The Keys to Community

How about some “Chopsticks” or Chopin between classes? A group of students last semester turned Hornbake Plaza, the Washington Quad and McKeldin Mall into temporary outdoor performance spaces through a whimsical project called Pianos for Play. Inspired by efforts in Montreal and New York City, computer science major Nachmi Kott ’17 recruited friends to collect old pianos around the D.C. area. Student artists painted them, then volunteers rolled the five colorful pieces to locations around campus in early April (but left a tarp behind, for when rain threatened). For the next several weeks, Kott says, “Every time I went to a piano, it was being played. I’d just literally watch people meet each other and play together for the first time.” Connecting people at UMD was his goal, and he hopes to do it again next spring—depending on how many bargain-priced pianos he can procure.