a planting room:
Room 2 – which also houses the MIDI lab:
Room 3 – where we have our Monster Piano Rehearsals and Concerts (up to 6 keyboards, at times)
Room 4 – you can play the acoustic piano or the digital keyboard if you want to be hush hush
Room 6 – (skipping room 5 because that is an office and our administrator, Andrea, simply cannot hear you on the phone if you’re practicing your etudes)
Room 7 – which doubles as the laundry room (the spin and rinse cycle might be in sync with your piece). Actually it’s now tripling as a plant nursery before the sprouts get transferred to the hoop house or garden
Room 8 – a dark room, for food storage and the boiler room. Be sure not to play the Dante Sonata or the boiler might erupt!
Room 9 – a favorite during Summer Sonatina because the piano gets moved into another room and traded for Foozball, Ping Pong and Air Hockey. Yep, a recreation room.
Room 13 – aka the “Maestro Room,” where my Dad used to blare Mahler Symphonies. I swear Dad can still hear everything that goes on in this awe-inspiring room. RIP Dad.
Room 15A – aka the Harry Potter Room because this piano lives under a stairwell. Nope, we don’t banish anyone to this room but it is the room where some kids hide when their parents come to pick them up!
Room Front Porch – I don’t recommend this room during the winter time
The living room I believe is also room 19, great sense of warmth in this room and a Steinway B paired with a Yamaha C3
Room 21 – I told you that you could rollover and play (see bed at back of piano)
Room 22 – the room that was mine as a teenager. I lived out on its screened porch as often as I could
Room 23 – the room that had a pine tree fall on it before we bought the house in 1977
Room 24 – when we first moved here, this room smelled of salami. It still, occasionally, is referred to by this name
Room 25 – getting bored yet?
Room 28 – practice in the closet (bypassed rooms 26 and 27 as those are bathrooms and we draw the line with placing a piano in them)
Room 30A – practice out of the closet if you’re less shy
Room 33 – the quieter end of the house and right next door to bathroom 32
Room 34 – had trouble taking a picture of this as my teen boys live in it and there was stuff scattered all about
And that ends your piano tour! Hope you enjoyed it.
Piano Roles 
I especially ❤ #33
Yay to 33! Glad it may have brought back memories.
Thanks for sharing the photo’s. I had been wondering where you kept them all, and now I know! Totally awesome!
You’re welcome, Bill! Next time, come on over in person and I’ll give you the complete tour!
All I can say is: if a picture’s worth a thousand words, I never would have imagined what a pleasant stroll down memory lane you could pack in the above 25,000 in just a matter of minutes.
My husband and I purchased the house that was the former Sonatina abode in North Bennington, VT. We could hear music in the walls! We were so proud that my husband, a musician also, could carry on the musical tradition in that same house. Wonderful memories.
We loved that you both bought our former house in No. Bennington and that the sounds coming from every corner of the house continued! So wonderful. Thanks, Judith
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Room 13 looks suspiciously like the place I used to have my lessons with Polly. But, that’s not the same piano I played on. It was a dark brown wooden piano when I was there. A lovely piano, really..
Wow, Will…which Will are you?! Yes, there used to be a mahogany Boston grand piano in there (thanks to Erica’s connections at Steinway). Now there’s a Yamaha C3.
Polly, as many pianos as you have in your wonderful house, I have to say that they are always in very good condition. I took lessons for a while at the RI Philharmonic Music School, and several of their pianos you would not even allow through your door. You do a superb job. See you in June!
Greg
Thank you, Greg. I, too, have been to various music schools where some pianos have missing keys, broken strings and other difficult things to control on a piano. Can’t wait to see and HEAR you at June Sonata! Polly
And to think I have had the priviledge to play on many of them! Saludos de México!
Great to hear from you, Lya! Hope you are well. Polly