Two approaches to charity on Piano Day
Howard Lake | 29 March 2018 | Blogs
29th March is Piano Day. As a pianist, every day is a piano day for me, but I’m delighted that someone has decided to dedicate a day to this source of delight for so many. And it’s even more pleasing that there is a giving element to the day.
Whose idea was it? Composer and performer Nils Frahm came up with it.
He says: “Why does the world need a Piano Day? For many reasons. But mostly, because it doesn’t hurt to celebrate the piano and everything around it: performers, composers, piano builders, tuners, movers and most important, the listener.”
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Why 29th March? There are 88 keys on a piano keyboard, and today is the 88th day of the year.
SEE ALSO: Tip of the Pops 2 – Now That’s What I Call Fundraising
Give a Piano
This is the third year in which Piano Day has been marked. From the very beginning there was an element of giving and sharing in the form of the Give a Piano campaign.
This aims to encourage people who own a piano to share it or make it available to pianists.
“There are so many pianos that are not being played for several reasons: they are broken, stored in piano shops or used as items of furniture rather than a musical instruments. At the same time there are loads of talented pianists who have no possibility to own a piano. Piano Day gives an opportunity for the holders of the unused pianos to place them where they can be enjoyed by a lot of people. Everybody who wants to share the joy of playing and listening to piano music is invited to participate and take action!”
The first giveaway took place in Berlin’s youth centre OC23 where a piano was donated by Nils Frahm and piano builder Carsten Schulz.
Give a Piano (a bashing)
There are other ways that pianos can be used for charity. So, by contrast, here’s one from the archives, shared with me by John Thompson of Changing Business. A smashing idea…
Fundraising Tune of the Day
A page about fundraising with pianos wouldn’t be complete without a reference to my Fundraising Tune of the Day series in 2020.
As the pandemic took hold I decided to combine my love of piano playing with my fundraising experience. I shared a series of performances (the piano is just a few feet from my UK Fundraising desk) and added in a related fundraising tip.
Here’s episode 9 in the series.
Other talented fundraisers joined in with the series too.
And then in the run-up to Christmas I reprised the idea, with the aim of bringing some seasonal joy to fundraisers, and again some musical fundraisers joined in. Do explore Festive Fundraising Tune of the Day.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.