Most travellers try to pack lighter. Dotan Negrin went the other way: in 2010 the young New Yorker spent his savings on a box truck and an upright piano, and set off to play on streets, beaches and mountaintops. He called the project Piano Around the World, and over the following years it took him across North America, through Central America and into Europe, with his small dog Brando along for much of the ride.

Upright piano beside a red vehicle on a forest road
Negrin’s upright piano on the road. Photo: Dotan Negrin.

From the New York stage to a street piano

Before the piano, Negrin was struggling to make a living as a stage actor in New York and worked as an art mover. CBS New York reported in 2012 that he turned to street performing and soon found that people stopped to listen. The project began in July 2010, when he put his savings, about $10,000 according to the Village Voice, into a GMC box truck, an upright piano and gear.

His first test was a one-month tour of the American Northeast and Canada. He left with two dollars and a single gallon of gas, played on the streets of about 11 cities and came home with $2,400. It was the first time, he said, that he realised he could make a living playing piano. “This has brought me so much happiness in my life. It’s changed my life,” he told CBS 2.

Dotan Negrin playing a piano in a public square
Dotan Negrin playing in a public square. Photo: Dotan Negrin.

Piano Across America: 53 cities and eight national parks

By October 2012 Negrin had driven about 19,000 miles and played in 53 cities, three of them in Canada. A Matador Network interview in January 2013 added eight national parks to the tally. Among his favourite stops were Athens in Georgia, New Orleans, Boulder in Colorado and Glacier National Park, and he named New Mexico as his favourite state. He played on a cliff overlooking Yellowstone and inside a California redwood, and Union Square in Manhattan was a regular home spot.

The piano itself is a serious load. Reports put it at 400 to 500 pounds, and on one CBS News shoot he pushed it through the wilderness of Catskill Park in New York State. A fall that broke two of his fingers early on gave him the forced break he used to plan his first cross-country trip. Later he swapped the box truck for a van fitted with a loading ramp.

Piano Around the World on tour, photo 3 – photograph by Dotan Negrin
Photo: Dotan Negrin / Piano Around the World.

New York to Panama and Piano Around the World

In early 2013 Negrin announced his next plan: a 10,000-mile drive from Manhattan to Panama with a cameraman, meeting local musicians in each city. He raised money on Kickstarter for the film crew and pitched the idea as a travel show built around music. “I’m a guy who plays piano on the streets with a dog, what the hell am I doing?!” he joked to the Village Voice. Brando, a Jack Russell and chihuahua mix, went along too.

The journey grew into Piano Around the World. Good News Network later reported that he had played in hundreds of locations in 21 countries, from Florida beaches and a mountaintop in Guatemala’s rainforest to the Brooklyn Bridge, the Eiffel Tower and the rim of the Grand Canyon. Tips and donations paid for the tour, and he admitted to CBS News that he had “barely broken even”. His reason was simple: he wanted to wake up every morning “excited to see what would happen next”.

Piano Around the World on tour, photo 4 – photograph by Dotan Negrin
Photo: Dotan Negrin / Piano Around the World.
Piano Around the World on tour, photo 5 – photograph by Dotan Negrin
Photo: Dotan Negrin / Piano Around the World.

Follow the project

Negrin’s Piano Around the World channel collects his performances and travel videos, and his project account on Instagram shows where the piano has been. CBS Sunday Morning also featured the project.

His story is a good reminder that a creative project can give a whole trip its shape. Ours can be smaller: a sketch a day, a song learned in each country or a few seconds of video, like the couple in our travel diary guide. For another long road story, meet The Rolling Home project, a couple who spent years living in a van in Europe.

Sources