Glasgow Piano City

Playing it By Ear 2015/16

Glasgow Piano City, c/o The Pearce Institute, 840-860 Govan Road, Glasgow. G51 3UU tel: 01418828825 / 07940224365 email: info@glasgowpianocity.org

Special thanks to Alan Kenny for wearing out his bus pass and

playing our pianos wherever he found them, hail rain or shine !

www.GLASGOWPIANOCITY.org

Glasgow Piano City

would like to offer a heartfelt thank you to all of our funders: ‘ Awards for All ‘

‘Foundation Scotland’ ( ASDA Carrier Bag Scheme ) and the ‘Arts Development Scheme‘ ( Glasgow Life )

to everyone who helped to make 2015 such a success ~ by supporting us with their donations of Pianos ( 24 )

creativity, time, energy, cash, paint, photos & videos, knitted piano key scarves

music, songs . . . and of course dancing.

This has been another great year that surpassed all our hopes and created opportunities for many people

receiving free piano tuition . . . that rekindled old dreams and sparked new interest In pianists young & old,

This year we found ourselves playing pianos in a few unexpected places too,

from the Bus Stop at the Science Centre to a Garden Shed in Finnieston

and from Kelvingrove Bandstand to the Ha’penny Bridge over the River Kelvin.

Wherever we found ourselves we left a trail of happy ears and smiling faces behind.

What follows is just a snapshot of our activities during the year.

Highlights 2015/16

1 . . . Spring Shindig at Moogety Gardens and Learn to Play Day. 2 . . .’Floyd’ ends up lost in a maze for Glasgow’s Green Year.

3 . . . 1st Piano Donation ~‘Rosie’ arrives at the Unexpected Artist. 4 . . . Lids Open Day ( Spring ) St Margaret’s Episcopal Church

5 . . . ’Charlie’ at the No 1 Chocolate Factory ~ and a World Tour 6 . . .‘Tampopo’ starts life at RCoS Production Arts Department.

7 . . . ‘Playing it by Ear’ Our free piano tuition taster sessions begin 8 . . . PEEK Lets Play Launch at Dalmarnock Primary & ‘Saoirse’

‘ Music at the Quay ‘

9 . . . ‘Libby’ ~ Dunfermline to the Willow Tea Rooms ~ via Govan 10. . .’Wee Mary’ returns at the BBC’s Five Day Pop-up Festival.

11. . .‘Mack’ on the One Show ( almost ! ) and Celebrity signings. 12 . . .’Libby’ waiting for a Bus at the Science Centre, naturally.

Summer Festivals and Conferences

13 . . . West End Festival ~ ’Yogi’ back at the Gibson Street Gala 14. . . Rights for Life ~ Scottish Recovery Network Conference

15 . . . Yorkhill Children’s Hospital ~ final day of patient transfers. 16 . . . Lids Open Day ( Summer ) at Mackintosh Queens Cross.

17 . . . ‘Yogi‘ on the Ha’penny Bridge at the FORK Summer Gala 18 . . .‘Ming’ visits Murrayfield the Citizens Wellbeing Assembly

19 . . . Creating ’Custard’ ~ the Art in the Gart Artist Residency 20 . . . Dear Green Festival, Urban Roots at Queens Park Arena

21 . . . Over the Wall outdoor festival of neighbours at Gartnavel 22 . . .‘NIkNak’ & ‘Mr Pink’ at ‘the Shared Heart‘ in Art Village

Doors Open Day Festival Week

23 . . . Kelvingrove Bandstand ~ ‘Yogi’ on stage with Voicebeat 24 . . . the Lieper Gallery & G3 Growers with a piano in a shed.

Autumn and the Festival of the Piano

25 . . . Lids Open Day (Autumn Part I ) the Mackintosh Festival 26 . . . 12 Pianos at the Royal Concert Hall BIG Piano Orchestra

27 . . . Lids Open Day ( Autumn Part II ) the main Stage, GRCH 28 . . . A ‘LIber~Archie’ classic moment . . . captured at GRCH

Wintour’s Leap

29 . . .‘Beaker’ at the Science Centre ~ for Helmholtz & Sonica 30 . . .‘Dylan’ arrives at the GSofA Continuing Education Dept.

