‘Play Me I’m Yours’: International Piano Phenomenon
“I wasn’t a jock in school, and by the 10th grade, when I was in boarding school I was carrying water buckets for the girls’ hockey team. I was the kid with long hair and glasses and acne trying to learn how to play guitar and piano in the music center. I was not an athlete past the age of 13 or 14 when they start throwing the ball really fast.”
– Michael Weatherly
The piano is one of the most famous instruments in the world. A rather surprising feat, considering how very not portable it is, but not at all surprising once you hear the beautiful sounds it makes once you start tickling the ivory.
It can be used to make all kinds of music, from swinging jazz music to moody pieces, the likes of which you might find in classical or chamber music. Even as I am writing these lines, I am listening to a YouTube mix of Erik Satie tracks, and my morning just got so much better.
We can not say for certain for how long us humans have been making music. It could well have been since prehistoric times. But we can, however, say with a fair amount of certainty (if not precision) for how long we have been making music on the piano.
Bartolomeo Cristofori was an expert harpsichord maker, as well as knowledgeable man in all things with stringed keyboards, and he was employed by Ferdinando de’ Medici, the Prince of Tuscany, as the Keeper of Instruments. Although it is unclear exactly when he made the first piano, Bartolomeo Cristofori is credited with its invention, and Medici family records show that a piano was in their inventory by 1700. The three surviving Cristofori pianos are all from the 1720’s.
He called his invention un cimbalo di cipresso di piano e forte, which translates to “a keyboard of cypress with soft and loud”. Over the centuries got shortened to pianoforte and finally, piano. Cristofori invented it to solve a few flaws that the harpsichord and clavichord had.
The clavichord, a 14th century instrument, allowed for expressive control over volume and sustain, but was too quiet for large performances. The harpsichord, on the over hand, was loud enough for such performances, but it lacked an expressive control over the notes.
Cristofori’s invention was a phenomenal breakthrough, and his piano action was the foundation on which subsequent piano makers would add and improve, making the instrument even louder, and more fluid to play.
The instrument went relatively unnoticed until an Italian writer called Scipione Maffei wrote an enthusiastic article about it in 1711. The report also included a diagram of the mechanism, leading to the appearance of a new generation of piano builders, one of which was Gottfried Silbermann, who added the pedals to Cristofori’s design.
After receiving criticism from Johann Sebastian Bach in the 1730’s, him saying that the high notes are too soft, Silbermann (begrudgingly) began further improving on the design, so as to allow for a full dynamic range. After 17 years, the instrument was finally to Bach’s liking, and he began “endorsing” it, as it were.
During the 18th century, piano making flourished in the Viennese school, with craftsmen (and women) like Johann Andreas Stein, Nannette Streicher, and Anton Walter all making marvellous instruments, so well made that some have even lasted to this day.
Over the centuries, more and more innovations would be brought the piano, solidifying its place in music, and making it a real contender for the title of most popular instrument. So much, so that you might just see them on the street, ready to play.
Luke Jerram came up with a really excellent idea to put pianos on the street, so people would gather to play and listen to music. He called it “Play Me, I’m Yours”, and says about how he got the idea:
“The idea for Play Me, I’m Yours came from visiting my local launderette. I saw the same people there each weekend and yet no one talked to one another. I suddenly realised that within a city, there must be hundreds of these invisible communities, regularly spending time with one another in silence. Placing a piano into the space was my solution to this problem, acting as a catalyst for conversation and changing the dynamics of space.”
The first city to commission Play Me, I’m Yours was Birmingham in the United Kingdom, back in 2008. 15 pianos were placed in the town for 3 weeks, and it estimated that 140,000 people played or listened to music from the pianos during this time, making it a tremendous success.
On the project’s official website, their goal is stated as following:
“Disrupting peoples’ negotiation of their city, Street Pianos are designed to provoke people into engaging, activating and claiming ownership of their urban landscape. Like a musical equivalent of Facebook, Street Pianos, together with this website, provide an interconnected resource for the public to express themselves.”
One really interesting thing that the project has brought to light is the sheer number of musicians there are. There are thousands of pianists out there who do not have regular access to a piano, which, and I think any musician can confirm, is utterly heartbreaking. This gives them the opportunity to play their favorite instrument, and also get heard while doing it. Perhaps even by some famous musicians.
Jamie Cullum said, about playing beneath the Sacre Coeur in Paris:
“Such a simple concept that brings out the best in people. It reminds us of the strange and beautiful things that can happen in everyday life. I had one of the most memorable experiences of my life playing beneath the Sacre Coeur, Paris, on an old upright piano for a few hundred people.”
Time to show you some people having fun with the Street Pianos.
That about covers it. I hope you enjoyed the ramblings and the photos, and that I made you want to go over to your local music store and start trying out pianos. You can check out more from Street Pianos here, and you can share me your thoughts in the comment section below.
I love pianos.
Really i enjoyed this article.