'Piano Wars' Will Wow Audiences During Sacred Heart Fundraiser
Posted
David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
At age 10, David Caruso started taking piano lessons.
More than 30 years later, he's playing the piano in one war after another. Piano Wars.
Sacred Heart Home and School Association will host its fifth annual Big Bang fundraiser on April 19 from 7 p.m. to midnight in the Sacred Heart Gym. Caruso's dueling pianos entertainment show, Piano Wars, will provide the night's entertainment.
Caruso said he took piano lessons for about six years. After that, he learned to play the rest by ear. He'd take a record he wanted to learn to play and listen to it over and over, memorizing the chords.
"It just comes by playing," said Caruso in a telephone interview Tuesday afternoon.
As of his schedule Tuesday, Caruso said he has 3,500 career performances under his belt. He's played in more than 500 venues, in more than 200 cities and in 22 states.
In Piano Wars, two pianos face each other, played by two "energetic entertainers," Caruso said. The pianists take requests for songs by the audience. If the audience loves the music, they can sit back and enjoy it. If they don't, they can tip the piano players to play something else.
"The main thing is it's not a concert," said Caruso.
People are pulled from the audience to be on the stage. They are given costumes and props to use while a song is performed. Sometimes, Caruso said, they will perform a song about the audience member they pulled up on the stage.
The entertainers also will get the entire audience involved with school fight song battles or room splits to see who can be more energetic and louder.
"The energy level is always pretty high," Caruso said.
He said they play everything from Barry Manilow to Metallica. It's not about the song or how well it is sung, Caruso said, but the reaction he gets from playing it.
During the Big Bang fundraiser, there will be many great silent auction items, as well as gift cards, to raffle off throughout the evening. All proceeds benefit Sacred Heart School.