31 . . .‘Yogi’ arrives at Healthy N Happy in Rutherglen. Doodah 32 . . . Dancing in the Streets at the Christmas Style Mile Parade

Spring 2016

33 . . . Lids Open Day (Spring Part I) ‘BiG MaRY’ Playing it by Ear 34 . . . Visitors Book Comments . . . and more musical moments

35 . . . ‘Sprocket’ gets tuned up at the White House in Maryhill. 36 . . . Thanks to our partners, Alan Kenny & a cast of thousands

Alan Kenny kept his hat and coat on while inspiring young players at the Britannia Panopticon

during Learn to Play Day. This event, organised by the Clutha Trust, brought together musicians

to share their skills on many instruments including ’George’ ~ an original New York Player Piano.

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’Woody’ leaves GalGael for a wee jaunt to the Urban Roots Spring Shindig

at Moogety Gardens. We connect with Elderpark Housing Association

and, a few weeks later, source a piano donation from St Fillans Primary,

installing it in the community centre ~ to be used for tuition and events.

We also meet Anne Cumming from Eiger Music and helped with assessing

and delivering a piano donation to the Windsor Halls on Maryhill Road.

‘Floyd’ gets Glasgow’s Green Year of the leafy start at the heart of a maze

on George Square in April. Thousands of people reached the centre to find

our piano waiting for them. Councillor Liz Cameron and her band of ‘ Hi-Vis ‘

helpers gave us few tunes too, along with many others. It was great to see

an acoustic piano back on George Square for people to play freely & enjoy.

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When piano donations are beyond their making music life, we are often still able to avoid

sending them to the scrap heap by taking them to ‘YOOZ-Reuse‘ in Bellshill and Altron’s

magical workshop at Govanhill baths to be up-cycled into new creations. Since arriving

at UA ‘Rosie‘ has become a favourite location for our free piano tuition taster sessions with

Grainne Rooney. The inner mechanism has also now been revealed to people learning to

play with some Perspex panels. We aim to repeat this shift in transparency on more pianos.

The Unexpected Artist welcome 2 more surprise piano donations, including a Baby Grand.

Stuart Duffy from the Unexpected Artist in the St Enoch Centre, welcomes ‘Rosie’, our first

donation of 2015, as we go on the road to Prestonpans, Clydebank & Clarkston to meet

more willing piano donors, pointed in our direction by the Clutha Trust ~ the first of many .

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New connections made at a networking event at the St Mungo Centre lead to our

first Lids Open Day of 2015 at St Margaret’s Episcopal Church, Newlands. Our new

’GoPro’ camera lets us capture the day and upload a film to our Youtube Channel.

The white ‘Hohner’ piano is enjoyed by all with some informal tips on ear playing

and hand position shared by Alan Kenny & Lisa Petticrew, Robert Dawson Scott

does a great job of playing a miners lament for a member of the audience while

getting in some valuable off the cuff sight reading practice before his piano exam !

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The 1st video uploaded to our new Vimeo channel came from Suzanne Houston & friends:

Rua Macmillan, Adam Brown, Louise Bichan, Stephen Baxter & Ken Houston, raising funds

in association with Friends of Plockton Music School on their World Tour of Glasgow taking

in 4 venues around town - thanks to Tom Brown’s Rickshaw. They played a melting set at

the No1 Chocolate Factory on ‘Charlie’ our piano donation ( all the way from Kilmarnock )

who is now enjoying a new residency at Maklab, where he may well soon be Maklabified.

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Receiving a donation from composer Gareth Williams, who we met outside GoMA during Festival 2014, leads to students

from the RCoS Production Arts & Design Dept repeating the success of ‘Wee Mary‘ and ‘Tikka’. After repairs by Altron, a visit

to the new Theatre Royal foyer draws Madama Butterfly as a theme to inspire the decoration of ‘Tampopo’ ( Dandelion ).

She is beautifully finished and joins ‘Wee Mary‘ at the BBC’s ‘Music at the Quay’ in June. Installed in Glasgow Science Centre

where she is used for ’Playing it By Ear’ taster sessions from Sally Clay & Grainne Rooney. She then joins 11 more pianos at

GRCH in November, where it appears she could have been specially created to compliment Maki Namekawa’s Kimono for

her stunning performance of the Philip Glass etudes at the Festival of the Piano. Great Job . . . Martha & the Scenic Monkeys.

