Last Thursday on 25th April, there seem to be a sense of community that was palpable during the last performance of Schroeder Nordholt’s Piano Bar Series at the Killaloe Friendship Club in Canada. This is in fact the second series that Schroeder organised to assist in raising funds for the Killaloe and District Public Library. This event has also seen one of the biggest turnout by far.
Schroeder’s fundraising efforts started out back in January. During that point of time, he referred his series as his “pilot” performances. In April, he went on another four part series, where he estimated raising nearly $600 from the performances. This is far from the last of it as he has high hopes of beginning another series in June. For Schroeder, he is both a seasoned performer as well as a music teacher. For more than a decade, he has been sharing his talents with the community. Through the years, he managed to develop the skills and concept for the Piano Bar.
The main difference between his Piano Bar Series and an average piano performance is that it involves the active participation of audience members. Each of them are provided with a “menu”, which lists out the songs that Schroeder will play on request. “My thought was, if I can make a list of my repertoire, then we have a formula for a fun night out that’s different every time, because the crowd calls most of the shots,” stated Schroeder.
This was extremely clear during his final performance, where the audience called out their requests, sang along, snapped, clapped, and bantered with him. “The piano bar atmosphere appeals to me more than a regular piano performance because the approach is anything but serious. I’m there to have fun so that everyone in the room has fun. It’s important to me that everyone feels at ease and light-hearted,” he explained. Schroeder also mentioned that he decided to do four performances in a series rather than just one because “it takes time for word of mouth to spread”. He noticed that his April performances also drew in more people as compared to the one in January and this is probably due to word of mouth. For more of the story, do read it from here.
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