28.6.12

Play me I'm yours!


There was a surprise the other day when I went to “my” park - there was a piano… and a sign said: “Play me – I’m yours”. I might have, but without my scores, I’m lost (bad excuse).

… and a further surprise, in front of the main entrance stood another one!

Well, launched in 2008 by a British artist (Luke Jerram), pianos like these have been installed in parks, train stations… in a number of cities around the world - until now some 600 pianos. Linked to the “Fête de la Musique” (see previous post) the French Ministry of Culture now launched it in Paris. Altogether some 40 pianos have been placed at different spots in Paris and they will remain there until July 8. Then, they will be lent to different associations until a new campaign next year. They are of course old pianos but quite OK to play, in general decorated by some street artist. 

During a Saturday afternoon, after a timid start (great thanks to the young kids), more and more people played and attracted a little crowd.


I checked a bit also the following days. Amazing, the number of people who can play. Here is a man playing jazz, a lady who brought her scores and played Chopin, a charming Cuban-born lady who played Bach...




Unfortunately, and as one could fear, all the pianos are not as well treated as the ones in "my" park. I found this one on Place de Clichy.








Talking about vandalism. You may have noticed that I'm quite in favour of good street art, urban art (see a number of posts), but I'm also against wild tagging. The City of Paris offers cleaning, free of charge, of such tagging. Here you can see one of the city agents in action.


















Added June 30:
... and one week after my first pciture, the pianos in "my" park are still there. The "concerts" go on. I only regret that I didn't bring my camera more often.


Added July 1:
   

23 comments:

Olivier said...

j'adore cette idee de ces pianos Street, j'en avais vu quelque uns a NYC.

martinealison said...

Merci pour ce merveilleux billet... j'ai aimé le reportage aussi fait à la télévision. Cette initiative est formidable. Dommage que malheureusement la fête soit gâchée par des actes de vandalisme...
Vos photos sont superbes, je vous félicite pour cet excellent article.

Gros bisous

Ola said...

nice idea for a public space!

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Thérèse said...

Excellent! I have seen them in US (Arizona) too... how fun!
"La musique adoucit les moeurs" moins de temps pour les faux artistes de taguer.

Studio at the Farm said...

Come on, Peter, not even "Chop-sticks"??? A simple scale? I love the pianos out there in public. After 15 years of lessons when I was young, I can't see one, and not want to play something. :)

claude said...

10 sur 10 pour cette belle idée !
Parc contre 0 pour les vandales et les tagueurs sauvages.

Cezar and Léia said...

So sorry about the vandalism in that piano, my heart is crying here.
Wonderful idea, something really different!
I'm going...
;)
Hugs
Léia

Claudia said...

So cool!!!

Adam said...

I like this initiative, but it doesn't surprise me that there should be a few victims in some of the 'livlier' parts of the city!

hpy said...

La musique devait être plutôt sauvage sur piano n° 2. (Peut-être joué par des Suédois?)

Vagabonde said...

Thank you Peter for showing these pianos – I had no idea they were in public places in Paris like this. What a great idea – too bad that some people don’t appreciate music and take their rage against the pianos.

José Ramón said...

Greetings from your blog interesting Creativity and imagination photos of Jose Ramon

Cergie said...

Quand je pense que je suis passé là le 21 juin jour de la fête de la musique et n'ai rien vu de tout cela (je reconnais bien sur la photo du dessus mon coin au canard timide dans les feuilles de narcisse) !
Je trouve que ton quartier est particulièrement propre / d'autres arrondissements où il y a plus de laisser-aller, la fréquentation n'est sans doute pas la même....

lyliane six said...

Superbe initiative! je suis sûre que tu y as joué un morceau divin.Honte aux vandalisme.

Starman said...

love the way Paris comes up with these innovative things. I wish I could afford to live there!

Anonymous said...

I can´t believe you did not play!

Not even your childhood´s Einsamer

Wanderer?

How long are these pianos going to

be there?

Delicious post!

Thank you so much
La Jeune Captive

Anonymous said...

Oops!

I just read the pianos are going

to be there until July 8.

I wish I was there...

I could play some Rock and Roll

and make everybody dance!

La Jeune Captive

Catherine said...

what a lovely creative idea...shame about that vandalism...

Shionge said...

This is the first time I come across this and I think this is a brilliant idea :D

ParisMaddy said...

Such a simple, yet beautiful idea. Music is one of the things I love best in Paris. It's seemingly everywhere, isn't it? and it fits so well. Great photos. You are a master storyteller.

Ash said...

What a nice idea! I'd love to see this in more cities!

arabesque said...

the play me i;m yours was a gr8 idea to encourage people esp. young kids to appreciate music.
this reminded me of my wee-young days, when i used to play piano and oh! how i dreaded it.^0^

Virginia said...

Now Peter, I hope you sat down and took your turn on one of the pianos as I know you play quite well! And your granddaughter, did she have her turn? :)

And you know how I feel about tagging. I think it's a disgrace and too bad the city of Paris has to spend so much money and manpower keeping it under control. Surely there is an answer but I don't know what it is.

V