By Maddie Orton
Arts Correspondent
It’s a sunny morning at about 10 a.m. in South Orange. Cars come and go, the train whistles by and people hurry off to their jobs and classes and appointments. There is a small radius of calm, though, under a pavilion that houses an old, brightly-painted piano. It’s one of six placed around town for SOPAC’s public art project, Playin’ Around South Orange.
At the piano sits Robert Banks, an 84-year-old Julliard graduate who’s performed in locations all over the world — not least of which being Carnegie Hall. He and his wife Cassandra came from Newark for the day.
“We weren’t doing anything, so I said, ‘There’re pianos out in South Orange, open, and anybody can go and play them,” she shares. “So he says, ‘No, you don’t touch anybody’s piano,” Cassandra laughs. “So I said, ‘Yes, it’s OK!'”
Passersby are glad he came. Banks transitions effortlessly from Bizet’s “Habanera” to Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” — all sans sheet music.
“I know too many songs…so I just play what I feel at the moment,” he says.
South Orange resident Mandy Melini sits listening with her young daughter. “We heard music playing and so we stopped. We both love music,” she says. “I’ve just been sitting here talking to [Robert’s] wife and my daughter’s just loving it — imitating the piano. So it’s really a great day.”
Melini isn’t alone. Orange-based artist Ronald Freeman listens intently, a young couple settles down on a bench and another mom sits with her youngsters. Robert is surprised he’s drawn a crowd, but SOPAC Director of Community Engagement Linda Beard isn’t.
“I’ve met so many people and heard so many stories around the pianos about why they came or how they found out about it,” she says. For the second year, SOPAC has partnered with other organizations, companies and the Village of South Orange to bring pianos outdoors.
The six instruments — five downtown and one on Seton Hall’s campus — are painted by local artists specially selected for the project. Playin’ Around South Orange will be up through Oct. 6. At the end of their run, the pianos that are still in good condition will be auctioned off to support SOPAC’s educational programs.
“The coolest part about [Playin’ Around South Orange] is…you get all different types of people,” Beard says. “You get people who play ragtime, to classical, to jazz.”
Kids get in on the act, too. “They plunk out ‘Heart and Soul’ or ‘Mary Had a Little Lamb.'” She adds, “There’s a piano out by the park, by the paths to run, so I’ve seen people stop their run, play and then continue.”
Gathering around this piano, people are happy just to kick back and leave it to the professional. Freeman, a stranger to Banks, buys him a coffee from the Starbucks a few feet away — and requests “Lush Life” by Billy Strayhorn. Banks obliges.
“Our hope is that it breaks up the monotony of a day,” says Beard. “You’re so busy running to a train in the morning, or getting your coffee, or getting the kids off to school, and you do these things without being mindful of them. And then all of the sudden, you happen upon a piano and it’s a respite that you can take to either listen and enjoy or sing along.”