Legal practice student Tobias (20) organizes group piano lessons in Wilde Zee: “Unique in Europe” (Antwerp)

Today, March 28, Piano Day is celebrated worldwide. “They do that on the 88th day of the year, referring to the 88 keys of the instrument,” says Tobias Van Damme. This 20-year-old legal student from Brussels, who grew up in a musical family, threw his weight behind the Everyone Plays Piano project. In the Schrijnwerkersstraat, among the shops of the Wilde Zee, the organization has taken over a building that will serve as a classroom. The digital pianos, which you see through the window, will be played for the first time on April 3. “The intention is to get musicians – children, young people, adults and seniors – to play the piano together in workshops. That is quite unique in our country, and even in Europe. In most cases, people take piano lessons individually, or quatre mains, but never in a group.”

Van Damme got his inspiration in New York from the world-famous pianist Lang Lang. “In 2009 he brought together one hundred pianists for a unique performance for the first time. With his 101 Pianists concerts, which he has since organized worldwide, he underlines the social character of the instrument. The sound of all those pianos together creates something much greater than any single pianist could create.”

Van Damme wants to bring people together in Antwerp to play the piano together. “And I’m talking about everyone, even those who have never played before or can’t read music. Both absolute beginners and advanced pianists will get their money’s worth at Everyone Plays Piano. While one person plays using notes, the other is given a score with colors. Depending on everyone’s skills, we work with different parties. Someone plays the melody, another the bass line. In this way you create, as it were, a piano orchestra.”

“Both absolute beginners and advanced pianists will get their money’s worth at Everyone Plays Piano. While one person plays using notes, the other is given a score with colors.”

Tobias Van Damme

Everyone Plays Piano

The instruments of Everyone Plays Piano are made available by Maene, which has nine distribution points across Flanders and the Netherlands and installs public pianos in stations and airports.

“In recent years, interest in the piano has grown steadily,” says Wolf Leye van Maene. “And that in all age groups. In the past, the path to the piano was more strict and school-based, but now you can learn to play the piano in so many different ways. You can still take piano lessons the classical way, but some also learn to play the piano through YouTube videos. Or via an app that you can connect to your piano, and which then indicates whether you are playing the correct note. Learning to play the piano has become so much easier than before. Statistics show that seventy percent of adults would have liked to learn to play the piano. The fact that people now start this at a later age is related to a broader range of lessons. You can learn to play the instrument in more ways, and at any age.”

“Statistics show that seventy percent of adults would have liked to learn to play the piano. The fact that people are still starting to do this at a later age is related to a broader range of lessons.”

Wolf Leye

Maene

Everyone Plays Piano is a project at schools and companies, but is now also opening a pop-up piano center in Antwerp for at least six months. “If the project is successful there, we will continue,” says Tobias Van Damme. “We offer courses for children and adults, both in the afternoon and in the evening. This summer a piano camp will also be organized for children between 6 and 13 years old.”

Experience center Everyone Plays Piano, Schrijnwerkersstraat 10, Antwerp. www.iedereenspeeltpiano.com