Play Me, I'm Yours

Feeling like tickling the ivories and making some music? Well until the end of May you can head out to a hike and bike trail or on the Plfuger Bridge and play one of the 14 pianos that have been set up around downtown. The pianos are a part of an exhibit, called Play Me, I'm Yours, put on by the Art Alliance Austin. It took a little digging but I found out the intent with this exhibit... according to an article by The Austin American Statesman (Pierre Bertrand) the pianos are meant to "disrupt that familiarity with both music and the curious presence of an instrument typically seen in peoples homes."

One of my employees was telling me about watching various people play one of the pianos near Auditorium Shores, and he said it was a fun experience. He was really impressed with the quality of music he was listening to. I went out today to hopefully find people playing the pianos.

I took Abbey with me in search of the pianos. I figured I would get a little exercise, she would get some exercise, I'd get a little sun and we would stalk some pianos. I opted to stop at the Pfluger Bridge first (easiest parking). As we were walking along the bridge I saw a couple of kids playing the piano. I heard a very nice rendition of chopsticks :)

We stayed for a few minutes listening but the parents were ready to go, so they pulled the kids off of the piano and went about their day. Nobody else jumped on, so we moved on. At the end of the bridge I came across another piano and another little Maestro playing the piano.

Even though I didn't recognize the song, he played well! I sat down and listened for a bit. But then I kept getting the tug on the leash from Abbey to let me know that she would like to continue to walk along the trail. Sure, I should be the one to make that decision but have you seen how cute she is? We walked down the trail for a bit then hung out by the water for 10 minutes or so. She was enjoying people watching as much as I was. But she keep eyeballing the water so I kept her on a short leash so she didn't take a swim. I didn't bring towels for this trip and didn't really want wet dog in the car.

We walked back up to the piano on the bridge to find another person playing. She played very well and a crowd started to form.

Abbey sunning herself while listening to the music. Poor girl was hot so I decided to cut our adventure short and head home. I'm sure wearing a black fur coat in upper 80 degree weather is not fun. So much for spring... hello summer. Blah.

I hope to be able to visit a couple more pianos around town to see if I can catch more people playing them. I wish I had the talent to sit down and play these pianos. Having the view of Lady Bird Lake and downtown while playing the piano sounds pretty damn awesome to me.