Queensborough is part of a piano-playing movement that’s enjoying a world tour.
A beautifully painted piano is the latest addition to Ryall Park at the Queensborough Community Centre. The piano, located on the centre’s outdoor stage, gives visitors a chance to let loose and have some fun tickling the ivories.
“We are so pleasantly surprised it is being used so often. People are loving it,” said Nikki Lajeunesse, a recreational programmer at the community centre. “Today, when I came into work, it was two toddlers and their mom. It’s been teenagers. It’s been our parks and grounds guys on their breaks. It’s been a really diverse group of people that obviously aren’t necessarily the next Mozarts but are having fun banging around on it. That’s kind of the point – how often do you get to let loose on a piano, especially a piano in a park.”
The piano is left outside at the bandshell around the clock for people to play and enjoy.
“It’s not about having a perfectly tuned piano,” Lajeunesse said. “It’s more about the play.”
Queensborough Community Centre was looking for ways of incorporating more arts into its offerings that inspire community to play and connect in an unstructured environment.
The new initiative is based on the Play Me, I’m Yours street piano program that’s seen pianos placed in public places in cities around the world with the goal of engaging people and encouraging them to take ownership of their urban environments. Pianos can be found in countries including Australia, France, China, Brazil and the United States.
“London, Montreal, Toronto – they have been putting them in really unique areas, like at a bus stop, and encouraging people to upload Facebook videos. The movement was originally called Play Me, I’m Yours. It was done by artists. We have sort of adapted it to work within our own community.”
A Queensborough family donated the piano, which was painted by a team of community artists and volunteers. Local artist Jean Konkle, a retired teacher and a volunteer at the local elementary school, was inspired by the Mighty Fraser and thought a piano that reflected “life along the river” would be a perfect fit for Queensborough.
“Jean Konkle spearheaded the painting. We had our preschoolers out painting, we had some of our teens from youth services. We had quite a diverse group of people help paint the piano, and then we unveiled it at the Children’s Festival and had one of our eight-year old piano students from the centre play the first song on it,” Lajeunesse said. “We have kind of taken the Play Me, I’m Yours philosophy of the art in a random public space and included it into Ryall Park in Queensborough.”
Queensborough resident Cheryl Rogers thinks the piano is a great fit for the community.
“It’s a fabulous idea. It give us something else to do in the park,” she said. “It’s an added attraction because it’s musical.”
Rogers recently overheard someone playing on the piano as she dropped in to the community centre.
“I don’t think it matters if people are good, I think it matters if they have fun. I think the idea is to engage the community. That is a fabulous way of doing it. You can make music out of a piano without knowing how to play,” she said. “It puts a little smile on your face.
Like the Queensborough Community Centre, Rogers said the piano is inclusive of people of all ages and ethnicities.
“With the multicultural community we have too, you don’t need to understand a language to understand music,” she said.
