Your best stories from ten years of “Piano en gare”

• Ten years ago, the SNCF installed self-service pianos in several French stations.

  Today there are about sixty.

• "When someone plays, it takes away the worries, it calms the aggressiveness," rejoices Louisa, who responded to the call for testimonies from

  20 Minutes

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• The initiative also allowed talents to be deployed.

  "I started the piano at 14, I have fond memories of the times I spent in train stations playing or listening when I had free time after high school," Madi tells us.

The very first was installed in 2012, Gare Montparnasse in Paris.

We thought the piano was reserved for conservatories and theaters and we would not have imagined finding it in a place where hurried travelers and disoriented pigeons mingle.

And yet, "Piano at the station" has been part of our landscape for ten years.

Today there are about sixty instruments throughout France, from Aix-en-Provence to Le Havre, via Lyon or Mulhouse and it is not about to stop there: the SNCF intends to put some in places about forty others in the coming years.

The operation revealed talents (thank you smartphones and social networks!), was able to arouse vocations via various competitions and even inspired the cinema - released in 2018,

, with Lambert Wilson at the top of the bill , told the story seen and reviewed of a talent from the suburbs coached to shine in classic institutions.

However, the device has not only made people happy: these self-service pianos have often been victims of acts of vandalism or damage.

Are you a fan or a hater?

According to the vast majority of messages we received following our call for testimonials, you belong to the first category.

“It's an excellent initiative, judge Olivier.

I had the pleasure of listening to the

soundtrack played by a traveler one day in Saint-Lazare [in Paris]… A treat!

".

For some, like Elodie, it's an opportunity to familiarize the little ones with music: "We regularly go to Lille Flandres station on weekends with my 2-year-old son just to come and listen to the pianists... It's always wonderful to see him surprised and delighted!

»

For others, it's a way to make waiting at the station more bearable.

“It allows you to escape, which is good when you're waiting for a train!

Applauds Elisabeth.

"When someone plays, it takes away the worries, it calms the aggressiveness, I find it positive that we can play in a public place", rejoices Louisa, who remembers several moving pieces: "A child was trying to play, and he was supported by a young girl who was a little more expert.

It was a very beautiful moment”.

The initiative creates a bond between passengers.

A device that creates vocations

We also received testimonials from those who play in train stations.

Mattias describes himself as "one of the most faithful pianists in the stations", and explains that these pianos are part of his history.

“I wasn't lucky enough to have a real piano at home and by dint of coming to Saint-Lazare every day, my level has improved a lot!

I gained notoriety, I made friends over the years.

I also found love there at one time in my life…”, he confides.

Between the thanks of the passengers who lived "a luminous moment" or who missed their train, it is with emotion that he confides his gratitude to us for an initiative "which brings people together and brings a smile".

The pianos in stations gave the taste of music to Madi, 20 years old.

"I started the piano at 14, I have fond memories of the times I spent in train stations playing or listening when I had free time after high school," he tells us.

He and his comrades had set themselves the challenge of finding the best piano in the Parisian stations, from Saint-Lazare to Austerlitz.

Verdict: according to them, it was Gare du Nord.

“The grand piano in the entrance hall to the Eurostar lines!

The security guards who checked us in front of the escalator had got used to coming to see us play, ”he slips.

In this station, four instruments were made available for a time.

Some have since disappeared, dilapidated or damaged.

“I have not returned to play in a station since the Covid, absorbed by studies,

the lack of time, the distance…”, laments Madi.

Maybe one day he will come across a piano on the way to a train to catch and take the opportunity to celebrate this reunion.

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• Gare Saint-Lazare

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