The following conversation, reproduced here verbatim, took place a few days ago, while I was being driven from my home to a rehearsal in Newark with the New Jersey Symphony.
Driver: So what are you, a conductor or an instrumentalist?
J: Instrumentalist.
Driver: What do you play?
J: The piano.
Driver: What do you know!
J: Yeah.
Driver: My least favorite instrument.
J: ___
Driver: Because, you know, everyone bangs on it.
J: Well, that is sometimes the case.
Driver: Why, why do you people always bang on it?
J: Well, I try not to, myself.
Driver: Good.
Fin.