After several days on Carpathia, Titanic’s passengers arrived in New York late in the evening on April 18, 1912. Wireless messages from the ship had been limited, so this was the first time survivors had the chance to tell their stories of the disaster. The press sought interviews (or made them up), and letters written…… Continue reading Where did Titanic’s quintet play during the sinking?

Titanic’s bandsmen would have just returned to their berths from their regular Sunday night performances. Perhaps they were counting and dividing tips, filing away their sheet music, preparing for bed. At the stern of the ship on the starboard side of E Deck the members of the quintet would have felt and heard the impact…… Continue reading April 15, 1912: Was Titanic’s band ordered to play?

Until the morning of Sunday, April 14, 1912, Titanic’s two Dining Saloon pianos had stood silent. As the dinner hour was the band’s downtime, the pianos in the First and Second Class Dining Saloons had not yet been played. Although it has been depicted in movies that the band played during dinner, this was not…… Continue reading April 14, 1912: Sunday’s music on board Titanic

Titanic’s Third Class was divided into two groups of travelers. Single men and groups of male immigrants were berthed at the bow of the ship. Families, single women, and men traveling with women were berthed at the stern. These two groups didn’t usually mix, and even had separate Dining Saloons. Third Class passenger list This…… Continue reading Titanic’s Third Class music

There was a second band on board Titanic, a trio that played in the First Class Reception Room outside the à la carte Restaurant and Cafe Parisien. The room itself was the B Deck landing of the aft Grand Staircase. First Class Reception Room for a la carte Restaurant and Cafe Parisien, B DeckThe cafe…… Continue reading Titanic’s second band: Trio for Restaurant and Cafe Parisien

On the morning of April 11, 1912, five musicians woke up together in an unnumbered cabin at the end of a Second Class corridor on Titanic’s E Deck. The pursers and clerks were berthed in the next cabin, and beyond them, Second Class passengers. The musicians’ cabin was in Second Class because officially they sailed…… Continue reading April 11, 1912: Day with Titanic’s five-piece band

On the morning of April 10, 1912 at the port of Southampton the first passengers boarded Titanic. Stewards and stewardesses stood in place to help passengers find their way through the myriad of rooms, corridors, staircases and elevator lifts. The size of the vessel was immense. It was the kind of floating grand hotel where…… Continue reading April 10, 1912: Titanic’s band according to passengers

Titanic’s string musicians traveled with their own instruments and tuned them anew for each performance. Every time the band gathered, passengers would have heard the string players tuning up prior to the performance. However, the pianist had to play the instruments provided by the White Star Line. Lucky for Titanic’s pianist, the steamer had only…… Continue reading Maintaining Titanic’s shipboard pianos

Perhaps you have heard it sung in The Titanic Song, “So they put them down below where they’d be the first to go….” Contrary to the belief that Titanic’s Third Class was kept below in suppressed conditions, there was actually a level of comfort provided steerage passengers that put Titanic a cut above other ships.…… Continue reading Titanic’s Third Class piano and General Room

“A Steinway grand piano takes nearly a year to create. Nothing is hurried. Even the carefully selected woods that make up the rims, top, soundboards, and actions cure for months in our yard, kilns, and conditioning rooms before they stabilize at a rigidly specified moisture content. The rim of the instruments consists of layers of…… Continue reading To craft a Titanic Steinway