Pianos for the People, a group that restores old pianos and installs them in public and private places is expanding to the NSW Northern Rivers in the wake of this year’s flooding.
The group’s founder Central Coast based composer/filmmaker Yantra de Vilder is looking to the community to help transport a dozen refurbished pianos to Northern Rivers communities and people as an act of creativity and healing.
De Vilder believes music has very real healing powers for people and communities in distress and, after contacting some communities in the Northern Rivers, she decided to act.
Pianos for the People is a grassroots project recycling pre-loved pianos for the community to use in public and private spaces and CCN talked to de Vilder about what drove her Pianos for the People project.
“I love pianos … I’ve played the piano since I was a young child – it’s my happy place and I’ve always enjoyed playing in different and unusual locations,” de Vilder said.
“Pianos create connection (and) for many, they symbolise home and a place of belonging … imbued with musical memories – on off grid, acoustic portal of that lives in time and space.
“I believe that pianos are trees reinvented – living beings that give and receive energy every time we touch them.”
De Vilder said that, in the early 1900s, the majority of homes in Australia had a piano.
“Even the first fleet had a piano on board.
“We are now raising funds to cover the cost of haulage of a fleet of 12 pianos from the Central Coast to Northern Rivers flood victims, to brighten up their homes with the sound of piano music.
Piano restoration and transport is a delicate and expensive business so the group aims to raise $10,000 in total with any surplus to be used to restore and transport more pianos to other communities.
The group is also holding benefit concerts to be held both on the Central Coast on November 13 at the Lakeside Festival and in the northern rivers in early December.
A GoFundMe fundraising page has also been set up seeking contributions – information on the campaign can be found here: https://gofund.me/9a93ff69
ABC TV recently produced a story on Yantra’s Pianos for the people project as part of their Art is Everywhere series.
The ABC iView link can be found by searching ‘ABC Pianos for the People‘
More information about the project can be found here: yantra.com.au/pianos-for-the-people
David Abrahams