Music on main
Published 12:42 pm Friday, May 24, 2019
- Ashley Thompson pauses after playing on the piano located by the Farmville Town Office on North Main Street. There are two pianos on Main Street, with the second being located at the High Bridge Trail State Park Plaza caboose. (Photo by Emily Hollingsworth)
Two pianos along downtown Farmville are available free for the playing, thanks to the Longwood Center for Community Music.
Longwood Center for Community Music Director Kristen Topham said the pianos are from the organization.
One piano is located to the left of the Farmville Town Office, at the former site of the Farmville Area Chamber of Commerce.
The other piano is located at the High Bridge Trail State Park Plaza caboose.
The creative designs on the pianos come from community members, who painted the pianos at the Heart of Virginia Festival as part of a fundraising effort the Longwood Center for Community Music hosted earlier this year, Topham said.
The idea to paint the pianos came from a recital the center hosted in which students were encouraged to look at artwork at the Longwod Center for the Visual Arts (LCVA), and then create music inspired by the art.
“We started raising money for scholarships and the pianos,” Topham said.
Scholarships funds raised during the Heart of Virginia Festival support music lessons for children in the fall, Topham said. The Longwood Center for Community Music offers piano and voice lessons, in addition to hosting a ukulele jam group.
To learn more about the organization, visit www.longwood.edu/music/lccm/ or call (434) 395-2503.
