Street Pianos in London
Posted by HelenEdith on July 4, 2009
Street Piano, St Mary Axe, at the corner of the Aviva Plaza and Leadenhall Street
About two weeks ago, I saw a guy playing a piano on the corner of St Mary Axe and Leadenhall Street, at the top of the steps to the Aviva Plaza. I thought that he must have brought it there to busk, but when I got around to crossing the street to take a closer look, I found out that wasn’t the case at all. This piano is part of a project called Play Me I’m Yours :: Street Pianos in which street pianos are placed in a city centre for anybody to play. The pianos currently dotted around London are due to remain for a further week, but will then be donated to local schools and community groups.
Having discovered that this piano was one of 30; and that another was just down the road in Leadenhall Market, I took a stroll down there after work for a look and located that piano in the covered market area, where it is at least protected from the weather by more than a bit of polythene sheeting.
Street Piano, Leadenhall Market
It has fared a little better than the one at St Mary Axe, and still had a piano stool when I saw it, which is more than can be said for the one at St Mary Axe. However, it had several non-working keys!
I’m not sure how grateful I would be if my school or community group received one of these pianos after it had spent a hard month out on the streets of London – even though it hasn’t rained that much! 
However, I must uncover my piano at home and have a little practice on it and then maybe go and have a little go on these street pianos. Beethoven’s Pathetique Sonata might be a little ambitious both for me and the pianos, but I could probably manage Fur Elise.
Buff said
It sounds like a really good idea but they should have made some allowance for the security of the instruments. What a shame … there’s a chap who plays in the Murray St. Mall in Perth but he brings his piano out every day and plays ragtime as a busker. It’s a fun idea.
HelenEdith said
When I first saw the piano in St Mary Axe, I thought that it was a busker doing exactly that.
It’s impossible to install a piano in an unsecured area for a month and guard it from whatever might happen to it, be it graffiti artists or downright vandalism. Actually, the website does comment that some pianos get decorated, so I don’t think they’re against the graffiti artists, and have to say that the ones who painted the St Mary Axe piano pink did a pretty good job of it.
It is such a shame when there is wanton destruction though – whether it be misuse of the piano or destroying or stealing the stool.