Street piano in tattoo parlour, Sydney

Play Me, I'm Yours

Touring the globe since March 2008, 'Play Me I'm Yours' is an artwork by Luke Jerram. 

Street pianos are appearing in cities across the world. Located in parks, squares, bus shelters, train stations, outside pubs and football grounds, the pianos are for any member of the public to enjoy and claim ownership of. Who plays them and how long they remain is up to each community. The pianos act as sculptural, musical, empty canvas's that become a reflection of the communities they are embedded into. Many pianos are personalised and decorated.

‘Play Me, I’m Yours’ provides an interconnected resource, a blank canvas, for the public to express themselves and share their creativity. Questioning the ownership and rules of public space 'Play Me I'm Yours' is a provocation, inviting the public to engage with, activate and take ownership of their urban environment. In June 2009,  'Play Me, I'm Yours' was discussed in the House of Lords regarding the absurdity of the UK music licensing laws. Read more about the artwork.

Online Legacy

www.streetpianos.com shows where the art project has been and where its going next. Each city has its own website made for the public to post their comments about the pianos. Each piano has its own webpage. The websites document each piano’s journey whilst connecting the communities across each city.

New York 2010

Produced by Sing for Hope, 60 pianos were installed across all 5 boroughts and over a 2 week duration, around 500,000 people across New York either played a piano or heard their music. See www.nystreetpianos.com

Described by the press as the latest major artwork to hit New York since The Gates by Christo and Jeanne-Claude and The Waterfalls by Olafur Eliasson, Play Me, I'm Yours was launched by Mayor Bloomberg. The story of the artwork in New York was told by journalists around the globe.

Filmed Highlights so far..

Selected from over 3000 films that have been uploaded by the public so far,  here are some film highlights from the project ....
London 2009 - Highlights here from 1000 uploaded films including: Gospil choir, a mass "I'm a believer", 8yr old Chopin genius, 28 piano marathon, blind pianist, Jools Holland. 
NYC 2010 - Amazing highlights from 1600 uploaded films including, tango lessons, opera, music videos, piano marathons, Cindy Lauper, a wedding held at a street piano?!
Belfast 2010 - Great song on piano and cello, beautiful music at knitted piano.
Bath 2010 - Chopin in Bus Station
Bristol 2009 - Day in the life timelapse, Star Treck blues, Documentary with nice animation.

Reaching a Million People Worldwide so far!

To date 'Play Me, I'm Yours' has been presented in Pecs (Hungary), San Jose (USA) Cincinnati, Belfast, New York, Barcelona, Bath, London, Blackburn, Burnley, Sao Paulo, Sydney, Bristol, Birmingham and Bury St. Edmunds. Meeting for the first time over a piano, inspired a couple in Sydney and another in London to get married! This couple in NYC decided to get married by a streetpiano!

Authorship

Conceived, promoted and managed by British artist Luke Jerram, please respect the authorship of his artwork.

Sydney Festival - January 2009

'Play Me, I'm Yours' was presented at the Sydney Festival 2009. Organisers estimated around 200 - 300,000 people across the city played or listened to the pianos. 30 street pianos were distributed across the city for the public to engage with. The public have uploaded their stories, films and comments on the Sydney streetpianos site. Many people have tried to play them all, journeying from one to another in an epic piano marathon! Out of 1000 uploads from Sydney, here some of the artists favourite films..1, 2, 3,

'Play Me, I'm Yours' really caught the public's imagination. Entrepreneurs started selling postcards of the pianos and CJ Lewis in Australia has made special T shirts for sale!

Street Pianos across Brazil 2008

In October 2008 'Play Me, I'm Yours', was translated to 'Toque - Me, Sou Teu' and thirteen pianos were installed on the streets of Sao Paulo: see this Streetpianos website.

Many people had never seen a real piano before let alone had access to play one. The pianos acted as a real point of connection with neighbours talking to one another for the first time. Musicians came out of the woodwork and played in public to friends and strangers. Here are some of the artists favourite films from Sao Paulo...1, 2, 3

The project provides trained pianists who don't have access to instruments with an opportunity to play and share their creativity. At the bottom of this page is a letter from a stranger. Watch the Brazilian national news programme about the story. 

