Remember the articles (and posts) about the pianos in the streets of London, placed outside where anyone could play them?

And later, a similar project in Brazil?

Well now the concept has come to America.

Ybor City (pronounced E-bor) Florida (Tampa area) to be exact.

My friend Kathy pointed out an article in the St. Petersburg (FL) Times about 10 pianos placed around the city, OUTSIDE where everyone and anyone can play them.

That was all we needed to hear, the quest was on!

Today (Sat. Nov. 14, 2009) we paid a visit to Ybor City and tracked down all 10 pianos. I played every one of them (well, 9 were playable, 1 was beyond bad).

Each piano was decorated by a different artist. Some were in pretty reasonable musical condition, others not so much. But that didn't matter, half the fun was in tracking them down and playing them, kind of like a musical treasure hunt, and seeing what the artists concept was. We had our little map, and found out quickly that the folks in Ybor are very friendly.

The whole thing is actually pretty clever. It's exposure for the artists and a fun way to get familiar with the area, discovering shops, restaurants, theatres, etc. along the way.
It was interesting to see the different artists interpretations, and to "test" each piano we discovered.

Following are some pictures, and even a little video clip (yes, I'm the chubby guy in the pictures with the typical Florida outfit on). The displays will be in place through Jan. 9, drop by and play them if you get anywhere near the area.

The first piano we found, in front of the theater...



The second piano, note the art work (the Play Me was part of the artwork, even though it looks like someone wrote it in the dust)...



And a size view of the same piano...


Piano number 3 was in front of a sports bar, second level of the Ybor Centro ...


Another View...


Centro (Central) Ybor where 3 of the pianos are located (some great old buildings converted for modern use in this area)...



Spotted another piano, this time it was near Gameworks (I believe)...


Another view...


On to Number 5, at La France...

And the piano...
Another view...


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La France piano with lid closed...


Piano number 6, at the Mermaids Slipper..


Closer view of Mermaids piano...


Piano number 7 at the Muvico complex...


Sami plays the Muvico Piano (pianist we met, plays great, has a Bluthner at home)


Piano number 8, the Libarace Piano at Streetcar Charlies...


Playing the Libarace Piano


Piano number 9, the restroom piano. Yes, this piano is right outside the door to a public restoom. Appropriate, considering it's the only one you couldn't play. It was so bad musically, it belongs in a toilet. Unfortunate because the art is cool.



Number 10...
The HCC piano, quite the contraption, but the piano itself was actually pretty good.
It even has a built in video camera and small monitor, so you can watch yourself play :-)


The back of the HCC piano...


And a short video of me playing Kathy's song (I wrote for her) on the HCC piano...
(Yes, I made some mistakes, but it's also partly the pianos fault :-) And believe it or not, the keys were actually hot (from the sun).

Nice playing Frank!

Excellent! : )

Wish that was me in the background pounding anchors in the concrete (I assume) while getting a great concert on a 243....Thanks!

It's Fun To Play the Piano ... Pass It On!

How cool is that! Thanks for posting these great pictures and vid, Frank.

Did you a crowd gather 'round?

Did you leave PW cards out?

;-)

I love it! I'm glad you played them, and posted for us - what a great trip.

Cathy

That's so cool! Thanks for sharing the pics, Frank I wish they did that too here, but any piano left outside would probably hauled away by some enterprising folk in no time flat!!

i would love to have a link to the article. That would be so neat to implement in the surprisingly sophisticated Kansas City metro.

A reporter for the St. Petersburg Times caught us while I was playing piano #2 (I didn't know she was a reporter, just thought it was someone being nice who kindly clapped when I finished playing).

She asked some questions, then asked if she could join us on the hunt. She stayed with us for about 20 minutes and two or three pianos. I kept mentioning Piano World, but she still managed to leave PW out of her article (but she did talk about Kathy and me)...

Please Play Me - Article in St Pete Times

Send the reporter this link to Piano World by email Frank!

What you were saying was "conversation" and she may not have gotten the idea that YOU are the "someone" behind this great website and what it means to so many people who are keyboard players. She was meeting the "head honcho" and didn't realize it, I think.

I love this mainstream piano idea and congratulate whoever in the Tampa area came up with this!

Puyallup, where I live, has a lot of art around town and I am getting "the willies" just thinking about the possibilities of "pianos" around town! (Indoors in public places because we have so much rain here!)

I'm delighted to see the pictures and I certainly understand that you would run right down and put your hands on the keys and test them out. I'd do the same!

Betty

boo... wont be visiting florida till march.. though, not that i can play anything yet,

I sent the reporter an email, and posted a comment on the Article Online .

Rain can be a problem here too. It may not be as frequent as where you are, but when we get a "tropical downpour" it's like someone poured a giant bucket of water. I've seen it rain so hard you literally could not see the end of the hood of your car, with the wipers on full speed (and driving 5 miles an hour).

It will be interesting to see what they look like in a month or so.

Awesome!!

Whats with the guy anchoring the piano??

Most've thought you were gonna make it fly away!!

I think the concern is... the piano is in front of some college buildings. It's rumored that college kids + drinking = pranks, which could include trying to move the piano into a dorm room or something :-)

I hope the pianos survive being outside and available to the public 24/7 for the next couple of months. It really is fun chasing them all down and playing them (as well as seeing the art work they've become).

That is SOOOOO cool! That's great you got to do it, and even better that you took all the great pics and vid and shared them here.

Great! What a riot.

I like the "play me please!" piano.

Loved the tour, Frank. I am a bit older than you, but love that sort of thing as well.

Piano World is a great place to read other's ideas, thoughts, challenges, exchange of ideas and helpful information in so many areas. What a wonderful place for music lovers! Thanks again, Frank!

Brilliant! That is so fun, I'd love to take my kids on a piano hunt like that!

thanks for posting, and thanks for this great site!

Thought your Kathy's song sounded great. Was piano 3 the hardest to find on the second level?

Thanks bizonpage.

Yes, #3 and the restroom pianos were the hardest for us to find.
We'd never been in the area before so it was all new to us.

After finding and playing the first couple of pianos it became a challenge to find all 10.
Along the way we learned some of the history of Ybor City (formerly a center of cigar and cigar wrapper production) and talked to a lot of nice people.

They've renovated and repurposed many of the old factories around the center.

There's comedy club, some interesting night clubs and restaurants, plus all kinds of shops . We'll definitely go back to explor more of the area.

I hope the pianos are still around when I get there in February, I guess not though, pity. We had a similar "pianos around the city" thing here in Birmingham, England awhile ago.....I never found one!.

this was done first in uk in birmingham

it is great,i like the play piano
Thank you!

Need help finding the 10 pianos?

Here are some helpful hints...

I know!

That's about 20 minutes down the road from me and I can't believe I missed it. Maybe next time.

Great thread.

Great post!