I first met John Bruder in the elegant McLaughlin Auditorium at Sunnybrook Hospital. We had gathered for a presentation by the Sunnybrook Cochlear Implant (CI) program. Some of us, like John, had already received an implant. Others, like me, were on the waiting list and experiencing a blend of dread and excitement. I wanted to learn more about the surgery and technology that might give me a chance to hear better. 

I recall noticing that John, who was sitting in the row behind me, wore his cochlear device with pride — the circular magnet, cable and high-tech processor stood out next to his ear against close-cropped hair. 

John and I met during the break and promised to get together for coffee. I visited him at his office downtown, where he worked as a management consultant at one of the big consulting firms. We’re roughly the same age; he was hanging in there with his career, while I was about to take a break to deal with hearing troubles.

I learned that John was a musician, and was encouraged that he was still playing piano.  With some trial and error, he had learned to appreciate music in a different way. The act of playing music now, with his new CI hearing system, also helped him to listen to and appreciate music.

During the covid epidemic, I reached John on the west coast, where he was temporarily riding out the storm, and he agreed to share his story:

How long have you played music and how did you first start?

I’ve been playing piano for almost 50 years — I started when I was 8.

I actually had a schoolboy crush on a girl named Beth, who played piano. I naively thought that we’d have the same teacher, or meet in some way, if I played the piano! I had a variety of piano teachers growing up, living in Kapuskasing, North Bay, Peterborough and finally Toronto.

How did your music teachers inspire you?

Fred Pritchard in Peterborough, during my high school years, was a strong influence on my classical piano work. He was quirky but very passionate. He held a global piano Licentiate Diploma, the highest level of Royal Conservatory achievement. Under his guidance, I made it to the Kiwanis Festival provincials one year.

I recall that competition for two reasons:

The first is that I played Rhapsody in C by Dohnanyi. It was unique, as it was written for a Bosendorfer Piano and, as a result, it had a low note in the score that a normal piano couldn’t accommodate. The bottom octave on the Bosendorfer also has reverse colouring on the keys — the raised keys are white and the sunken keys are black.

Secondly, during the finals, given the percussive nature of one section, I broke a black key on the piano.  I scooped it off the keys and it kind of flew into the audience, but I played through to the end. There was then a considerable delay in the proceedings, as they needed to replace the piano for the next competitor. I didn’t win, but got a great story out of it.

I studied classical music until Grade 10 Royal Conservatory, and then when I started University I got interested in blues and developing my ear and improvisation.

I’m 56 now. I’ve played off and on my whole life, having periods where I’d play pretty well all day if I could.

How did hearing loss affect your music?

I started to lose my hearing in my twenties from a genetic disorder that affects the auditory nerve. I switched more to solo play, as it started to get harder to listen to and discriminate other instruments as I was playing. I may have given up a little too easy as well.

Music has three many dimensions: frequency, rhythm and dynamic level. When I received the cochlear implant five years ago, it became apparent that the CI couldn’t make fine discriminations between musical frequency or “pitch.” So a scale played with an error would sound the same as one played correctly.

How did you adapt?

To compensate, my mind would ‘cheat’ — that is, when I was well rested, playing a Chopin Nocturne would sound, to me, very much like I remembered it. The kinetics of playing and my memory were filling in the blanks. However, when I listened to a recording of that same piece I could hardly recognize it without all of the cues I had while performing.

This divide was frustrating, but something I got used to. Since my brain was giving me a ‘fake’ musical experience when I was playing, I resigned myself to thinking that: ‘for a CI user, music is more about playing than listening’.

And so what if my brain was cheating? During the time while playing, I was having a valuable musical experience.

In what other ways have you changed how you play music?

The cochlear implant enhanced the other two aspects of music for me. I found I was able to greatly improve my dynamic control, which is fundamental. My instrument is called a ‘piano-forte’ for a reason — that is, the instrument allows the performer to play in a range from the quietest of musical passages up to an earth-shattering crescendo.

As well, I started to work more on swing rhythms, a style I’d never been able to learn, and I found that I made progress where I couldn’t before.

What kind of instrument do you play now?

I’m lucky to have a Celviano Grand Digital Hybrid piano. This class of piano has the best of both worlds: weighted keys and actual hammers and strings, but also digital pickups to provide lots of flexibility. I can set the instrument to sound like a piano that Chopin would have played in the 1840s, with the acoustics sounding like the type of venue he’d play at.

How have you shared your music with others recently?

I’ve always liked teaching kids. My observation with kids is that although they create their own stories and draw their own pictures, they typically learn the piano by ‘reading’ what is there and not creating. So I like to encourage early improvisation, to introduce ‘play’ into learning.

I taught some blues basics to my nephews. I had them playing two to a piano, where one plays a walking 12-bar bass line and the other improvises. The improviser would start simply with just three notes and different rhythms. Then they would switch. I had them do some ‘call and response’ playing together — this makes piano fun.

What’s up now, and what’s next for you with music?

A few years ago I started lessons with David Story in Toronto. He took me through a once-around-the-kitchen with both classical (Bach, Beethoven, Satie, Debussy, Chopin, Mozart) and various jazz styles such as stride, boogie woogie, and blues. I learned new pieces such as “Tea for Two” by Art Tatum, “Chicago Breakdown” by Big Macco, assorted pieces by Teddy Wilson , Gershwin and more.

David surprised me when I first starting studying with him. He told me: ‘You’re playing too much with your fingers!’. This led me to evolve to a ‘full-body’ approach to playing piano, where my fingers did less work and the gravity and flow of wrists and arms played a more dominant role.

Also for me, with my recent CI hearing system, I want to focus on musical styles and improvisation that highlight rhythmic elements and dynamics over pitch.

This is a path I’d like to continue to explore after the virus abates and I’m back in Toronto with my piano.

As an alternative — I’ve been engaging in a kind of urban-monk lifestyle this year, a new way of living.  So I may try to engage the piano in a different way — perhaps as an aesthetic monk-like practice. Some people who watched me play piano used to comment that they couldn’t see my fingers move, as they were moving so fast. What about not being able to see my fingers move as they are moving too slow? I’d like to dabble a little in those aesthetic, mystic questions.