Manabu and his students often perform at the University of Rhode Island where he is a Professor of Music. I'm fascinated by trying to capture their graceful moving hands and reflections in the backboard above the keys which seem to heighten my experience of their playing. In going through lots of photo attempts it seemed that somehow I was most successful in capturing performances by Manabu rather than of his students' and visitors, of which this is an example. Perhaps because of his remarkable precision and grace in playing, and the connection for me between his movements and what I see in the camera. I chose to show most of the original image of this double-piano performance rather than a close crop of Manabu's hands to show viewers what I experienced in hopes that his hands would grab their attention as it did mine.

Hands of a master at the piano by Marian