Piano Players at 16th St Mall in Denver

Michael Miller plays one of the pianos that will be on the mall until June 18 and return later in summer. (Lyn Alweis, The Denver Post)

 

Meagan Wagner plays one of about a dozen local-artist-decorated pianos placed along Denver's 16th Street Mall by the Downtown Denver Partnership. The pianos are creating musical moments along the city's pedestrian spine. (Lyn Alweis, The Denver Post)

Music has always played a part on Denver's 16th Street Mall, that tree-lined corridor of diamond-shaped granite slabs that has acted as downtown's pedestrian spine for nearly three decades.

But between the manufactured angst blaring from garish eateries like the Hard Rock Cafe, and the acoustic anthems of gutter-punk guitarists, drummers, saxophone players and other street performers, there's a relatively new sound: the plinking of piano keys.

"We're always looking for things that really give people some spontaneous enjoyment on the 16th Street Mall," said Susan Rogers-Kark, vice president of the Downtown Denver Partnership, "something they wouldn't normally see somewhere else."

The partnership has found it in
the "Your Keys to the City" program, which has rolled out nearly a dozen upright pianos and placed them every few blocks along the mall's 16-block span. Painted with bright, playful colors and natural motifs by local artists, the pianos (nine of which are active) invite anyone to approach, sit down and play.

And judging by the buzz the pianos have created along the mall and its businesses, the program is a success.

"I only saw the pianos recently, but I haven't had an opportunity to play because every one of them has been swamped," said Brandon Blair, a 24-year-old Community College of Denver student, who was tracing the notes to K-Ci & JoJo's "All My Life" on his way toward campus earlier this week. "I saw my chance, so I jumped on it."

Blair is just the type of person the partnership wants to attract, a casual observer magnetized by the novelty of a random piano sitting among the rivers of tourism and commerce along the mall.

Inspired by similar programs in London and elsewhere, "Your Keys to the City" was tested last winter and brought back for a May 21-June 18 spring season. After its current stint on the mall, the motley assortment of instruments (acquired through donations and on Craigslist) will be stored, repainted and retuned for a summer season in late July or early August.

"They're all about 100 years old, at least," said piano repairman Stu Puls, a 27-year-old music business major at the University of Colorado Denver. Puls was busy repairing a 1908 Walters Piano Co. model in front of the Denver Pavilions earlier this week, surrounded by a daunting assortment of tiny, multicolored wooden hammers. "I use a Pierce Piano Atlas to look up serial numbers and ages, although some of them are hard to find parts for," he said.

Moving and maintaining the pianos was a bit of a challenge, but the Downtown Denver Partnership spent less than $2,000 acquiring them. So far, they've resisted both weather and vandalism.

"I think people look at it and respect that someone did that work, and since it's public art, we want to make sure it stays accessible," said the partnership's Rogers-Kark. "We don't roll the pianos in every night. We want (people) to know they're out there, day after day."

The pianos provide a uniquely functional canvas for local artists who donate their talent and time in painting them.

"Denver is still kind of a sporty cowtown, but I love being in this city at this point, because things like this are really helping shift us to a much more savvy, cultural town," said artist Laurie Maves, who has so far painted two pianos for the program.

The mall's free shuttle buses ferry an average 47,000 people per weekday, and another 35,000 pedestrians stroll the mall daily, so it's no surprise the pianos attract classically trained virtuosos who bowl over visitors with their prowess.

But when artist Marcella Nordbeck went to check the piano she had painted, which was at 16th and Welton streets, she noticed a different kind of player.

"Probably half of the people playing were homeless, and that really moved me, because it made me wonder about their story and how they got to this point in life," she said. "Obviously it takes money and lessons to play, and it's not what you expect to see. We tend to have preconceived notions about who people are and how they've found themselves in that position. It was very humbling and enlightening."

For Paul Johnson and his wife Margaret — a retired couple visiting from Manchester, England — the pianos are a hint of Denver's character and soul.

"It's a bit of cliche, but it says to me, 'What a cool city!' " Johnson, 68, said as he picked out the notes to "God Save the Queen" in front of a Starbucks earlier this week. "I think it's just absolutely brilliant."

For the past two years, the Downtown Denver Partnership has been examining much larger, more expensive ways to revitalize the aging mall's transportation and infrastructure — with some estimates ranging in the hundreds of millions of dollars — but it should remember the lessons a city is learning from these pianos.

Community is as simple as a group of people sharing something publicly. Commerce isn't the only reason to make public spaces more beautiful. And music — or least the desire to create and share it — is universal.

John Wenzel: 303-954-1642 or jwenzel@denverpost.com