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‘Playing it by Ear’ tuition taster sessions start up in a number of locations thanks to pianos donations from Biggars Music and

some nifty bargain hunting on Gumtree. A lovely wee Art Deco ‘Omega’ upright replaces ‘Mack’ in the Project Cafe while

the Fred Paton Centre in Woodlands and the Unexpected Artist welcome pianos that instantly produce some smiling faces.

The old canteen at the Western Infirmary offers up a piano donation that moves to the musical arm of Common Wheel at

Campbell House, Gartnavel Royal Hospital. The Glad Foundation share their resources and tuition starts up on their piano

while word starts to spread about our new installations and ‘Libby’ gets a visit from young Skye at the Willow Tea Rooms.

Around Christmas we find more bargains on Gumtree and install pianos at Flourish House in the West End and Toonspeak in

Royston who can decorate this one to their heart’s content after having ‘Yogi’ on loan for a few months. We get a request

for a piano for Bridging the Gap’s new monthly meal for Glasgow’s Homeless community and quickly source a donation so

that they can have a piano permanently at St Francis hall’s in the Gorbals, that will no doubt grow into tuition location too.

Helping install 2 shiny new Yamaha upright pianos in the Mitchell Library practice rooms results in a

new home for an old ‘Bentley’ with plenty of life in it yet at PEEK Project in Bridgeton, where tuition is

now taking place. Back at Dalmarnock Primary, beautiful decoration from Artist Rachel Docherty, on

their new piano, inspired by the animated film Song of the Sea ( with the blessing of its makers and

some paint from the Art Store ) means ‘Saoirse’ is born In time to join the others for the piano festival.

PEEK Lets Play Launch at Dalmarnock Primary School sees ‘Liber~Archie’ blend in with the balloons &

stay on for a months loan and head teacher, Nancy Clunie is inspired to have a piano for the school.

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A trip to Dunfermline to visit the Gray family proves well worth the train fare as

a wonderful ‘Weber’ upright is donated to the project. Our connection with

Urban Roots means she can be hosted at the Moogety Grub Hub before a

lick of white paint prepares her for a beautiful line drawing by Libby Walker.

After the BBC & Piano Festival ’Libby’ moves to the Willow Tea Rooms and we

replace her with ’Stuart’, following his residency in the Old Barn in Pollok Park,

as the presence of a piano proved popular with the Moogety volunteers.

With ‘Wee Mary’ hosting duets beside the Cafe, ‘Libby’ being decorated near reception or outside at

the Bus Stop, ‘Tampopo’ over in the Science Centre Foyer and ‘Mack’ being signed upstairs by celebs

we kind of takeover the BBC for a week. ‘Libby’ stays on for a month before jumping back in the van.

RCoS give us ‘Wee Mary’ on loan again and she quite at home in

the BBC foyer where Sally Clay meets a large purple furry animal.

Over in the corner you can’t beat a bit of colouring in on ‘Libby’

and a good stretch too while you’re at it ~ on tip toes if needed.

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Mack’ heads down the Project Cafe ramp &

after some deft touches from Marsha Burke,

makes it on to the One show stage, gathering

a few more celeb autographs, including . . . ?

Many well kent faces gather round ’Mack’ to autograph

him ~ before he is donated to a local community project.

We all need a wee pick me up occasionally . . . especially when your wee brother can’t quite reach the top of the piano.

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After being well cared for in the Thallen household ‘Yogi’ has plenty

of takers for tuition in St Silas Church at the Gibson Street Gala, for

the start of the West End Festival. With a very comfy new stool from

Altron and a fresh lick of paint from Marsha Burke and Tom Binns this

wee workhorse of a piano is ready for another year of adventures.

Where next . . . the Ha’penny Bridge over the River Kelvin perhaps ?

Curiosity is nearly satisfied as Alan Kenny opens the lid

on things ~ to reveal the action of the People’s Piano.

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At the Scottish Recovery Network’s Rights for Life Conference, delegates can play ‘Yogi’

during breaks and listen too. Some people enjoy a quiet moment away from the busyness

and the opportunity to explore an acoustic piano . . . while exercising the right to play .

For the Kirkintilloch Canal Festival at Peel Park Bandstand ’Yogi’ ( possibly Scotland’s hardest working piano ) teams up

with ’Custard’ giving Conor 2 piano choices to wow his scout troop pals with. Lesley Tyler ( the original piano donor )

just happens to pass by for a tune. She returns later on with a shoal of silver fish to surround her old piano for a song.

