StreetPianos - City of London Festival
History of 'Play Me I'm Yours'
The idea possibly germinated from a piano being left outside by an owner in Sheffield, 
when they couldn't get it up the steps. A sign was left inviting people to play and the news spread, with the piano rapidly becoming part of the local community. The red-tape brigade descended, lines were drawn and the community dug in. The council changed their mind in the face of protesters' determination and the piano stayed, but eventually had to be removed several years later due to weather damage.
British artist Luke Jerram installed 15 pianos across Birmingham in 2007, each with the instruction "Play me I'm yours" stencilled across them. Nearly 150,000 people had played, listened to, or interacted with them by the end of their short run. In 2009, the idea was brought to London. Sing London and the City of London Festival were the original producers of the event which has since gone global with pianos appearing in, amongst other cities: New York, Sydney and São Paulo.
Each city has a portion of the StreetPianos website showing where the pianos are located and allowing the public to upload their films, photos and stories about how they were affected by the event. The pianos are donated to local schools and communities after the festival has ended.
Its purpose is to disrupt peoples' everyday navigation across the city. Lets them make an unscheduled stop, linger a while, take in music and enjoy some welcome spontaneity, in lives often too full with routine. It also enable musicians, or anyone, to stop and play music on the streets which is usually only permissible by licence.
Play Me I'm Yours - Stories
Paul Gbegbaje was one of the stars of the 2010 'Play Me, I'm Yours' installation in London, startling passers by with his playing style and original 
compositions. The City of London Festival was so impressed by his performance, they donated him the street piano from Canary Wharf, since he didn't own a piano to practise on. Paul went on to appear in the finals of Britain's Got Talent, finishing in sixth place overall.
In the train station in São Paulo, Luke [Jerram] came across a girl sitting at a piano with her mother in tears. Apparently the mother had worked as a cleaner for four years, allowing her to send her daughter to piano lessons, held on the other side of town. As a piano cost in excess of a year's wage they couldn't afford to own one; so this was the first time, the mother had heard her daughter play. It was a beautiful moment.
Enough talking, let the music present the 'case for'. The pianos will be at the following locations across London from Monday 27 June, 2011 until Sunday 17 July. Musicians: why not make a promo video for YouTube? If you need tips or pointers, contact the Inside Guide to London via Twitter. We can point you at free-to-use tools. If you can play, don't hide your light under a bushell; the public truly want to hear you play.
The City of London Festival is also live until mid-August and is the best way of discovering the City of London's most diverse venues. Their programme is rich and accessible, with a focus on music from 'Down Under' in 2011. you can find out more about it by visiting their website, or downloading their festival app.
Pick of the Past Performances
Chopin, Waltz in E Minor - Plaza Shopping Centre, Oxford Street.
My Baby Just Cares for Me/Rock 'n' Roll Music, Millennium Bridge - this had 10 views on YouTube after 7 months. Criminal.
Scott Joplin, Maple Leaf Rag - 4 hands - Worbey and Farrell 2009. Played every piano in a day.
Debussey, Jardins Sous La Pluie - Museum of London. The sort of person you pray doesn't sit down after you've just beaten Chopsticks out of the keys.
Paul Gbegbaje, at the foot The Monument, the year before he was on 'Britain's Got Talent'. Luke Jerram and The City of London Festival give Cowell a licking, in the svengali stakes. They also gave Paul one of the pianos after the festival ended.
Gilly Spencer & passer-by, Leicester Square, Whispering Grass. Impromptu and unlikely jam that can't be choreographed, they just happen when you leave pianos lying around.
Ren Yuan playing Chopin's Etude No. 12 Op. 10. Before the first festival, Ren Yuan played this on all the pianos to give them a preliminary test. I'd love to have seen that, shame it wasn't videoed. This is a recording of her.
Highlights from the Street Pianos section of the festival include.
Eat, sing, chat, draw!
Tue 28th June: 10:00am
Piano: Bunhill Fields
Posted by: Bean-Mhi Berriman
Come down and join us for an afternoon of free impromptu music, drawing and eating cakes. I (Bean-Mhi) will be decorating a piano for part of London's 
Street Piano project and I want you to come join me! Bring your lunch or your nan and just hang out. We'll be at Bunhill Fields, City Road from 10am onwards with music in the afternoon. Look/ listen for the Piano! (Also - if you've not been to Bunhill Fields and the nearby Artillery Ground, here's a good opportunity to visit a history rich portion of London which gets little exposure).
London Musical Half Marathon
Sun 10th July: 9:00am - to evening
Piano: Jubilee Park
Posted by: Musical Half Marathon
Four pianists will be racing around all 20 pianos across London raising money for two great causes Cancer Research UK and Ignito Project. Anyone can request a song for us to play en route by donating to www.justgiving.com/musicalmarathon or http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/laurapacker
St Paul's Cathedral is always a good location, with several nearby: in the gardens, Paternoster Square and down the hill towards Millennium Bridge.
