The Hands on Pianos project is a
community art initiative, sponsored and hosted by the Hopkins Center,
the performing arts venue associated with Dartmouth College in Hanover,
New Hampshire. Following the lead of other, larger cities (including
Denver, Colorado), the HOP published a call to artists in the spring of
2012: what was possible, in the re-decoration of an upright piano?
Fifty pianos were donated, and relocated to a defunct tire distribution warehouse; artists' plans were submitted and approved by May 1st. While many artists sought to use the flat surfaces as a canvas, my partner Jennie Harriman and I devised a new means of collage, to reflect changes in the forms of recorded music: from the vinyl platter to the cassette, the eight-track to the microchip. Materials were gleaned from my collection of recordings and sheet music; the boxy and inefficient 8-track tapes were discovered at the Salvation Army in Rutland, Vermont, and many of the 45rpm singles came from Exile on Main Street in Barre, Vermont. The final physical arrangement of these materials came only after seeing the piano itself, its unique corners, panels, and architecture.
The result is a piano decorated by the physical evidence of music, telling the brief history of 20th century recording-- all of which was a predecesor to the 'de-physicalization' of music, and our final embrace of the digital, and virtual. I've long maintained this analogy: what a manual typewriter (an Underwood, for example) is to a computer's keyboard, a piano is to a synthesizer. The visceral nature of a heavy wood-and-steel construction, emitting its own lavish acoustics, might only be available through these outmoded machines, however cumbersome. The digital production of similar tones has its place, but plastic and microchips may not have the same mystical ability to deliver, and carry, stories of their use.
This piano was donated by Virginia Dresser of Etna, New Hampshire. Through Facebook, on the HOP's piano-directory page Mrs. Dresser recounted her piano's history:
This piano has been in my family for generations. My father turned to this piano and played "The Old Rugged Cross" when he heard his brother was killed in WWII. His mother than closed it down and would not permit any one to play it. Fortunately for us, my father took it with him when he married my Mom. I have fond memories of my Dad playing all the great music from the '40's era with our neighbors in singing and dancing! Music was very much alive in our family. However, when I got the news of a friend dying in Vietnam, I found my way to the piano and through my hands came "Let It Be". My children(now grown) have had lessons.."Edelweiss" and "Fur Elise "bring fond memories. They and their friends played the music of their time. So, I find it really appropriate that you are transforming this vehicle of music with different recording methods! My wish is that when people (young and old) sit to play, they let the music that is within them flow.
The HOP has located pianos throughout New Hampshire and Vermont, for display throughout the month of July. In early August, an adoption program will make these pianos available (first to the artists; second to the public), before each is dismantled, its working parts salvaged. While many pianos are concentrated in the downtown Hanover area, the piano Jennie and I decorated is located at Quechee Gorge Village, in Quechee, Vermont.
TO SEE THIS PIANO, Click Here!
Fifty pianos were donated, and relocated to a defunct tire distribution warehouse; artists' plans were submitted and approved by May 1st. While many artists sought to use the flat surfaces as a canvas, my partner Jennie Harriman and I devised a new means of collage, to reflect changes in the forms of recorded music: from the vinyl platter to the cassette, the eight-track to the microchip. Materials were gleaned from my collection of recordings and sheet music; the boxy and inefficient 8-track tapes were discovered at the Salvation Army in Rutland, Vermont, and many of the 45rpm singles came from Exile on Main Street in Barre, Vermont. The final physical arrangement of these materials came only after seeing the piano itself, its unique corners, panels, and architecture.
The result is a piano decorated by the physical evidence of music, telling the brief history of 20th century recording-- all of which was a predecesor to the 'de-physicalization' of music, and our final embrace of the digital, and virtual. I've long maintained this analogy: what a manual typewriter (an Underwood, for example) is to a computer's keyboard, a piano is to a synthesizer. The visceral nature of a heavy wood-and-steel construction, emitting its own lavish acoustics, might only be available through these outmoded machines, however cumbersome. The digital production of similar tones has its place, but plastic and microchips may not have the same mystical ability to deliver, and carry, stories of their use.
This piano was donated by Virginia Dresser of Etna, New Hampshire. Through Facebook, on the HOP's piano-directory page Mrs. Dresser recounted her piano's history:
This piano has been in my family for generations. My father turned to this piano and played "The Old Rugged Cross" when he heard his brother was killed in WWII. His mother than closed it down and would not permit any one to play it. Fortunately for us, my father took it with him when he married my Mom. I have fond memories of my Dad playing all the great music from the '40's era with our neighbors in singing and dancing! Music was very much alive in our family. However, when I got the news of a friend dying in Vietnam, I found my way to the piano and through my hands came "Let It Be". My children(now grown) have had lessons.."Edelweiss" and "Fur Elise "bring fond memories. They and their friends played the music of their time. So, I find it really appropriate that you are transforming this vehicle of music with different recording methods! My wish is that when people (young and old) sit to play, they let the music that is within them flow.
The HOP has located pianos throughout New Hampshire and Vermont, for display throughout the month of July. In early August, an adoption program will make these pianos available (first to the artists; second to the public), before each is dismantled, its working parts salvaged. While many pianos are concentrated in the downtown Hanover area, the piano Jennie and I decorated is located at Quechee Gorge Village, in Quechee, Vermont.
TO SEE THIS PIANO, Click Here!
No comments:
Post a Comment