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On the last day of patient transfers from Yorkhill Children’s Hospital ’Spot’ gets a quick

paint job before moving to his new home in Zone 12 of the Royal Hospital for Children

while Alan Kenny & Grainne Rooney provide some music outside the main entrance.

While we are there we meet the Ramsay family. One thing leads to another and a

few weeks later we get an unusual piano donation so ‘Mr Universe‘ went on loan for

all 3 Ramsay children to receive lessons on until recently when we found them a piano

of their own gathering dust in a farm shed out in Cumbernauld. ( It’s a long story )

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No shortage of pianos for our summer Lids Open Day at Mackintosh Queens Cross Church with a Steinway on stage to enjoy,

along with the beautiful acoustics & meditative atmosphere in the building. Our hosts also invite people to play their unique

Broadwood upright too while TV producer Charlie Stuart makes a short film of the day you can see on our Vimeo Channel.

Thanks to Stuart Robertson for taking

some great shots of the double act

that is ~ Alan Kenny & Graeme Stokes.

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All in a days work for Alan Kenny &‘Yogi‘ on the Ha’penny Bridge

over the River Kelvin at the FORK Summer Gala . . . Appearances

from passing Giant Bears mean that full safety gear is required.

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‘Ming’ takes a day off from the Lighthouse to visit Murrayfield Stadium for the

Health & Social Care Alliance Citizens Wellbeing Assembly. He proves popular

with delegates and soon draws a crowd, with live decoration by Marsha Burke

and tunes from Alan Kenny. It doesn’t take long for a harmonica to join in with

plenty of willing singers ! We will share our voice again at the 2016 conference.

We make a connection with Gerry Mitchell from

the Alliance’s Community Links Practitioners and

start the ball rolling for ‘ Pianos on Prescription’ !

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Unveiling ’Custard’ after a week long Summerhouse Artist Residency

at Gartnavel Royal Hospital is a joyous affair. In collaboration with

Art in the Gart & Project Ability a very welcoming piano is created

complete with Smiling Bees, Giant Rhubarb leaves and Sunflowers

thanks to Aspire Artist Jonathan McKinstry, Consuelo Rosa Servan

and of course the piano donation of a ‘Heywood’ from Lesley Tyler.

‘Custard’ now lives in the outer Hub foyer for people to play & enjoy.

The gardens inspire our Artists and

we record the whole process on

our new short film ~ Mon’ the Bees !

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Pedal power keeps the PA going during Urban Roots ‘Dear Green Festival’ at

Queens Park Arena where ‘Yogi’ does a grand job when the sun is out and also

when everyone takes shelter in a downpour. Its not all glamour though, as he

spends his nights in the Glad Cafe container for a few weeks, popping out into

the sunshine for Queens Park visitors to play, with full safety gear, again of course.

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Never a dull moment for Alan Kenny with ‘Big Rory‘ and

‘Sheepdog’ hogging the cake stand at the Over the Wall

Outdoor Festival of Neighbours at Gartnavel Royal Hospital.

Fresh from compering the day, Keara Murphy & entourage

get the last helping of ‘Custard’ before he spends 3 days in

the G3 Growers shed during Doors Open Day Festival Week.

‘Custard’ is bringing music and fun to patients & visitors alike

(If that were really necessary with Fiona Sinclair near by)

and will be part of our plans for the Maggie’s Culture Crawl

in Oct 2016 as hundreds of night walkers explore Glasgow.

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‘NIkNak’ draws a crowd at Art Village in Shawlands as Sally Clay & Sarah Caltieri play ‘Mr Pink’ and sing German folk songs

with Bibo Keeley next door at the Shared Heart exhibition during the Southside Fringe, telling Brian Keeley’s inspirational story.

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Kelvingrove Bandstand welcomes ‘Yogi’ to the stage to accompany the Voicebeat choir, with songs from Alan Kenny and

Helen Minnis ( via a shed ) and members of the audience getting up to play a tune. It’s a tight squeeze backstage, but he’s

always willing to share a dressing room if needs must.

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The Lieper Gallery welcomes ‘Bob’ a few months

before Doors Open Day Festival Week. He is now

a permanent exhibit. This fine Daneman upright

awaits its decoration process by a mystery artist.

