The Street Pianist - Trailer for episode 1

Have you ever wondered who plays street piano and why?

I have. So I started talking to street pianists, and it turns out they all have fascinating stories to tell.

For instance... Anthony Thomas. He loves to duet, he encourages children to learn on street pianos, and he'll happily accompany any song for all the singers he meets on his travels around street pianos across the country... and even the world.

Coming soon... The Street Pianist.

The full first episode will be published on Sunday 26th May '24, at 10pm.

Anthony can be found @anthony_mufc on instagram, and @luminalflight on Tiktok.

The theme music is a live street piano recording of a duet between Anthony Thomas and Kai Henry.

Transcript

The Street Pianist, Trailer for Episode 1: Interview with Anthony Thomas, Part 1

Clare: Hello and welcome to The Street Pianist, a celebration of all the wonderful musicians who play street piano, even when nobody's listening.

Clare: On my way to the concert I said to my husband, I wonder if we'll see that guy who played Careless Whisper for me outside Forsyth's piano shop. 

Clare: When I looked closely, the guy in the photo was the guy! It was the Careless Whisper guy! 

Clare: His name is Anthony Thomas, and this is his story.

Anthony: One of the biggest parts of what attracts me to it, is audience participation.

Anthony: They'll put a phone in your ear and you'll try and pick the key and figure out the structure, play it for them and then they'll sing along. I've probably never heard the song before but I've heard it in that moment. Play it, and there's a duet in everyone. 

Clare: But it was wonderful the way you interacted with them, and you encouraged them, and you were like, what do you know?

Anthony: So you think, okay, that's a hook into like his interest in this. And if he got, he'll remember that tonight, and he might go to his keyboard and think, I want to bed that in, yeah. So that's just hugely encouraging.

Clare: I could see that for you, the whole thing was a community experience. So you happen to be playing the piano. But it's not like it's your piano. You welcome them in and you want it to be a collaborative experience. 

Anthony: Yeah. 

Anthony: If I'm playing and somebody wants to come and join in, they want to add anything to it, it’s lovely.

Clare: That's my ambition. I want to be able to, duet with strangers ad hoc, just be able to just do it. 

Anthony: I'll do a duet with you in a bit. 

Clare: Okay, we'll give it a go. 

[Clip of Anthony and Clare duetting on the piano]

Clare: Thank you to Anthony Thomas who provided the theme music, and stay tuned to hear more fascinating stories from street musicians.