Looking out the front windows of Beatrice High School Wednesday afternoon, students saw something they’d never seen before.

A moving truck was backed up to the building, and out of the truck came an 8-foot-long C-7 Yamaha grand piano. Their eyes opened wider.

Where would the piano go? What was it doing here?

All this, Nicole Narboni could easily explain.

Narboni, a pianist and senior lecturer for the School of Music at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, was making the second stop in her “Piano-in-Tow” program.

“Piano-in-Tow” is Narboni’s way to bring the music to the people, an idea that struck her last year while chatting with a friend.

“We were both commiserating about the dwindling audience for classical music,” she said.

Talking about where the problem may be, Narboni realized that rural areas in Nebraska don’t often see live classical music performances. She decided to do something about it.

Thanks to the Layman Fund, a UNL grant for faculty creative projects, she received the funding needed to bring her music to rural Nebraska.

The hard part had only begun.

“It took us 45 minutes just to get (the piano) onto the elevator to get it out of the music college,” she said of the first trip to Schuyler on Tuesday.

Having the piano with her was important. She knew that she needed a fine piano to play for the rural citizens. Instead of giving that responsibility to the areas she played, she took it upon herself. Her piano travels to every site with her.

She chose where to visit by simply calling around to areas she felt were rural and would benefit from her performance.

In Beatrice, she put together a program with band director Nathan LeFeber. Students at Beatrice High School were invited to the optional assembly in the afternoon during their final period.

LeFeber said both the afternoon school performance and the later public performance would be “lecture recitals.”

Prior to playing a piece of American classical music, Narboni would talk about the piece, explaining the time period or the composer.

“I hope to show them that not all classical music is stuffy,” she said.

She played such pieces as “Turkey in the Straw” by David Guiyan, a classical cowboy piece.

As Narboni practiced Wednesday afternoon, she pounded on her piano with a stern face. This piece was “Jam!” by Daniel Bernard Rouman, a Harlem-based composer. Almost every note was stomped on the keys, and at one point, Narboni stomped her foot on the ground to the beat.

It wasn’t stuffy.

As a surprise, Narboni played “Mario Bros. Overworld Theme,” an easily recognizable classic for most of the students present.

“That was a little surprise,” Narboni laughed.

As students walked into the hall, some seemed quite excited.

“I heard she’s really good,” Samantha Hovendick said. “I’m a pianist, too. It’ll be nice to see what else is out there.”

“My mom is the accompanist here,” Colin Hays said. “I think it’ll be nice to hear.”

This semester’s trip will also tour Columbus, St. Petersburg and Albion. Narboni hopes to take her piano to even further Nebraska areas during the spring semester.

She isn’t worried about the welfare of her piano, saying the only problem might be with its tuning.

“They’re professional movers,” she said of the people hired to move her piano.

The piano is transferred from town-to-town in a climate-controlled vehicle. Even the tune isn’t too much of a worry for her.

At 6 p.m., Narboni played to the public for a free performance in the Hevelone Center at the high school.

“I hope they gain a stronger understanding of American music and American composers,” said LeFeber of the classical experience. “And I hope they gain an appreciation for the performing arts. That’s why I wanted to do this, to expose them to terrific musicians.”