Unexpected Music

"Play Me, I'm Yours" piano outside the Fitton Center in Hamilton, Ohio

I heard about a trail along the Great Miami River and went walking there today. It was a nice path, with plenty of walkers, and this afternoon was sunny and warm. After walking a couple of miles, I turned around and finished back where I’d started, but the whole scene had changed. Music was playing. Piano music. Outside.

I walked closer and saw a blue piano painted with a marsh scene and cattails on its side and a teenaged boy in a white t-shirt, shorts and sneakers sitting on the bench, playing classical music to an audience of two. The other two adults seemed just as surprised as I was.

I noticed the words “Play Me, I’m Yours” painted on the front of the piano and examined it more closely as the boy played. The top was decorated with pebbles, and the whole thing was chained to a nearby bike rack. This wasn’t the best neighborhood, and I was delighted and very surprised that no one had vandalized the piano. I sensed this must be some sort of artistic experiment. Apparently anyone who came along was invited to play the piano. A nice idea, but I envisioned dozens of children banging the keys. Instead there was a young man playing the piano! Could the experiment actually be working?

I enjoyed the concert a while longer and then went home and logged onto the computer to see what this was all about. As it turns out, this piano is one of 35 pianos placed around greater Cincinnati as part of an initiative called “Play Me, I’m Yours,” a celebration of a combined 150 years of local public radio.

The organizers are hoping that the public will do exactly what the teenager at the piano was doing today: sit down and play. I hope more people do, too. I was thrilled to end my walk with a musical surprise. If the object is to provide joy through unexpected music around the Cincinnati area, then this experiment is definitely working.