paul barton plays beethoven, schumann, and grieg to rescued elephants in thailand

in thailand, british musician and artist paul barton plays classical music to rescue elephants. with a luscious green backdrop, and a river that adds to the composition, the pianist performs passages by beethoven, schumann and grieg. in the videos, barton is seen with mongkol, a bull elephant rescued from captivity that enjoys the tune as she sways her tusk. 

images by paul barton

‘almost all elephants react to music in a visible way. there’s a sudden movement when the music begins. the elephants are free to walk about around the piano, they are not chained or tethered in any way. if they didn’t like the music, then they could simply wander off,’ paul barton told coconuts. ‘some elephants get very close to the piano of their own accord. they might drape their trunk over the piano even. some hold their trunk in their mouth when listening, some start to sway with the rhythm of the music. some younger elephants can get very surprised by the sound and will run suddenly around the piano, curious about it.’

with over 1200 videos and 528K subscribers, make sure you check out paul barton’s youtube channel where he shares more inspiring videos like these, together with piano lessons and art videos documenting his paintings. also, you can support him on patreon here.

project info:

name: playing piano to rescue animals

pianist: paul barton

location: thailand

youtube channel: here

patreon: here