If you’ve ever found yourself in Ganges on Salt Spring Island, you may have noticed a unique addition to the downtown square; a community street piano ready for a performance!
Last month, a Salt Spring RCMP officer sat down at that piano and treated the surrounding spectators to a piano solo in the sunny square.
One of those observers, Ron Stasiuk, filmed the show and proceeded to post the clip on Youtube.
The video garnered almost 10,000 views and was also shared to other social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.
The officer, Constable Martin Roznowski, was met with an overwhelmingly positive response from viewers, and has since been addressed by locals as “the piano cop”.
So who is this talented piano player?
Roznowski began playing piano at just six years old. He continued to practice until he was 13, when he quit. For six years after that he did not play.
At 19, he picked up the hobby again, getting right back to where he left off.
“I sit down at a piano and make up a melody on the spot” he says, “[I] never really [have] the piece of music being the same as the last time I sat down.”
Before working as an RCMP officer on Salt Spring Island, Roznowski was posted to Surrey. There, he had his own piano where he could sit and practice.
However, during the move to his new posting on Salt Spring Island, Roznowski unfortunately had to sell his piano.
In the year since his move, Roznowski has been without access to a piano and unable to play. After the year we have had and the stresses of work, Roznowski knew something was missing.
“When I noticed that Salt Spring Island had set up community pianos, I couldn’t help but sit down and play a little,” he said.
He notes the community pianos aren’t in the greatest condition but he was happy to play a little for everyone around.
When asked how he felt about the reaction to the video of his performance, Roznowski says he has received an enormous amount of positive comments and outreach.
“The overall reaction has been incredibly nice to read and experience, especially given the current times with the pandemic and police scrutiny.”
The National Police Federation has since shared the video of Roznowski to their Facebook page of over 120,000 people.
“Since day 1 of becoming a police officer, my goal has been to try to bridge the gap between the public’s perceptions of police and who we truly are” Roznowski says, “I’m glad that I can do that 1 song at a time”.
