WARPS

World Association for Ruined Piano Studies

Formed in 1991 by Stephen Scott (of Bowed Piano celebrity, and professor of music at Colorado Collage) and Ross Bolleter. The organisation has world-wide membership, has never held an AGM, and tends to move into action only from whim or from a rush of blood. WARPS has devoted energy to giving old pianos a good home, which can certainly mean adequate sunshine and rain, as in.......
WARPS PIANO PATHOLOGY
Inactive, neglected, abandoned, weathered, decaying, ruined, devastated, dismembered, decomposed .......

A piano is said to be ruined (rather than neglected or devastated) when it has been abandoned to all weathers, say on a sheep station or tennis court, with the result that few or none of its notes sound like that of an even-tempered uptight piano.
A Ruined Piano has its frame and bodywork more or less intact (even though the soundboard is cracked wide open, with the blue sky shining through) so that it can be played in the ordinary way.
By contrast a Devastated Piano is usually played in a crouched or lying position.

 

LATEST NEWS...

Ten Days, in conjunction with Tasmanian Regional Arts, are on a quest to find the ruined pianos of Tasmania. Once identified, Ross will explore them in a series of regional performances aptly titled, Ruined. But remember, 'ruined' means really ruined (see Ross' Taxonomy of Ruin). The ruined pianos of Tasmania will be installed in the Bond Store at the Tasmanian Museum & Art Gallery. Ross will demonstrate his radical brand of instant composing on the pianos and will run a series of workshops on playing pianos as found objects. In a unique take on the social history of music in Tasmania, the installation will also feature stories of the pianos' former lives.

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