Book reviewer Lauren Baker Murray reviews "Piano Girl" for the prestigious Music Educators Journal.

Piano Girl: A Memoir, By Robin Meloy Goldsby Backbeat Books, San Francisco

From her very first job as a restaurant piano player in Nantucket, Robin Meloy Goldsby seemed destined to entertain from 5-8 p.m., Monday through Friday, thank you very much and don’t forget to tip your servers. Piano Girl is a charming collection of episodes from Goldsby’s life as an entertainer. It’s not really fair to label her as a lounge musician, although that’s primarily how she supports herself. She also sings, acts, and dances in a well-known cabaret (and in one incident must “tastefully” strip), plays one-handed flute, saves a choking victim from a pancake, almost joins the circus, and tours with Sesame Street.

There are many laugh-out-loud moments in this book. Goldsby doesn’t take herself too seriously, and she says that early in her career she learned to “stop trying to entertain my customers. Instead, I allow them to entertain me.” (p. 123). This attitude makes for some excellent story-telling. As a fellow musician, I found that many of her stories sounded familiar: endless auditions for which you seem to be overqualified, underqualified, or wearing the wrong color; showing up for gigs that aren’t quite the way they were described over the phone and having to “fake it”; and being pigeonholed into a career you weren’t planning on but can’t afford to get away from.

The storytelling is not at all self serving. Goldsby briefly mentions important life events such as boyfriends, deaths of relatives, and marriage. She does not, however, spend much time on events that don’t somehow affect her as a musician. She gets sentimental on only one occasion, the birth of her first child. This section is just a brief departure from the light and hilarious tone of the book.

The most enjoyable aspect of this book is Goldsby’s attitude. So many professional musicians are jaded and feel trapped in their profession. At no time does Goldsby complain about wages, working conditions (although there are some choice moments with dry ice and candles that would make anyone waver), or her general lot in life. She acknowledges the loneliness and self-doubt that often occur, but she appreciates what she does, even stating her amazement that people pay her to perform. Any cynicism that creeps into her life is finally conquered by a fellow musician: “You never know who might be listening. It might be someone who really needs the music you play. Maybe the person who needs it most is you. But that counts, right?” (p.198) Music Educators Journal September 2006 Lauren Baker Murray associate director, School of Music University of Northern Colorado