Three million four hundred thousand dollars for surfing in Montreal… How much for public pianos? Mind you, we have nothing against surfing and its followers. We would only like the same consideration for other activities, particularly those, very few in number, which promote cultural democracy.
Last year, faced with a petition demanding the immediate return of public pianos, the mayor and her advisers remained adamant: the public pianos will return, but only next year. They arrived late, are few in number (for the moment, the borough of the mayoress itself has none), their quality is deplorable, the schedules are very limited and often not respected.
At 311, we are invited to introduce ourselves on site. However, we note that the pianos are often under their padlocked tarpaulin. The employee of the Laurier metro claimed a risk of rain to close it before the time indicated on a sunny day. In Outremont, the person who had the key was sick for more than a week. The other piano in the neighborhood is managed by a volunteer, charming and dedicated resident.
In short, this casualness often causes a lot of kilometers on the bike for nothing.
The public piano project, which everyone talks about with wonder and fascination, is essentially supported by charity. People have donated their pianos, which are often old and poorly tuned, resulting in unusable instruments that quickly become a mere appearance: “Look: in Montreal, we have public pianos! »
Many are unusable (as with a typewriter, all the keys must be functional), some are reduced to being a noise nuisance. In the stations of France, the public pianos are almost new. Sainte-Thérèse has better pianos than Montreal.
However, some boroughs managed to offer something very worthwhile, such as Hochelaga, which had at least three pianos of excellent quality. But now, the organization that took care of it has been dissolved and the pianos have disappeared. Only one will be available this year, located at the east end, and it will close at 6 p.m. Not convenient for working people. And this is the case for several pianos this year.
Is this activity taken seriously? If tennis courts were filled with holes, what would users say? How much for arenas, playgrounds of all kinds and shows financed at great expense?
A piano tuner told us that he would tune 40 instruments for the Jazz Festival alone. How much for public pianos? The 311 directs us to the Facebook page “Pianos publics de Montréal” for more information. Not a single question from citizens was answered, not even that of a person who volunteered to help. What should we understand?
Public pianos have no lobby to promote them, only citizens who humbly expect to be taken seriously. Above all, we don’t want to bother, but when we compare our situation to others, we become furious.
Good accessible pianos attract good pianists. And Montreal is full of them. This is a fine example of a structuring project: we provide the infrastructure, and the magic happens on its own, free and generous, so that souls rise up, as Louise Forestier sang. What a great missed opportunity!