When Craig Addy lies down beneath a grand piano and listens to the strings resonate above him, he isn’t chasing nostalgia; he’s seeking the ultimate form of comfort. The Vancouver-born pianist and composer has spent the last 16 years inviting others to do the same.
...
Under the Piano isn’t a performance. It’s a conversation; first with Addy, then with the music. Each session begins with a dialogue. Individuals or couples share something about their lives: a grief they’re carrying, an intention they want to set, celebrating a relationship milestone, or even just a desire to feel calm. Then, lying beneath Addy’s grand piano, they listen as he composes live, in the moment.
“Music can express what we don’t have language for,” Addy says. “Especially when we’re in pain.” He recalls one client, visiting from Toronto, who had lost both her husband and son. “She shared everything with me,” Addy says. “Then she got under the piano, and it was like she just released years of sorrow. The music gave her that space.”
For Addy, Under the Piano is less about healing in the clinical sense and more about transformation through feeling. Many of his clients are women, often in their 30s to 60s, seeking meaningful self-exploration. “There’s a deep void some people feel,” he says. “This experience helps them begin to fill it.”