Ren Berry, 16, enjoys playing the classic "Gymnopédies" by French composer Erik Satie on the piano.
“I love this piano. It’s so beautiful," Berry said.
She is a self-taught musician who will graduate next spring from Marcy High School in Clairemont. It is an alternative learning community for students with social and emotional special needs in the San Diego Unified School District.
The piano provides music therapy and an outlet for her to express feelings when she plays it.
"(I feel) so calm and relieved. All of my negative emotions, stress and anxiety go away and it’s great. I love it. It makes me so happy," she said.
The piano she plays is not an ordinary one. The aging Ivers and Pond upright piano in the school's music room is named "Here Comes the Sun," after the classic Beatles song. It has been completely renovated and recreated by two young San Diego musicians — Makena Stumpo, 14, a freshman at Mission Bay High School, and his life-long friend Liam Koett, 14, who attends Cathedral Catholic.
Together, they used their creative connection to revive the instrument that was headed for a junkyard.
“It started as an eighth grade community service project, but I think it turned into a lot more than that. It turned into a passion project," Stumpo said.
Liam is also an artist who painted the piano with visions of sunshine and scribbles and characters inspired by a mural he loves in Ocean Beach.
“Art is important to me because it's an outlet for my emotions," Koett said. “I would hope that the art can inspire students to create, and the music they hear from the piano will inspire them to listen to music, play music and create music.”
The boys are affiliated with the Sing For Hope organization, a New York City-based nonprofit that uses artists everywhere and of every age to bring hope, healing and inspiration through art to people who need it most.
That includes restored pianos that can be repurposed for educational and entertainment venues.
“It just seems like it was meant to be and the kids are just in love with it, and so grateful," said Felicia Fis, the Marcy High School psychologist who learned about Liam and Makena’s Sing For Hope piano in August, when the boys had finished their creation.
“The kids here had been asking and saying we love our (old school) piano but some of the notes don’t sound, it’s not in tune, and we need another piano," she said. "So, when I heard (Liam and Makena's piano was) looking for a forever home ... I was just like, that’s Marcy!"
The connection was made and the boys' piano found its way to the school earlier this fall. The official dedication happened on Nov. 9, with family and friends. San Diego Unified Superintendent Lamont Jackson was also there.
This synchronicity of sound made a much deeper spiritual connection, too.
Not just for the Marcy students.
“The Beatles were like the soundtrack of my childhood. My dad used to sing 'Here comes the bus, doo doo doo doo,' when he’d walk us to the (school)bus," Fis said.
Her father, Luis, just died on Oct. 31. He left her with a lifetime of love, laughter and musical memories. Fis credited the piano and its creators with honoring her late father and providing some comfort and closure.
“It’s an uplifting thing to think about. We all have struggles and bad days and days we’re not OK. It's always something to think about and remember," Fis said. "There will be times when the sun is going to come up, and everything’s going to be ok."
