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Street pianos in major cities
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The photo above shows a street piano at the London Liverpool Street Station. 30 free-to-use pianos have been scattered around old London town as a part of this month’s Sing London festival, encouraging pedestrians to hit the keys and engage with their urban environment.Touring internationally since 2008, ‘Play Me, I’m Yours’ is an artwork by artist Luke Jerram
Street pianos are appearing in cities across the world. Located in parks, squares, bus shelters and train stations, outside galleries, markets and on bridges and ferries, the pianos are for any member of the public to enjoy and claim ownership of. So far, Jerram has installed 167 pianos in 8 different cities worldwide.
Who plays them and how long they remain is up to each community. Each piano acts as sculptural, musical, blank canvas that becomes a reflection of the communities it is embedded into. Many pianos are personalised and decorated.
Questioning the ownership and rules 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.
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The Walking Piano
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Big Piano (also called The Walking Piano), was invented in 1976 by Remo Saraceni. It is a precursor of Dance pad games and is a musical instrument that merges dance, music, and play. The Piano is played by the user's feet where shoes, socks, and even the tiniest of toes can tap the keys that make the music. The instrument is perhaps best known from the 1988 comedy Big.
The film Big brought the Big Piano to mainstream attention; the filmmakers first saw it on display at the toy store FAO Schwarz together with other Remo Saraceni's designs and inventions in a special showroom of the store that displayed new ideas.
In this spectacular demonstration of Big Piano's playfulness and interactive magic, Tom Hanks and Robert Loggia plays Heart and Soul and Chopsticks (song).
After the movie "Big", the Big Piano became famous worldwide and many museums worldwide now have their own. Big Piano remains as popular as the famous scene of the movie now itched in the minds of millions of people all over the world, spanning many generations. The one seen in the movie is now back in its home town at Philadelphia's Please Touch Museum.
FAO Schwarz - Big Piano
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Musical Stairs make climbing stairs fun
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Odenplan is a plaza located in the district Vasastaden in central Stockholm, Sweden, named after the old Norse god Oden. Odenplan is also the name of the subway station located here which opened in 1952. Construction work which began in 2006 and soon to be completed in 2011 will make Odenplan one of Stockholm’s largest public transportation hubs.
The stairs in this photo is located at Odenplan metro station. The stairs were built to test the theory of fun. Every step on the stairs produces a corresponding piano note tune, and passengers are observed to be having fun climbing up and down the stairs producing piano. Here is a video showing the response to the Odenplan piano stairs.
