The Artists Speak: Come Enjoy This Year’s Sing For Hope Pianos Over Its Final Weekend!
It’s almost time for this year’s Sing For Hope pianos to leave city parks to join various nonprofit and community spaces around the city, so get out there and enjoy it during its last weekend!
Our Fort Greene Park piano, painted by Crown Heights artist Henya Emmer and sitting at the corner of Myrtle Avenue and Washington Park, features a row of dancing silhouettes against a purple backdrop lined up on the piano face and sides, as well as black trim and a quote on top: “”Ride The Energy Of Your Own Unique Spirit.”
“It’s a quote by Gabrielle Roth, who started the Five Rhythms Practice, which is a dance my friends and I do, and which was actually a part of Sing For Hope a few years back,” explained Emmer. “These are photos of my friends dancing.”
Explaining her inspiration for the piano’s design, Emmer described it as akin to having a collaboration with the piano itself.
“My original design proposal was a completely different idea than what this is, but when i came in and met the piano, it was a blank canvas and it felt like it needed to be moved,” she said. “It’s inspired by a moving meditation practice that I’m part of. Each piano, each design, has its own personality and energy. It called to me.”
Paul St. Savage, the Clinton Hill based artist who painted the piano over in Crown Heights’s Brower Park, across from the Brooklyn Children’s Museum, also spoke of the piano’s connection to its community.
“I like that it’s by the children’s museum. My inspiration for the piano design was all the personalities, moods and characters of NYC and the fact music is a universal language which connects them all,” St. Savage said. “Plus, the bright colors symbolize the bright lights of the city, and the intense vibe of city life, too.”
What’s it like seeing the piano played?
“Seeing people interact and create with it is beautiful,” said Emmer. “We do this to bring art and music everywhere for people to share and it’s beautiful to see people playing it and enjoying it. Knowing that once this project is over, it’ll be donated to someone or some group that can use it, it’s like coming full circle.”
Sing For Hope places pianos in 50 locations each year, including 14 in Brooklyn.