New Charitable Fund

Jerram has set up a special streetpianos fund enabling 'Play Me, I'm Yours' to be installed in less wealthy cities across the world. The Sao Paulo Festival Mostra SESC des Artes were the first to take advantage of this fund. After spending 3 weeks on the streets the pianos were donated to community groups across the city.

Media Coverage

New York Times about streetpianos in London read
BBC World Service radio story by David Whitty Listen
Guardian G2 Full page story 
Corriere Italian national newspaper read & watch news
Time Out full page story
BBC London Television news Watch
CNN Television news - USA Watch
The Independent Newspaper Read
Evening Standard Read
BBC TV News Brazil Watch
The Guardian 'Play Me, I'm Yours' story by Maev Kennedy read
Sydney Morning Herald read 
Radio 5 Live Dream Director at the ICA listen
Globo TV, Brazil 'Play Me, I'm Yours' in Sao Paulo watch
US - National Public Radio documentary about 'Play Me, I'm Yours' listen
Sky News reports 'Play Me, I'm Yours' watch

PRESS AREA
(for free street piano image downloads)

Audience Figures

Audience figures for the artwork in Birmingham reached 140,000 people over 3 weeks. Download the press coverage and audience figures document.

Support

'Play Me, I'm Yours' was first commissioned by Fierce Earth of Birmingham in 2008.

Stories from Brazil

Dear Mr Jerram,
.....In the train station, I came across a girl sitting at a piano with her mother in tears. It turns out she had worked as a cleaner for 4 years to send her daughter to piano lessons on the other side of town. They couldn't afford to own a real piano and this was the first time, the mother had ever heard her daughter play. Their story made me cry as well.  

Hello Luke

First off I would like to thank you for bringing your project "Play Me, I'm Yours" to my city, São Paulo. You have no idea of the positive impact it has been causing in our community. Everyday I catch the subway at Estacao da Luz, where one of your pianos is located. This is a very busy hectic place, where most of the people  are coming from or going to work in a fast pace so typical of a megalopolis. It amazes me the power of the instrument, the magnetism that it generates among people. And I must say that 99% of the people who actually stop to check it out don't have access to culture or are not used to having culture and beauty being brought to them.

I believe we have to take art out of its common venues and make it more public, more accessible. Besides bringing beauty and inspiration to people, your pianos ignite a reflexion on how we use the public space, how passive or active is our relationship with the space we share. I usually wait for a co worker right next to the piano, and as she is always late, I have the chance to observe people's reactions. I've seen people walking by and coming back to listen to somebody play, I've seen people calling dear ones from their cell phones to share the music with them, I've seen an ice cream vendor crying after listening to a song, I've seen a couple dancing, I've seen 2 blind guys with the subway employee (in charge of guiding them) sitting down and taking their time to appreciate the music, I've seen children in total ecstasy jumping around while an old man played a famous Vivaldi piece (from a perfume ad here in Brazil).

This is the future. The democratization of art. The quality of the music is indifferent, the proposal of the installation is everything. Those beautiful pianos are self-esteem boosters for the everyday worker, who doesn't have access to this kind of stuff not even on weekends.Pianos here are often are considered as "rich class" instruments, unlike the acoustic guitar or drums.

I can feel the respect they have for the instrument, I've seen people caressing it gently, admiring the keys, the shape, all its contours...

Thanks again! You brought slices of magic to us all!!!

Best Regards

Fabiana

From Bruno in Italy

One day, during summer, I walk over the millennium bridge and I see someone playing a piano. He stops playing - gets up and goes away. Someone else sits and starts playing. People gather around and listen. I think - "this is brilliant".

I got the habit to go there - near millennium bridge - each night - between midnight and one.
I made music - I met incredibly interesting people who stopped and listened to me playing: the reason I went at 1.00am is that people who pass by will only stop and listen if they genuinely like what are you playing.

I was never used to play in front of others - before, I only played for myself - and I realized that I was missing one of the most important aspects of music. Sharing.

Plus, playing in an open space is something totally different. Especially if the open space is right next to millennium bridge. The soul of the musician and the sound can expand without boundaries and he becomes free. Plus, as it is the aim of the project, people can claim back their urban space and use it to rediscover togetherness through music.

Thanks so much for this.
Bruno