Public piano at Prague Airport, Czech Republic. Photo from Wkipedia by Arto Alanepenää.
Problem
Where are the public pianos in Montreal?
Answer
Go to the Montreal website which shows where they are. I just typed in Montreal and pianos and up popped the page with a map.
http://ville.montreal.qc.ca/portal/page
Pianos left outside will be damaged by weather.
However, there's one outdoor piano you can see all year. My favourite street piano is the one in Lodz, Poland.
Sculpture of pianist Arthur Rubinstein in Lodz's main street, Piotrkowska street, Poland. Photo by Polimerek in Wikipedia.
Piotrkowska street is about three miles long and Lodz is Poland's third largest city, in the center of Poland. You can take a selfie of yourself sitting next to the pianist, as you will see from this travel blog:
http://marshmallowtravels.com/2016/11/25/lodz-ask-the-locals-how-to-pronounce-it/
A worldwide organization organizes the installation of pianos and they have maps on their website.
http://www.streetpianos.com
For more about street pianos in Prague and the Czech Republic see
http://www.piananaulici.cz
Play Me I'm Yours
Play Me, I'm Yours was a project started by British artist Luke Jerram. He was in a launderette (I think that Americans call it a laundromat) watching British people gathered together, not talking just watching washing machines and their dreadful discordant incessant hum. He had the idea of introducing a piano, which anybody could play. His system seems to have worked. It has even resulted in marriages.
His project started in Birmingham, England in 2008. Since then 17,500 pianos have appeared in public places in 55 countries.
The pianos might be decorated by local groups. The system is that the project is offered to a city, sometimes in relation to a festival, and the pianos appear as a novelty for about three weeks. Events have been in Sydney, Australia; Cambridge, England; Barcelona, Spain; Paris, France; and Singapore.
I wondered how they transport them from place to place, which is expensive. I remember selling off my late uncle's baby grand and the cost of removal was as high as what I could get from selling the piano. You often see pianos sitting around, in hotels, care homes for the elderly, schools. The leftover pianos are sometimes donated to schools or community groups.
Pianos have been in train stations and markets. In 2017 they were in London, England; Bristol, England; Paris, France; Munich, Germany; Virginia, USA.
Just a recap of the websites:
http://ville.montreal.qc.ca/portal/page
http://www.streetpianos.com
http://www.piananaulici.cz
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_pianoAngela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.
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