A street piano is a piano placed in the street which passersby are encouraged to play. The best known example comes from the Play Me, I'm Yours project by artist Luke Jerram. The concept originated quite by accident in Sheffield, England.
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In Sheffield, The Street Piano was a piano on the pavement on Sharrow Vale Road. It was originally left outside temporarily because the owner could not get it up the steps into his new house. As a social experiment the owner and a friend then attached a sign inviting passersby to play the piano for free. This offer was taken up by a great many people and the piano became a part of the local community. It survived for over a year, including being stolen and subsequently replaced by a newer model (with several volunteers willing to provide a new one).
The piano became the center of a local campaign once the council decided it constituted an abandoned item, and the campaign to save it spread quickly to local news outlets, with several articles on Indymedia. As of July 2006 a spokesman said in an interview for the National BBC Radio 4 that the piano was no longer under threat of removal. However, it was eventually removed in 2008 because of weather damage.
Artist Luke Jerram installed street pianos in various cities. The project intended to challenge the prohibition of playing music in public places without special arrangement. It prompted members of the public to use the piano, regardless of skill and popularity. Typically, a musician would have been stopped from playing outside the City of London and Sing London festival.
In 2007, Jerram installed 15 street pianos throughout Birmingham, United Kingdom, for the public to play. In just three weeks, 140,000 people across the city played, listened and connected with one another.
Jerram said "Questioning the rules and ownership of public space 'Play Me I'm yours' is a provocation, inviting the public to engage with, activate and take ownership of their urban environment."
Thirteen pianos have been installed in São Paulo.[1] Luke Jerram reported that many of those who stopped at the pianos had never played a real piano or even seen one.[1]
Thirty street pianos were set up across Sydney for the Sydney Festival 2009. A website was set up for the public to upload and share their films, photographs and stories of the pianos being played.
In June and July, 2009, thirty Play Me, I'm Yours-painted pianos were installed across London for members of the public to play. The painting on each piano was chosen to suit its location.[2] The project was produced by Sing London and City of London Festival[2] at a cost of £14,000.[3] A music license had to be obtained for the location of each piano.[3]
The artwork was presented again with Fifteen street pianos being located in and around Bristol in September 2009.[4]
Play Me, I'm Yours arrived in Barcelona when twenty-three street pianos were located across the city in March 2010.[5]
Play Me, I'm Yours, presented in New York City, brought sixty pianos to the center of commercial Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx, and Staten Island. The pianos were placed at strategic locations throughout the five boroughs. For the two-week duration of June 21 through July 5, 2010, the pianos featured formal and impromptu concerts by students, tourists, children, nannies, lawyers, doctors, merchants, and artists in an open festival of music involving all elements of New York's culturally diverse population.[6]
Play Me, I'm Yours brought 35 pianos to Greater Cincinnati starting on August 9, 2010 with a kickoff event at Fountain Square, downtown. The pianos will be donated to arts centers and children in need after the project ends on September 17. The project was brought to Cincinnati by Cincinnati Public Radio to celebrate the 50th anniversary of WGUC, the 40th anniversary of WVXU and the 60th anniversary of WMUB.[7]
Mr. Jerram also entered Play Me I'm Yours in the 2010 Artprize competition in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Despite the entry's popularity, it failed to make the final round, finishing in the Top 25.[8]
The largest "Play Me, I'm Yours" project, with 101 pianos, took place September 11 through September 18, 2011, as part of the Incubate festival in Tilburg, The Netherlands.[9]
Media related to [//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Street_pianos Street pianos] at Wikimedia Commons