The Piano Adventure - Conclusion

Sunday, shortly after noon we visited Piano #19 at the YMCA.  I pulled back the tarp and got a splinter right under my fingernail.  Oh blast!  It quit hurting pretty quickly though.  It was a red piano with WMCA lyrics painted all over it.  We paused to consider the rain...

And to take a little more video footage...

And then hopped back in the van to visit Piano #20.  This one was under a pavilion at Franklin & Marshall and we got there just before the guests started to arrive for a birthday party.  I played "happy birthday" on the piano.  And since it was painted in chalk board paint with chalk provided... we took a moment to make our mark.

Including my little ad that I wrote on the back of the piano:  

"CarmenRose.com blog about visiting the pianos."

And of course a silly pose:

I raced Sara back to the van in the downpour and she won.  Girl can run!  

Felt good to run in the rain!

Piano #21 can be found in Reservoir Park, it is the farthest one out.  It is covered in duct tape, and I think that's a good thing since it was rather aesthetically challenged to begin with.

We used the timer on my camera to get this shot of us braving the spiders to play the piano in our own way.

Well... they didn't get any better looking toward the end!  Piano #22 was in Musser Park and was sporting a caution tape and blood color scheme.  I did like the sponsor sign and...

"Everybody loves beauty" that was taped to the top just above the keys.

Everyone loves beauty, it's true... it's just that everyone does not agree on what beauty is!

Thus concludes "The pianos of Lancaster PA."

Squee!

That was fun... now... 

Let's eat!

Food photos coming.

Happy Trails,

-Carmen Rose

PS:  We were told that there were 20 pianos, and one was removed... then they added three.  Looking back over my notes I realized that I counted the absent piano as #4... therefore there should be 23 in this series.  So... we may have missed one... but if so... which one?  

Does it matter?  Not really.  

Just a little mystery in my mind.  One of many.

Pianos and more Pianos... Part 5

I got lost in the bead store, happily exploring the nether regions of components with infinite possibilities.  The Bead & Pottery Works is a shop with an interesting concept, and we noticed that people came there to carefully work on their projects, paying for supplies and studio time.  I hate to mention it, but I think I have as much stuff in my bead studio as they had in their bead store... or close.  There was even a ROCK place downstairs, really cool rocks from all over the world.  We finally emerged from the wonderful world of creativity into dusk on the streets of Lancaster.  We were tired and hungry but we were headed toward our hotel and all the pianos would be more or less on the way back.

Piano #8 Revisited!

We were walking to our next piano and heard piano music on the street and decided to follow that sound.  At dusk the city starts to look very different and I hadn't realized that we were in a location that we'd been earlier in the day until we came upon piano #8 with three musicians.

They had a lovely sound with the three voices in harmony, guitar and piano.  I recognized the song they were playing and they played another and I sang along with them and Dawn brought out her flute.

Then we traded places and I played piano, Dawn played flute and the group of us sang together.  I'll tell ya, that night, sitting on a piano bench surrounded by the voices of strangers in harmony plus a flute... it was as good a place as one could ever hope to find!  I was in heaven!!

I wish I had asked their names, a lovely trio with such sweet spirits!

Piano #16

We wandered a while, we thought we were in the right place on Faulkner but all that was there was a bar in the alley... until we asked a bartender who pointed out a tarp shrouded piano, "It's broken" he told us.  He was right!  But that didn't stop us from getting the photo.  I imagine we were rather amusing to the patrons at the bar, but it didn't matter much by that point.

And... it's dark!  Good thing we had good flashes on the cameras!

I was turned all topsy turvy and was confusing myself with the map, so we asked the bartender who looked at our map and finally gave up on that and told us he had seen one in front of the library.  Which way?  He pointed and we scampered off to meet: 

Piano #17 "Dutch Wonderland."

It had a fairy tale theme going on...  a dragon on one end, some knights on the lower front.

A quick photo and onward...  It really was time for some dinner and a shower... though maybe not in that order.

O wait!  Here's another one!  Piano #18!  It had been skinned!

It's fun to play and watch the piano insides move behind the plexi.

Piano guts fascinate me! 

Another quick snap... Is that piano holding us up?  

We walked north to our hotel and after a quick shower it was time for a late (after 9 pm) dinner!  And what a dinner it was... more about that in another post.

We walked more than five miles, played 18 pianos, made some music, met a bunch of interesting people and ate spectacular food.  All in all an excellent day!

Happy Trails,

-Carmen Rose

More Pianos Part 4

After a lovely lunch we found this piano in a parking lot, 

I think it may have been one of the most beautiful pianos of them all.  

This is Piano #13 on Grant Street.

Dawn was still going strong but I was flagging.  I needed a nap!

But we found a quilt museum shop, that's almost as good as a nap!  There I saw examples of Christine Morgan's "Sew and Slash" quilt designs.  Intriguing, I must try that! 

