MUSICIANS young and old, budding and seasoned, are being invited to play Sale’s Pop Up Piano this Saturday.

The initiative allows members of the public to learn, practise and perform the piano, free of charge.

Facilitator and caretaker of the piano, David Harrington, started the initiative in 2013 after travelling overseas with his wife and seeing a number of street pianos.

“We saw a lot of them in different places in Europe and we just thought, ‘Oh, be terrific to have something like that in Sale’,” Mr Harrington said.

After putting out a public plea for such an initiative, Mr Harrington was contracted by the Schipalius family, who offered to sell their heirloom piano.

“They had a piano sitting in the garage, which had been a family piano forever, but none of the family was using it, so they were prepared to sell it to me,” he explained.

Since 2013, the Pop Up Piano has appeared on Saturdays underneath the Sale Clocktower for anybody to freely play.

Where its appearance was once a regular occurrence, in recent times the instrument has found itself in competition with buskers – part of a promotion run by the Sale Business & Tourism Association to promote local musicians.

With no buskers scheduled for this Saturday, December 3, the piano has been given the green light to emerge again.

Performances on the piano tend to vary in tone and quality, and are often a mystery to its caretaker.

“I get it out, but I don’t stay with it – it’s not my intention to stay with it all day,” Mr Harrington said.

“So what happens to it, and who plays it, I really don’t know unless people tell me… But it’s always well looked-after – there’s never been damage to it.”

Yet he does recall one pianist whose abilities stand-out above all others.

One Saturday afternoon, just as he was preparing to pack the piano away, Mr Harrington witnessed a man making his way along the pedestrian mall.

“He had a supermarket trolley with a sleeping bag in it, and he just looked… down-and-out, just homeless – I would say homeless,” Mr Harrington said.

“I had the impression he was making his way towards the piano… and I just sat underneath the clocktower, thinking that he’d perhaps have a look and move on.

“But he didn’t – he stopped, parked his supermarket trolley, he sat down and played classical stuff for over half an hour. He was just brilliant.”

The Pop Up Piano will appear this Saturday from about 10.30am to 2pm near the Sale Clocktower, weather permitting.

Mr Harrington encourages anybody wishing to play the piano to contact him before Saturday to organise a schedule. “I can discuss with them who’s going to play, what they might like to play, how long they’d like to play for.”

He can be contacted on 0408 038 155.