An unfortunately true story by David Rapkievian, guest contributor

Dec 11, 2025

This post was contributed by David Rapkievian. We occasionally share true narratives from people on the island (or MDI Region) about the island because we want to not be the only voices we put out here. We hope you enjoy David’s story.

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I was in a grumpy mood: only ten minutes left, the timer indicated. Mid-July that summer had been very hot and humid for Bar Harbor. My father-in-law, sister-in-law, and nephew were visiting. The demands of that day had been especially grating. Trying to salvage what was left of the day, I was baking fresh fish from Parsons for dinner and downing a good IPA from House Wines prophetically named “Epiphany.”

I finally sat down and began playing some music on my oud when there came a loud banging on our front door. Figuring that there were four other people in the house to answer, I continued playing.

Moments later, I heard a crash and looking up found Debbie Fortier staring down at me frenetically gesticulating. “David, the piano is squeaking!”

“What piano?”

“The concert grand Steinway on loan from a reputable firm in Boston.”

“Deb, I fix squeaky violins not pianos nor do I know anything about pianos!” I replied.

Deb was insistent. “The piano technician is not answering his phone and the world famous pianist Antonio Galera is to give a concert in just over one hour!”

“Where is the concert?” said I.

“Right up the street at the Bar Harbor Congregational Church!”

OK, I thought, how difficult could this be?

I told Deb I’d be up shortly. I downed the rest of my IPA, gave my wife details about testing the fish for doneness, got a bag and spent some time looking for the silicon spray can I knew we had … somewhere. Not finding it, I ran to the bathroom, threw in some Q-tips and Vaseline, and set off up School Street to the church.

I tried to open the front door but it was locked! Muttering a few choice expletives, I banged loudly on that door!

Deb opened it and said, “Shhh … he’s practicing Chopin.”

I found myself being stared at skeptically by some very well-dressed VIPs. Feeling conspicuously shabbily dressed, I proceeded hastily toward the stage.

Antonio was a young guy for a world class soloist. I told him I knew nothing about pianos but am to try to fix a squeak.

“Can you show me?” I asked about the squeak.

He said, “Squeak?! It bangs also!”

And he demonstrated: squeak, BANG, squeak, BANG …

I joked, “Well, Antonio, it looks to me like you have your own rhythm accompaniment!”

Despite the mutterings from an increasingly skeptical audience, I crawled under the piano and figured out that of the three pedals, the right pedal (called “sustain”) was the cause of the trouble. That pedal is connected to a brass rod which pushes on a lever which in turn thrusts a piston through a cylinder resulting in damping pads being lifted off the strings so they can ring. The source of the squeak was the piston rubbing inside the cylinder. I dabbed the Q-tips in the Vaseline and worked it around the cylinder.

Antonio worked the pedal up and down and said, “No squeak, just a BANG.”

I more carefully examined the underside of the piano and saw that the BANG was coming from where the brass rod meets the lever. The other two pedals had nice thick leather pads between their rods and levers. The sustain pedal was missing its pad.

I crawled around the floor looking for the missing pad but couldn’t find it.

By this time, the audience of VIPs were shaking their heads and muttering loudly to themselves. This really pissed me off, so like the dancer I was of my youth, I sprang out from under the piano and announced so all could hear, “What this piano needs is … a good BELT!”

At this point, like Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean, I, with flair, flourish, and panache, pulled my leather belt off my pants and ended in a graceful pose with my right arm up and holding my belt.

Deb then said in a horrified tone, “David, your pants will fall down!”

To which I replied, “Deb, do you want my pants to stay up or me to fix this damn piano?”

Meanwhile I noticed Antonio grinning from ear to ear, so back under the Steinway I went. I thrust the thick leather top of my belt between the brass rod and lever and told Antonio to play. He played the most beautiful Chopin I had heard with no squeak and no BANG!

I told Deb I needed to get back to my family dinner. She was so nervous that the squeak and/or BANG might return that she invited my whole family to the concert so that I would be “on-call.”

As I was leaving, I looked back at the piano and saw that the VIPs were around the piano trying to stop the snake-like motion of my belt coiling and uncoiling beneath the Steinway.

I went back and said, “Look, if you buy me a new belt, I’ll cut off the rest of it.”

Antonio laughingly said, “OK, NO, leave the belt please! This will make a great story no one will believe when I return to Spain.”

We all enjoyed the concert and the piano behaved itself. I was seated next to a gentleman who during intermission made a derogatory remark about the snake-like apparition beneath the piano. When I informed him that it was my belt, he got up and found other seating.

The next day, Deb came whizzing by on her bicycle, stopped, and told me that the piano tech had arrived from Boston and replaced the missing pad.

Then she said, “Oh, and he said to tell you it was a good thing you used Vaseline and not silicone spray on the piston.”

What I didn’t tell her was that later that previous evening while my retrieved belt took up its rightful place holding up my pants, I had reached for my aged single malt scotch only to find the silicon spray hidden behind it!

(With apologies to Deborah Swanger Fortier, artistic director of the Bar Harbor Music Festival, and world famous and most amazing pianist Antonio Galera, who played Chopin so well that night that even my skeptical wife Carolyn Rapkievian became a fan!)

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LINKS TO LEARN MORE

More about Antonio Galera.

More about David and his business.

More about the Bar Harbor Music Festival.

More about Deborah Swanger Fortier.

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/OvXVSi6OkVU?rel=0&autoplay=0&showinfo=0&enablejsapi=0

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/JsbY9TZ4TMc?rel=0&autoplay=0&showinfo=0&enablejsapi=0