Q: There have been a couple of stories that have referenced Play Me Again Pianos. As a former piano teacher, I am interested in knowing more. What is the story?
A: Play Me Again Pianos is a charitable organization with a mission of placing 88 pianos around metro Atlanta, according to their website.
It was through a family trip to Europe that Jason and Kelly Brett decided to create Play Me Again Pianos.
Their son’s drive and dedication at the age of seven sent the family on a search for places for Nico to practice while vacationing. His goal was to “practice every day he eats,” his parents said.
“He was very experimental with the sound of each key,” said his dad. “Unlike hitting or banging the keys, like many toddlers do at that age, he would hit a key and listen to the sound of the piano and then hit another key and listen to it. He was very attentive to it.”
Why donate 88 pianos? There are 88 keys that make up a piano: 52 white keys and 36 black keys (sharps and flats).
“Each piano is anthropomorphized,” said Brett. The name of each piano and the way in which they are painted varies, he said. “Usually the name has some meaning relative to the piano.
“The first one we named Janssen simply because Janssen was the manufacturer of the piano that we had all grown up with,” he said. “We just started calling it that and that’s how we got the idea.”
Millie, the 21st, is the latest to be installed. Millie is at the Donaldson-Bannister Farm in Dunwoody.
No. 22, their first grand, will debut in September, according to Brett. Nos. 24-25 will follow, currently in their final stages of being painted by a couple of schools, and be donated later in the fall.
“We expected the pianos to be enjoyed, but the degree to which these [pianos] have impacted people’s lives in very real ways is just really amazing,” Brett said.
They say a public piano changes the dynamic of the environment it’s in and has once been called a “smile generator.”
“I see that there is so much talent everywhere, not just the upscale areas. Also, the untapped,” said Brett. “One of the big advantages about this project is that you tend to inspire people to pursue music.”
For more information, visit www.playmeagainpianos.org
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