To a trained ear like that of Nerissa Nields, some of the keys on her old 19th century piano dampen an otherwise bright and resonating chord. At nearly 130 years old, the Steinway & Sons piano reveals its advanced years in the wood seen through the faded satin finish — and its journey could have ended in a scrap of wood chips and metal.
Instead, the piano has found a new home with a local family who might pick up some of the same magic that inspired Nields to write “Normandies” and “As Big as I Am” — songs that were recorded and released on The Nields’ 2015 album, “XVII.”
Nields typically writes songs on the guitar. For practically her entire life, she has sung with her sister, Katryna, and since 1992, they have released several albums and toured with a folk-rock band as The Nields. These days, Nerissa leads writing workshops, runs two children’s choruses and is raising her two own kids when she is not playing shows throughout the Northeast.
“I have more facility on the piano than I do on the guitar in a weird way in terms of melodic things,” Nields said. “I am very good on the guitar chord-illy and rhythmically, but melodically, the piano makes more sense to me.”
But the time came for Nields to part ways with the Steinway piano — which she bought for $200 from an Easthampton woman in 2006 — in search of a new, more modern piano that could keep its tune for longer.
“Something more of a workhorse and less of a princess,” Nields said in her home on Monday. The old piano had begun to hold her back. For an aspiring piano player, however, the instrument could be a vessel into the musical world.
Recently, Nields posted a photo of the old piano on Facebook declaring that whoever wanted it could have it, free of charge, as long as they picked it up. Within minutes, several people responded, enough to generate a waitlist.
The Northampton Community Music Center and the Pioneer Valley Workers Center were among those interested, along with friends and families in the community.
The winners of the first-come-first-serve offering: a family with three children wanting to learn piano.
On Monday, Nields prepared to say goodbye to her Steinway. In the minutes before the piano movers arrived, she played a few verses of “Normandies,” a song that grew out of one of her writing workshops and was written about the decision to end a past relationship.
As a ballad, the song builds on uplifting major chords that give way to lyrics that are vulnerable and contemplative. At its core, the song is about making the difficult decision to go in a separate direction than a partner which ultimately leads to the ending of a relationship.
She sings: “Oh, darling, you’re the right one, that’s what everybody told me. Since I was young, if I won you, I’d be face to the sun, face to the sun. Oh, but darling, we’re the same one, we are both built like the sun. We need a moon to orbit, I can’t orbit you, and if I tried, I’d surely freeze.”
On Monday, while moving the nearly 900-pound piano with the help of two others, Sean Mallari, owner of a piano tuning and restoration company in Williamsburg, reflected on the long life of the instrument.
“It was good for many, many, many years, but its working life is used,” he said. “It’s just age at this point.”
The serial number on the piano puts its year of manufacturing between 1887 and 1889, according to the Steinway & Sons website.
Nields was having the piano tuned about every six months; it might have ended up in the scrap pile had it not found a new home.
In Nerissa Nields’ household, the family would gather around the Steinway for Christmas carols. Her children would occasionally play it, though they prefer playing stringed instruments, she said.
Even with the absence of the old piano, Nields’ living room is home to enough instruments to start a band. There are acoustic and electric guitars hanging from the walls and small percussive instruments tucked away in a corner.
Now a Yamaha has replaced the Steinway and its keys ring true. Mallari expects to come by less often to tune, and perhaps Nields will discover new songs to write from the clear-sounding and glossy addition.
“They just sing,” Nields said while striking keys on her new piano. “There’s a resonance that the Steinway doesn’t have anymore.”
Luis Fieldman can be reached at lfieldman@gazettenet.com.