E-D-C-D-E-E-E.
It spells “Mary had a little lamb” in piano speak.
There, now you know enough to jam. Head to downtown Everett to get your piano on during Street Tunes.
Through Aug. 25, you can play and pound with reckless abandon on 19 pianos on public display. The pianos are tuned up and can take it.
Want to really impress friends and strangers?
Rock on with D-D-D (Lit-tle Lamb), followed by an E-E-E (Lit-tle Lamb) chorus.
Street Tunes is an annual interactive art project sponsored by the city of Everett. Artists paint the pianos in funky friendly fashions. Four new ones joined the 15 painted in previous years that were rolled out of storage last week and bolted to the sidewalk. Maps are available at each site. The piano with the most votes gets a “People’s Choice Award.”
You can score some applause on your own. The lamb song is easy to learn, with three notes, C,D and E. Other simple tunes are “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” and “Hot Cross Buns.” Or you can fake it and act like you own it.
Don’t be shy. Go for it. No stage experience needed.
Jared Rodriguez, 4, ran his tiny nimble fingers over the long spread of black-and-white keys of the blue “Night Concerto” piano in front of Wicked Cellars on Colby Avenue.
Seven octaves and 88 keys was big-time stuff for the Everett boy.
“He has a toy piano he plays on all the time,” said his dad, Dan. “I think this is the first actual piano he has played. He might be a prodigy.”
Indeed. Jared laughed and kept playing without missing a beat.
The pianos are a hit with merchants.
Judy Matheson, owner of J Matheson Kitchen &Gourmet, 2615 Colby Ave., welcomes the annual ivory keyed invasion.
“It brings in a lot of people from all over,” she said. “We get wanna-bes. We get concert pianists. We get little 5-year-olds who want to play. Last year we had a whole group of elderly people and they brought all their instruments and sat down and played. It was wonderful. Oh, we love it. Most of the time.”
The pianos have a reputation far out of earshot.
“They’d heard about them at the New York gift show,” Matheson said. “Someone said, ‘Oh, you’re from Everett, Washington. We saw those pianos on national TV.’”
She encourages customers to give it a whirl.
“They say, ‘Oh, I haven’t played for a long time,’ and I say, ‘We want to hear you,’ and I get them out there. Some people are kind of shy about it.”
Some get sentimental. There’s something about a piano that invokes fond memories.
“We had a piano at Grandma’s house when I was a little kid,” said Everett resident Eric Nostrand as he took seat at “Tickle My Keys,” a new addition to this year’s piano fleet in front of Silver Coffee Cup on Colby.
“I’m no good, I just screw around,” he said.
He sure sounded good, though, as he caressed the keys with both hands and pumped the foot pedal.
“These pianos are fantastic. It adds a lot of character to the town,” he said. “It’s just really good stuff for Everett.”
Andrea Brown: 425-339-3443; abrown@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @reporterbrown.
More at: www.everettwa.gov/824/Street-Tunes
Piano locations, names and artists
• Imagine Children’s Museum, 1502 Wall St. “Play Me a Tune in the Rolling Hills” by Krista Jefferson
• Schack Art Center, 2921 Hoyt. Ave. “Music Leopard Lounge” by Janet Wold.
• Everett Library, 2702 Hoyt Ave. “Broadway Boogie Woogie” by Si Newland.
• Homestreet Bank, 2720 Hoyt Ave. “Meow Art” by Cathy Tanasse.
• Craving Cajun Grill, 2915 Colby Ave. “Mambo Kings Sing Songs of Love” by Cheri O’Brien.
• Best Nails, 2928 Colby Ave. “Summer Reflections” by Shannon Danks.
• Renee’s Contemporary Clothing 2820 Colby Ave. “Moonlight Garden Jam” by Holly Stafford.
• Major League Pizza, 2811 Colby Ave. “Jimi Hendrix Experience” by Jesse Jeter.
• Silver Cup Coffee, 2707 Colby Ave. “Tickle My Keys” by Jackie Cort.
• Petite Sweet &J. Matheson Gifts, 2615 Colby Ave. “Nature’s Melodies” by Cassandra Reed.
• Wicked Cellars, 2616 Colby Ave. “Night Concerto” by Anna Mastronardi Novak.
• Wetmore Theatre Plaza, 2710 Wetmore Ave. “Intertwined” by Amber Forrest.
• Café Zippy, 2811 Wetmore Ave. “Pacific Coast Rocks” by Melana Bontrager.
• Sno-Isle Co-op &Sisters Restaurant, 2804 Grand Ave. “Produce Sounds” by Elizabeth Person.
• Vintage Café, 1510 Hewitt Ave. “All Star Player Piano” by Cathy Tanasse.
• Sol Food, 1405 Hewitt Ave., “Epoca Rosso” by Alexander Vincini.
• Scuttlebutt Brewery, 1205 Craftsman Way, “The Phantom” by Jeromy Sawdon.
• Everett Transit Station, 3201 Smith Ave. “Sun in Raven in Whale” by Darrin Hess and Jane Meagher (outside). “Joy Unspeakable” by Kim Williams (inside).
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