Blog Post: Street Pianos - Playing For the Common Good

For the next three weeks there will be 30 colorful pianos sitting in public places throughout Los Angeles County. These pianos will sit out in the open for anyone to play. People can play whatever they wish to play. A child can hammer out chopsticks, a budding pianist can practice their next lesson or a seasoned player may wish to tackle Rachmaninoff. It's all for free and for the fun of it. It's happening because of a project called "Play Me, I'm Yours."

Pianos will be made available to the public for the next three weeks at locations as diverse as L.A. Live, Monterey Park, Old Pasadena, USC, Santa Monica Pier and UCLA. They will sit in the open for anyone to use and play. The point is simple: "Bring communities together through random acts of public music." For the organizers, they feel that putting a piano outside in the open Will captivate the imagination and serve as a hub for bringing people together. It's worked well in New York and orange County. Why not L.A. County?

Pianos were donated by Hollywood Piano Company and have been uniquely decorated by local artists. Each one is unique and colorful and inviting. They will feature murals, mermaids, cityscapes and chinese dragons among other things. And each piano has a plastic cover to combat rain and dampness. At the end of the three weeks the pianos will be donated to schools, community groups or auctioned off. Whoever came up with this concept had a pretty good vision.

I think the ideas of public pianos are a great idea. In this continuing tenuous time of uncertainties it's somehow comforting to open art and music to the public and let those who have the urge to have a moment in the spotlight to entertain or at least divert us from the usual problems we face each day. I appreciate the efforts of any group who will try to circumvent logic, pragmatism and hard reality for whimsy, creativity and bringing us all together for a well-deserved diversion and hopefully a few smiles. It's a great way to celebrate our culture, our lives and our humanity. Maybe Glendora should take a cue from this project and place a few pianos ofm our own!