Watch What Happens To A Piano Left On The Streets Of New York City

It takes an awful lot to surprise a New Yorker. From weird smells to weird encounters with weird people, New Yorkers are used to the oddities of life, but none of those experiences prepared photographer/ filmmaker Anthony Sherin for a piano in the middle of the sidewalk outside his Washington Heights apartment in Manhattan.

To this day, he has no idea who left it, but completely fascinated, he decided to get out his camera and take pictures of all the people who approached it, played with it and contemplated stealing it. After twenty-four hours, he assembled the photographs into a short film with an accompanying soundtrack, and the result is pretty powerful. It appeared on The New York Times’ website earlier this week, and now, it’s been made available on YouTube. You can take a look at the clip below…

You wouldn’t think watching a piano get destroyed would be so moving, but there’s something really unnerving and upsetting about seeing it ruined. It really makes you wish someone had pulled up in a van earlier and shoved it inside, giving it a second life at a school or a church or even a pawn shop. We’re used to garbage but not when it was once a treasured possession.

Here’s to hoping everyone who stopped and played the piano at least left the scene with a smile on their face and a pleasant memory.

Mack Rawden
Editor In Chief

Mack Rawden is the Editor-In-Chief of CinemaBlend. He first started working at the publication as a writer back in 2007 and has held various jobs at the site in the time since including Managing Editor, Pop Culture Editor and Staff Writer. He now splits his time between working on CinemaBlend’s user experience, helping to plan the site’s editorial direction and writing passionate articles about niche entertainment topics he’s into. He graduated from Indiana University with a degree in English (go Hoosiers!) and has been interviewed and quoted in a variety of publications including Digiday. Enthusiastic about Clue, case-of-the-week mysteries, a great wrestling promo and cookies at Disney World. Less enthusiastic about the pricing structure of cable, loud noises and Tuesdays.