The Magic of the Street Pianos


Street or public pianos are now quite commonplace, often located in railways stations or public spaces for anyone to play. The first public piano was in Sheffield, UK, in 2003, with a friendly “Play me” sign on it. It proved hugely popular and in 2008 the Play Me I’m Yours project, created by artist Luke Jerram, was first commissioned in Birmingham, UK, with 15 street pianos located across the city. Within just a few weeks it was estimated that over 140,000 people played or listened to music from the pianos.

The project has since gone from strength to strength, with more than 1900 street pianos located in 70 cities worldwide. Street pianos attract players of all ages and abilities – Sir Elton John and the Russian pianist Valentina Lisitsa have both played the street piano at London’s St Pancras Station, amongst countless others. Members of a piano club I’m connected with made a special club trip to play the street piano at St Pancras to perform exam pieces and other repertoire, treating the experience as an important performance opportunity.
 

For those of us of a very nervous performance disposition, these are GREAT. For attracting more people to music making rather than the commercialised electronic production and marketing the general public THINK is music, even better. - David, advanced amateur pianist, London

For many people, street pianos offer a special kind of pleasure, an escape from the everyday, a chance share music with others, or simply to practise. Many people, including a number of professional pianists, highlight the usefulness of street pianos for practising while waiting for a train, especially if one doesn’t have access to an acoustic piano at home.

 …street pianos are a great way to connect with people who may never have come to a concert before - Daniel Roberts, concert pianist, Brazil  (Source: Interlude)

Donated in 2016, Elton’s piano wasn’t the first at St Pancras. The oldest one on the concourse is brightly painted and was donated in 2012. It comes with an instruction “Play me. I’m Yours”.

One of over 1,900 upright pianos rescued from landfill to appear in public places in 60 cities all over the world – from New York to San Jose and Paris to London.
At St Pancras station one of the regular players of the piano is a man who has “homeless ups and downs” and who calls himself Michael Piano Man. He says simply: “The piano keeps me alive.”

When he first saw the piano at St Pancras he says: “It was like I’d walked into the Garden of Eden. Everyone has their bad days and you need something to help those bad days. It’s therapy.

“I don’t see doctors. When I go to the piano, I find all the medicine that I need. I help myself – the piano heals me.”

The piano, he says, “strokes your heart, it mellows you”.

Jerram launched the project as an ongoing artwork in 2008 and ­estimates its pianos have been listened to by more than 10 million people worldwide. 

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