Play us a song, it's the PianoFest

It's three o'clock on a Sunday. The regular crowd shuffles in.

There's a whole crowd sitting on the stage to play Chopsticks together, and grin.

You don't have to be Billy Joel's piano man to participate in PianoFest, but more than 70 kids and a couple of adults learned new skills and tricks at the M.O. Morgan Music Building at Memorial University over the weekend.

Musicians of all ages and skill levels came to learn from instructors in both formal, and fun sessions, including 70 playing the famous beginner-level Chopsticks waltz, memorably played by Tom Hanks and Robert Loggia on the floor piano in the movie Big.

"This is the largest gathering of pianists you will find in eastern Canada, at least," said Dr. Phil Roberts, an organizer of the festival.

PianoFest had more than 70 participants from across Newfoundland and Labrador.

"The main goal is to stimulate their interest and excitement in the piano. We want them to come away from this thinking that piano is a wonderful thing that they can do with other people," he said.

"It's not a lonely activity, it's not a repetitive activity, or something with limited options. It's arguably the most versatile instrument that exists."

Alexa St. John, 8, has been playing piano since she was a toddler.

"We're playing a game that teaches you how to play songs on piano," she said.

Kids got to experiment with different kinds of pianos, keyboards and synthesizers.

"It's fun because it has cool noises that come out of it and you can get electric pianos that make other noises, beside just piano noises," said St. John said.  

Allanah Briggs and Colin Spencer, both 13 years old, have been playing piano for as long as they can remember.

But today, they got to take one apart.

"We're taking apart a piano … and like figuring out how all the hammers and stuff work on the inside," Briggs said

"It's really insane to see how everything comes together to make an instrument that I've been playing my whole life."

For dedicated piano players like Colin Spencer, PianoFest is a great way to pick up new tips.

"We've learned all the new names of everything, we've learned how everything works, we've learned all sorts of things in this class so far," Spencer said.

"I love how you can show your expression through piano, you can show your anger or all sorts of your feelings."

So if you were in the mood for a melody, PianoFest had you feeling all right.