Golden Pianos

Nothing is better than walking through a park or down the street and hearing a dose of random music to accompany you.  How often do we watch movies and see characters walking with their own personal soundtrack?  I don’t know if I’m the only one but I’ve been perpetually jealous.  After jauntily moving down the street, it’s heart-warming to turn the corner and come face to face with a piano and live performance.  Created by UK artist Luke Jerram, the 50 Golden Street Pianos event, available across London until 13 July, creates a great possibility of this actually occurring.

 I came across my first Golden Piano in Soho yesterday.  The piano was being played by a young man who had a beautiful singing voice and was selling his own records next to his performance.  I found it strange that there was a piano on a stray street corner, but after continuing down the street, walking to my new movie-esque theme song, I couldn’t help but thoroughly enjoy every aspect of the randomness.

This piano is not the only one: there are 50 Golden Pianos all over the city.  The event “Play me, I’m yours,” means that people can use any of the artistically designed, scattered pianos to play a bit of music.  You can plan events online and invite people to join you, so this exhibition is a starting point for many young artists trying to get their name and face into the music industry.  However, this is also just pure fun available all over the world.  Since anyone can play the pianos, the artists can be professional or barely know how to play. 

The various pianos bring the community together in music.  While this is the fourth year of this exhibition, it still isn’t well-known.  Grab a group of friends and go find a piano and play for the world or listen to others share their talent.

For a map of piano locations visit the Street Pianos website; for more information on some of the artists who designed these pianos, visit the City of London Festival site.

Photograph by Luke Jerram