This performance is not about professionals, about the best of the best, about those who mastered the instrument when they were still kids. It’s about amateurs: men and women who learned the piano late or, after years of neglect, returned to it and relearned. With the Seattle Piano Players, people who are not that different from you and me take the stage. It’s just right for snacks, house wine, and the company of friends you haven’t seen in some time. (The Royal Room, 5000 Rainier Ave S, theroyalroomseattle.com, 7 pm, free, all ages)

Charles Mudede—who writes about film, books, music, and his life in Rhodesia, Zimbabwe, the USA, and the UK for The Stranger—was born near a steel plant in Kwe Kwe, Zimbabwe. He has no memory...