Stranger buys music store player a new piano

Browsing the aisles of your local music shop can be a great way to spend an afternoon. Who doesn’t enjoy perusing the shining rows of instruments, amps and accessories on a routine trip into town and demoing some new models?
For one 16-year-old South African teen however, his casual window shopping lead to an incredible act of generosity that he’ll never forget.
Mpumelelo Khumalo couldn’t believe his luck when a stranger offered to buy him a new keyboard after hearing him play in-store.
Shop assistant Michael Lieveaux said the man, a businessman in his late 40s, didn’t want to leave his name. He heard Khumalo play and told him not to stop.
He then told the boy to try the other keyboards in the shop and choose the one he liked, with Khumalo choosing a Yamaha DGX-640, pictured right.
The youngster said he had gone to the Pavilion Shopping Centre to do some shopping but visited the music store to play around on the keyboards.
“When the assistant told me that the man was going to buy it for me I was shocked. I was so thankful I started crying. I could only dream of having such an awesome keyboard,” he told the Sunday Tribune.
According to Lieveaux, this wasn’t a one-off act of kindness.
Khumalo is not the first unassuming player in the store to be surprised with a gift by the mystery benefactor. The businessman has apparently bought a keyboard for a boy in the shop before, two years ago, after being impressed by another youngster’s piano playing skills. On both occasions the generous donor declined to leave his details, preferring to remain anonymous.
The businessman’s latest act of generosity in the music shop won’t go to waste as Khumalo plans to pursue music after finishing school.
His older sister Buyi, 20, said this was the happiest day of her brother’s life. She said, “he hasn’t stopped smiling since.”
Did you benefit from the generosity of others at all as a young musician? How did it help support and encourage you and your playing?
How would you like to give something back to the musical community?