At Glendale Community College, beloved donated piano invites an encore

The point of donating 30 pianos to be kept — and played — outside was to increase music appreciation in the city more than two years ago during the “Play Me, I’m Yours” program.

And, for three weeks in 2012, people pounded out everything from Rachmaninoff to chopsticks on the keyboards, which were set up in locations from North Hollywood to San Pedro as part of an international effort that has brought pianos to streets in cities throughout the world.

At the end of the program, most of the pianos were packed up and returned indoors. A few groups occasionally put the ivories back outdoors for special occasions. But because of requests from faculty and students, Glendale Community College administrators decided to keep theirs in the middle of an academic quad, come rain or shine.

“It’s great that people became very attached, that they really embraced the concept of it,” said Rachel Fine, the executive director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, which brought the event to Los Angeles. “But you can’t leave an instrument outside.”

Even though college employees built a plywood structure to protect the piano, it gave out this summer. “It was turn-of-the-century old,” said Peter Green, a music professor at the campus.

Green figured that was the end of the experiment until he started getting emails from faculty and students asking for a replacement. “They said that they really missed it,” he said.

So Green and other faculty members found an old, unused piano in the music building, and employees built a new, stronger shed that would shield the instrument and provide a bit more soundproofing.

When second-year music student Israel Lacy first saw the piano, he thought it was for a special class and didn’t touch it. But when he saw other people tapping on the keys, he realized it was open to everyone. “I got pretty excited,” he said.

Lacy began playing between classes, mainly popular pop tunes such as “Ordinary People” by John Legend and Justin Timberlake songs. “I just like to provide a little entertainment for people who are walking,” Lacy said.

Lacy also has used the piano a few times when all the college’s practice rooms are full. He says playing outdoors is more stressful because the tone is different and because he’s suddenly more self-conscious. “Practice is when you’re supposed to learn and make mistakes,” he said.

His practice mistakes remind him not to be judgmental when other, less serious players take a turn, Lacy said.

“At first, it’s a bit frustrating because they’ll play a certain thing wrong and naturally you want to help them out, but everyone’s a musician,” he said.

Green said he’s heard everything from “Heart and Soul” to Franz Liszt on the piano, but he can tell who the good musicians are when they try Beethoven’s “Fur Elise.”

“The first page is really easy and the rest of it is really difficult,” Green said. “If they start slowing down on the second page, I know they’re in trouble. If they keep going, I know they’re fine.”

It’s not clear how long the second piano will last, but Green said the instrument has become a fixture so they would probably replace it, much to the delight of Fine, the chamber orchestra’s president.

“It’s nice to see the spirit of this program lives on,” she said.

jason.song@latimes.com

Twitter: @latjasonsong