Piano #14

This piano was painted by the Root 222 group and it was Demuth Museum's piano.  There was a painting in our hotel from the same group, very interesting.  

Piano #15...

Was hidden away in the courtyard of a church.  You look at the gate and it seems locked... however, we were instructed to go on in anyway.  The imposing gate yielded to touch and it was a beautiful world away inside a busy city.  We uncovered the piano and enjoyed it's beauty.

Another beautiful piano!

Even Sara got in on playing this one, with a little help from her Mom.

A piano in a lovely courtyard sponsored by a Yoga place... inspired a yoga pose. 

Then it was time to visit the bead store!

(Do we know how to have an adventure or what?!)

Happy Trails,

-Carmen Rose

The Piano Adventure Part 2

We came upon the next piano... Piano #6... and there was a musician already there.

I talked Dawn into pulling out her flute and joining him. So she did and they played a few songs together.

Which sounded lovely, sometimes punctuated by the sound of a loud auto zooming by. 

Then he was kind enough to snap some photos for us:

Richard Moyer, it was lovely to meet you!

Piano #7

On the corner of Chestnut and Prince we found a piano with a trumpet player painted on 

and keys and lots of linear bright colors on a dark background.

We got our photos...

And moved on south to Piano #8:

We were walking and Dawn happened to look over her shoulder and discovered this one in the sheltered area of the parking garage.  Piano #8 is mostly turquoise with architectural details on it, it has a nice sound and is semi protected by the parking garage.  We almost walked right past it.

 Oh we took the task of finding these pianos *VERY* seriously, can you tell?  =)

I'll be back with more photos soon enough.

Happy Trails,

-Carmen Rose

The Adventure of 22 Pianos Part 1

A passing comment on Facebook about an experiential art project in NYC by Luke Jerram led to a spontaneous visit to Lancaster PA this weekend.  I haven't seen Dawn in about 20 years, and we met in Lancaster to find and play 20 pianos currently in public places. (And... it seems... to eat some fantastic food and stay in a really cool hotel!)

Piano #1

We started at Lancaster Arts Hotel with our first piano.  Unfortunately, there is a loudspeaker above the piano piping jazz 24/7... so it is not a piano that is fun to play... but it's there in bold pink and black.  It is sheltered under the Hotel's entrance.  We started at 11 Saturday morning with this one... and a few hats and scarves... (and a wonderful nine year old photographer!)

 Piano #2

We found the second piano at the Northwest Corridor Linear Park... which has more name than park really.  This one was covered with a tarp and when we unearthed it we found that it was lavender with collage elements in a pop art style and parts of the art had vanished (it used to have great big eyes.)

Piano #3

The next piano was in another park and it was non-functional. Nothing happened when you touched the keys. Nothing happened when you napped on the keys... or put your foot on them...

Nothing happens if you stand on it even...   so we played with the bronze children instead.

Piano #4

We had trouble finding piano #4 so we visited a shop nearby and they told us it had been removed.

There were 20 and then there were 19. Bummer.  So we paused for a moment of silence at  The Fractured Prune, and since we were already there, we thought a drink might be nice. I saw "black widow" on the menu and knew I must try whatever-it-was!  THEN they dropped some dough in the oil... (bless their genius hearts!!)  I turned to Dawn and told her that they were making my donut right this very moment! They dipped it in raspberry glaze and then in crushed oreo cookies.

 I had wondered off to find a seat and I hear "black widow?"  "That would be me!" I said, and went to retrieve this little marvel.  It was piping hot, I cut it and shared it around the piano group and it was one of the most amazing things I've ever eaten.  It was hot, *FRESH!* and the raspberry chocolate combo was perfection.  The "All that Razz" smoothie was also made after I ordered it, and while it didn't have the wow factor of the donut... it was delicious and refreshing. 

So... armed with new strength to carry on... we went looking for:

Piano #5

Piano 5 was the "Music for Everyone" piano (thus the MFE on the front.) It was a little extra grand in back...

Here is our photographer showing us it's pink tulle skirt. 

So... I pulled out my grandest outfit:

And Dawn pulled out her flute and we played for a while.

We stepped away for a moment and this guy stopped to play a tune.  That wasn't the least bit unusual.  As we traveled the city we often found the pianos in use by people of all skill levels.  I was really struck by the way a public piano invites interaction.  And since I've been a long term piano player, and I've played and sang with street musicians... I've always been jealous because my instrument wasn't one that could be packed in the trunk of my car like a guitar or flute... but this time... the piano was standard equipment... needing only a musician. And anyone can be a musician for a moment!

Somewhere in there we discovered an antique store complex with lots of great stuff that was new and artsy or old and cool.  We paused for a brief (uh... at least an hour) visit with all the beautiful things!  Including earrings made with parts from the hardware store by B. B. Bellezza. 

And since I bought a bunch of stuff to make jewelry with at the hardware store also... I thought B. B. Bellezza had some really cool ideas!

Happy Trails,

-Carmen Rose