Man gives clarinet to homeless piano player

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – Many stopped in their tracks once they saw the story of a homeless Sarasota man who is a prodigy on the piano.

The video of Donald Gould playing the piano went viral earlier this week, and Mike McCall took notice.

“That was a fantastic story and then hearing him play the piano was amazing. When I read in the article that was posted that his real passion was the clarinet, I thought well this is not doing me any good so if it can help him more power to him,” McCall said.

He donated his old clarinet to Gould. McCall first played the clarinet in middle school but hasn’t touched it in a while.

“In the early 2000s I took up lessons again because I couldn’t remember how to play it. I did pretty well for a while and then got out of the habit. I’m back to sounding like I was a seventh grader and scaring the cats to death,” he said. “I would tell him to make good use of it and, you know, if he can use his music to improve his life and hopefully the continued media coverage will help his son get back in touch with him that would be fantastic.”

WISH-TV’s sister station WFLA took the clarinet from McCall and delivered it to Gould, who was back in Sarasota playing at a community piano.

“You got to be kidding me. A Bundy? Great,” Gould said, taking the instrument.

It’s been seven years since Gould last played a clarinet.

“I’m definitely going to have to practice. I used to play this thing. I played it in the Marine Corps band. They don’t take slouches,” he said.

After a few tries Gould was able to play a few songs on his new clarinet.

“Oh yeah, it feels great in my hands, like a comfortable old lover,” he said, laughing. “I would say thank you very much and he won’t regret it.”