‘Custard‘ swops the Hub Foyer at Gartnavel Royal Hospital

for a sing song in a shed . . . in the G3 Growers Back Garden

during Doors Open Day Festival Week. See you next year !

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Lids Open Day ( Autumn Pt 1 ) finds us back for the second tie at Mackintosh Queens Cross for

the Mackintosh Festival in October. This event proves just as popular 2nd time round with people

who never thought they would get the chance to play a Steinway . . . in such a beautiful setting.

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12 Pianos at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall for the BIG Piano Orchestra

spread out round the whole building for the duration of the festival.

Even festival director Sven Brown joins in for a performance in unison .

Jonathan McKinstry ( one of the Artists who decorated ‘Custard’ ) just

happens to be passing as his creation arrives in time to join the others.

Our BiG keys are hard to resist.

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Lids Open Day ( Autumn Part Ii ) finds us out on the Main stage at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall

for the first time . . . and hopefully not the last, with a fantastic Steinway Concert Grand Piano.

“ The best 20 minutes of my life “ Beth Moore

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A classic moment at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall during the Festival of the Piano with ‘Liber~Archie’ on the promenade.

This photo really captured the surprise of wee hands making big sounds for the first time . . . and was one of 3 winners for

the Big Lottery Fund’s online community photo competition this year on the Making the Most of Your Project blog page.

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’Beaker’ is transparently brought to life by some new perspex panels

in time to join the installation of ‘ Helmholtz - Wintour’s Leap ‘ under

the Tower at Glasgow Science Centre, helping to animate the lights

for anyone a bit shy of singing into this beautiful dark star-like space.

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The first of 2 Baby Grand Donations coming our way arrives at Glasgow school of Art Continuing Education department on

Renfrew Street beside the Project Cafe. ‘Dylan’ will soon be decorated before a new life in community use. Along with an

extremely dinky ships piano ‘Alison’( with a built in drinks cabinet ) and a sturdy upright, ‘Boyd’, given a temporary home

with the Glad Foundation in Shawlands . . . It really has been a bumper year for piano donations with he tally sitting at 24.

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It’s a bit of a ‘Doo -Dah‘ moment for the Camglen Ladies as ‘Yogi’ arrives on loan for the Winter in the brilliant

new space at Healthy N Happy in Rutherglen . . . tucked under the Camglen Radio Station studio ready to play.

The Camglen Ladies

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Blues dancing on Nelson Mandela Place with Alan Kenny & Helen Minnis on

stage during the Christmas Style Mile Parade. Meanwhile, Marsha Burke is hard

at work again down at the Lighthouse making sure ‘Ming’ looks his best before

Clay Morris helps to rundle him up to Gordon Street where Santa’s dancing

helpers are waiting to entertain the crowd with their highly polished routines. Gordon STreet

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Alasdair McLean returns the action back into ’BiG MaRY’ for the first time after his renovation work. The results are impressive as

this lovely old Chappell Grand Piano, donated to the project by Glasgow Museums and given a new home in the McLeod Hall

by staff at the Pearce Institute will have a long life in community use and be a central part of our free piano tuition initiatives.

This was our most informal Lids Open Day yet as participants

from our ‘ Playing it By Ear ‘ tuition sessions were all invited to

the Pearce Institute for a chance to play ‘BiG MaRY’ on stage.

The Pearce Institute, Govan.

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Our project piano tutor, Grainne Rooney, worked with over 50 people over the course of

the last year to offer over 100 hours of free informal piano tuition to adults and children,

often using shape/colour coded ’figurenotes’ to help them take their first musical steps.

David Cargill House

The Ramsay family, Carluke.

Grainne Rooney

Kinning Park Complex

St Francis Hall, the Gorbals

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’Sprocket’ leaves the Bike Station and heads to the White House, by the Canal, Maryhill.

Very handy for Sam Minnis, taking his first steps learning the Art & Science of Piano Tuning,

under the watchful eye of Alasdair Russell. Freewheel North have big plans ahead for this

building and we hope our piano will remain there too . . . for a long time to come.

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Thank you to all our partners

for helping us grow

beyond our hopes & expectations.

Special thanks to Alan Kenny

for his consistently wonderful piano playing

and to . . .

a cast of thousands

for all the music you shared.

Gaun Yersel !

Photo by Marc Millar

Glasgow Piano City