Piano man notes purpose in pandemic
Kenton Klink, 65, of Canonsburg, performs a "mini concert" via Facebook Live at the Canonsburg United Presbyterian Church.
Kenton Klink's fingers move across piano keys as he performs a "mini concert" via Facebook Live at the Canonsburg United Presbyterian Church.
Kenton Klink performs via Facebook Live at the Canonsburg United Presbyterian Church.
Kenton Klink said of piano playing during the pandemic: "This has has given me more of a purpose than I ever thought possible.”
Kenton Klink prepares to perform a weekly virtual piano concert at Canonsburg United Presbyterian Church as Pastor Don Coleman gets ready to who record the video.
The only thing more constant than music in all 65 years of Kenton Klink’s life is his faith.
He’s been the instrumentalist at Canonsburg United Presbyterian Church for 47 years.
“When I started at church, my mom was a big churchgoer, and she supported me in the effort to do that,” Klink said. “I saw that there was a need and that it made people happy.”
Klink took piano lessons in grade school, and at 18 played “The Lord’s Prayer” during a wedding at the church. It was the first time he ever performed in front of people.
“Forty-seven years later, we’re in a pandemic,” he said. “I would never have thought I’d be on Facebook every week giving mini-concerts and getting so many views.”
It was at the request of his friend and pastor, the Rev. Don Coleman, that Klink began performing via Facebook Live. At the beginning of the pandemic, Coleman started daily chats on Facebook for his congregation to view. He asked Klink to take over Wednesdays with a 1 p.m. piano concert, which Coleman shoots on a phone and livestreams on Facebook.
“When we first started doing these, the vision wasn’t much beyond the congregation,” Coleman said. “My initial thought was to connect with the congregation because we’re not meeting in person.”
But folks in other churches and across the community started watching and sharing Klink’s videos. Some of his weekly videos have gotten anywhere from 500 to 5,000 views. He’s had viewers from California, Texas, Florida, Arizona, Kentucky, Ohio and even Canada tune in to his piano playing.
“Who’d have thought?” Klink said. “Our original intention was, I think, to be comforting to church members and for them to see that we’re still thriving, and we’re still here praising the Lord. I believe my music – His music – touches them in a way that I’m just blow away by the response.”
Most of the music he plays includes hymns and Christian music, “since that’s what my life has been full of,” Klink said. Sometimes he’ll “show my age,” and play tunes by James Taylor, or “Moon River” or “California Dreaming.”
Sometimes people request their favorite songs, or meaningful tunes in times of celebration or grief.
“It’s been a real joy for me to do this,” he said. “I probably get more out of it than the viewers do. I love my church, and I would do anything to support it and to make it known in the community.”
Once he started the weekly mini concerts, Klink only missed one week, when his apartment in Canonsburg was razed by fire.
Klink is the property manager of Summit Avenue Apartments, which burned the Sunday afternoon of Sept. 27. Though no one was injured, the fire displaced about 30 people and cost about $1.5 million in damage.
Klink lost everything he owned in the fire, including his personal grand piano.
“There was standing water in it when I last saw it,” he said. “I’ve missed having one at home.”
Klink now lives in one of the smaller undamaged apartments there while waiting for repairs to be made to his previous apartment. His insurance covered the cost of replacing the piano.
It’s been a difficult year, and because he lives alone, Klink said, it has been “a very solitary time.”
“I also deal with the isolation aspect of the past year, so these mini concerts have allowed me to get out and share a part of me,” he said. “This has given me more of a purpose than I ever thought possible.”