Pianist Doing What Comes Naturally at Museum

Talk about street performers and most people think of saxophone players, guitar players, jugglers or mimes, but nobody thinks of a piano player. Rick Knowlton is a street performer who plays the piano outside the Museum of Natural History in Balboa Park.

Knowlton, 32, a native of New Jersey via Boulder, Colo., has been playing in San Diego for only a few weeks but has been playing outdoors for six years.

Every day, he tows a specially constructed red-and-white trailer that contains his 500-pound upright piano to Balboa Park. Knowlton unloads the piano with the help of a ramp and a cart with pneumatic tires that he built. He sets up his piano and stool under the shade of a tree and plays everything from the Beatles to Bach--with Billy Joel, Janice Joplin and Rodgers & Hammerstein in between.

“Most of what of what I play are familiar melodies, and I just embellish them,” Knowlton said. “I play songs that . . . make the piano sing.”

Knowlton, who has a bachelor’s degree in dance therapy from the University of Minnesota, said he wanted to become an elementary schoolteacher but became disenchanted with that after working at schools in Colorado.

Realizing that teaching was not what he wanted to do, Knowlton turned to the piano. He said he had always enjoyed playing the piano as a hobby, but had never considered using it to make a living.

Knowlton began taking piano lessons when he was in high school at the age of 16. Although he took music theory courses in college, he said he had very little formal training and learned about technique and style on his own.

Knowlton, who has also performed in restaurants, said he enjoys playing in the open because he can play what he wants and because he enjoys the interaction with people.

“It is intrinsically rewarding,” he said. “I get good feedback. People tell me they are moved and touched by my music. . . . I love the music, and I get good interaction.”