The San Francisco Botanical Garden is celebrating its 75th anniversary this week, by hiding 12 pianos on its hillsides, meadows, and secret gardens.
It’s basically only the most enchanting thing to ever happen in San Francisco.
Tip-toeing through the damp dew this morning, we searched for pianos hiding in the early fog. An upright peaked out from behind a giant redwood. A white baby grand in an open grass field. We trampled over the Garden’s wooden bridges and alongside lily pad-covered ponds, eyes searching.
Or perhaps someone had found it before us, and so we could hear the sweet tinkling of keys swaying through the mist before we could find its source. A school group arrived near 11 am, and we got to witness a 6 year old boy shock and awe his teacher with a piano solo.
We watched self-conscious teenagers show up, and break out some Bach. Older couples took turns trying to remember music from their school days. One woman showed up with her mother and a video camera and proceeded to put on a concert. A couple brought in a cello and took over the redwood grove.
Whether you’re a pianist who’s always dreamed of playing in a quiet forest, or a total amateur having a little fun (as one man joked, “oh, let me do my jazz impression…”), the pianos were a catalyst for bringing San Franciscans together. Bean and I listened to others play, and put on a few (jazzy) concerts ourselves. Everyone was smiling in the chilly air, thoroughly charmed by each other’s presence and abilities.
Thank you, San Francisco Botanical Garden. What a wonderful idea!
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Flower Piano at the San Francisco Botanical Garden
July 9-20, 2015
Daily 9am to 6pm
First come, first served. The Garden has an informal 15-minute cap if others are waiting.
There will be scheduled performances this weekend. Here’s the schedule.
