In the last few years, the Market has added some additional seating back behind the Fair Food Farmstand and the Golden Fish Market. In addition to the plastic chairs and tables that fill this area, there is an upright piano.

Most afternoons, you can find someone sitting at that piano, playing for enjoyment and a few tips. Last Friday afternoon, an older gentleman was the one sitting behind the keys. Most of the people sitting in the area surrounding him weren’t paying much attention to the music. The woman sitting to my left was feeding her 14-month-old grandson an afternoon snack, while three girls a couple tables away were scribbling their teenage angst into matching journals.

However, one woman was paying him the whole of her attention. She had drawn the chair that was closest to him up so that she could reach out and touch the back of the piano if she wished. Wearing a long red skirt, short-sleeved white sweater and a light-yellow brimmed hat with a pink fabric flower pinned to the side, she kept uneven time with a bouncing foot. For the longest time, she clutched a five dollar bill in her right hand, as if looking for the perfect time to add it into his tip jar. After he finishes up a particularly rousing rendition of “Mr. Saturday Night,” she shakily rises and drops the five into the mostly-empty jar.

A Reading Terminal employee moves through the area, straightening chairs and evening out the rows of tables. She notices a particularly dirty one and shouts to a coworker to come over and wipe it down. The listening woman turns her head and glares at her, hoping that the dirty look will have the power to return the space to the concert hall she has created in her mind.

Looking around the space again, I realized that while most of the folks seated in ones and twos at the tables aren’t actively listening to the music, it seems to be having a subconscious effect. Writing utensils are tapped in rhythm and the visible stress that the business man across from me carried when he sat down seemed to fade. I am reminded of the magic of live music and feel particularly fortunate to have experienced that reminder while at the Market.