ROCKLAND, Maine — One person’s trash has become a city treasure.
Earlier this year, someone dumped a piano at the municipal landfill. The city’s public service’s director David St. Laurent, however, saw a diamond in the rough.
He rescued the 1920 McPhail upright piano from its demise and came up with the idea of refurbishing it so it could be moved from one city park to another during the summer for members of the public to play.
St. Laurent contacted Nathan Davis, the chief technology officer and co-founder of the Steel House, a center for design, technology and education, located on Main Street. Davis also happens to have a doctorate in music composition and theory and plays the piano.
“Dave knew I played the piano, so he spoke to me about restoring it,” Davis said.
Davis acknowledges he is not a professional when it comes to repairing a piano, but he made enough repairs to have the keys work. He replaced several hammers and the damper. He pointed out that he used Gorilla Tape for some of the repairs.
“Actually, it was not in really bad shape,” Davis said. “The main issue was fixing the damper.”
Alexis Iammarino, an artist and educator who also is a member of Steel House, painted the exterior of the piano.
Repairs were made inside the garage in back of City Hall.
“I worked from recent small paintings and sketches in my studio to develop the color scheme and design,” Iammarino said. “I wanted to use a bright, summery palette with rhythmic patterning that would be inviting for people to take a seat and make some music or play.”
“The bobbing watermelon motif was something I sketched in my journal when thinking about what else I could depict bobbing in the ocean besides buoys, boats or sea critters,” she said.
The piano had its inaugural public display Thursday evening at the gazebo at the park on Park Drive overlooking the grounds where the Maine Lobster Festival was being held.
The piano, which will be moved to other municipal parks during the summer, will be covered with a tarp when inclement weather is forecast, Davis said. Citizens are encouraged to sit down and tickle the ivories.
Heat and humidity will pose a challenge for keeping the outdoor piano tuned, Davis acknowledged. While it likely would have to be tuned more often, even each day, because it is outside, Davis said, he expects to do it once a month.
“This is about making music and art accessible to anyone,” Davis said.