I ran across this video on one of my New York Times alerts, and it struck a note (all punning intended). The video shows how life can be dramatic all on its own, and how there are stories in so many moments if we only stop to capture them. Not all stories have a happy ending, but the journey can still have value.

Basically, Anthony Sherin, a filmmaker, noticed a piano abandoned on the street outside his window. He started recording what happened as people walked by, out of curiosity, I suppose. Only once the day had completed did he discover it wasn’t a series of random events, but a full-fledged tale with a beginning, several high points, and an end.

This speaks to me on several levels.

I’m a firm believer in observation. I think the more we know and understand about our world and the lives that populate it, the better able we are of interacting with life successfully, and interacting in a positive way. Life itself is a series of intertwined stories, many of them teaching tales. What this tale has to teach is complicated, and not all hearts and flowers, but worth listening.

Note how people couldn’t just pass the piano by. How some knew what they were doing while others just wanted to make music.

Music is all around us and yet there’s a lack, in my opinion, of understanding toward music. Many seem to think it’s a realm of professionals rather than a natural instinct. Social rules frown on singing or humming in public, with the rare exception for the person who has some undefinable talent to make their music appealing to most of the ears in reach, though even talent can’t gain permission in most workplaces, elevators, or anywhere that is close quartered. And yet, poorly dubbed Mazak is allowed to batter our ears especially in those confined places, despite endless mockery.

These random strangers were compelled to make music, compelled to bring sound from this discarded piano regardless of the fact that it was likely poorly tuned. The music, whether beating fingers against a wood desk, whistling, or plucking keys whenever you pass a piano, is a part of us. It informs everything we do, everything we hear. So why then is exploring this aspect of being human considered a hobby, a waste of public money, or just something for the select few?

Then there were those who considered rescuing the piano, contemplated and even attempted shifting it. But each one gave up and left (though it’s not clear how many would have returned with the equipment to move it properly). This speaks of stunted desires, whether stunted by our own habits of second guessing and questioning the value of what we want to do, or stunted by the acts of others which prevented any rescue. Is the burden of taking a chance so high that it’s worth more to suppress ourselves?

And finally, the question of motivation comes to those who chose to act. What drove them, and was it an act of recycling or reclamation, or just one of destruction as it appears?

These questions are what makes this particular silent movie so compelling to me. It has characters moving through the scene, each with interests, desires, and responsibilities that draw them away again. It has questions as to motivations that will never be answered beyond supposition. And it has implications grander than the specific events depicted here, pointing to the need for putting music, and the making of same, in a higher place in society.

Clearly there is interest, and the benefits of almost any form of making music, whether through an external instrument or our vocal chords, have been shown time and again. Seeing something like this makes criticism of music budgets and a focus on competitive learning rather than giving a base structure to everyone more relevant somehow.

So, what did you see in the story unfolding in this video? What story or life questions did it raise for you? Have you seen spontaneous teaching tales come to life before?