Introducing the Pianometer
Early this year we shot through the landmark figure of 500 pianos donated to the Pianodrome since Tim and Matt started the project in 2017. To recognise the efforts and goodwill of people who have donated pianos to our project and to help visualise the scale of this achievement Georges, Mirra and I have constructed a “Pianometer”.
Using keyboard pin rails to form a grid and felt washers to represent each piano given to us we have created a physical rendering of the scope of how many pianos have flowed into Pianodrome.
Once it was made we weren’t sure which way up it should go. Putting the chart vertically highlights its numerical form; the columns fill up satisfyingly from bottom to top while turning it horizontally makes it read like a narrative; each new washer placed from left to right is another part of the story. We went with the latter, the added benefit being not having to use a small stool to reach the higher pegs.
As of writing, the Pianometer faithfully records that 563 pianos have been donated to the Pianodrome, this is both a very large number for a small organisation such as ours and the tip of the iceberg of pianos floating around the globe. Sadly at present we are unable to take in all the pianos that are offered to us by people in and around Edinburgh. It is an aspiration to service our community as a home for all pianos which are destined for landfill but currently we do not have the capacity both in resource and space to hold and process all the instruments which are past their play by date.
Of the 563 pianos we’ve received, the majority have gone into our sculpture builds. Over 80 have gone into the making of our two Pianodrome auditoriums, recently three more were added as playable pianos to the Old Royal Pianodrome for our Leeds venture in September. A piano cube sculpture requires six pianos, a half cube three, the piano shed currently based at Middle Meadow Walk, Edinburgh took about three pianos to make plus the one playable inside. Squinting at the 20 foot high Elephant in the Room sculpture from a distance I’d say there’s at least five pianos worth of wood up there plus the three harps on the floor. Most recently two uprights and two grands have been turned into planters for Glasgow school of art and so it goes on as we munch our way through the hundreds of pianos before us. We’re immensely grateful to all the people who’ve pulled apart pianos alongside us.
Plenty of pianos in “The Elephant in the Room”
While the bulk of our work has been turning pianos into sculpture, over 200 pianos have also been rehomed. Many of the pianos received have plenty of life left in them and we’re indebted to all those who have entrusted these pianos to our Adopt-a-piano scheme. By taking the time and effort to donate their pianos to us they both keep real pianos in the world and help the Pianodrome stay afloat financially between projects.
Brinsmead 312 taken for a ride
By cross referencing our paperwork we can use the Pianometer to identify key pianos in our journey and remember pianos which are gone but are not forgotten. Washer 312 signifies a wonderful 19th century “Brinsmead” which has an extremely rare sostenuto pedal for an upright piano. Originally adopted by Meagan it came back to us as it couldn’t fit down the stairs leading to her basement flat. Eight months later it was strapped onto the back of a John Deere utility vehicle and taken down through a forest glen to a cabin in the middle of Tir Na Nog wood where it now resides.
A tree stump piano stool completes the picture
Every washer tells story; number 509 represents a sun bleached “Bechstein” grand piano. It was dropped off one day by Gerry at Edinburgh Piano Moves from a deceased music teacher’s house. Joey, Shona and I spent days totally stripping down and repairing this piano, turning a quirky player into a really good instrument for its new home in Leith. Washer 563; a purple painted “Alison” piano is the latest addition to the chart. Picked up by Tim from Besbrode Pianos in Leeds, Joey and I opened it up on Monday to discover a guinea pig nest inside. Despite this and other more run of the mill drawbacks we’re looking to restore it for a comedy club in town. Or simply just washer 356; “Abbey”, a piano with a lovely tone but some erstwhile moth damage which stayed with us in the showroom for a total of 15 months before finally finding its new home. I could go on…
Alison 563, a nice sounding piano despite the obvious
With this chart we now have a living document of all the pianos which pass through the Pianodrome. It has become our piano hall of fame and infamy and we would encourage anyone who has donated or adopted a piano to come and sign a paper washer and place it on their designated peg. This can be done at the Adopt a piano showroom every Saturday 11-3:30.
However, before I get too carried away by this new innovation I have an admission to make. Nobody knows the exact number of pianos donated to the Pianodrome. We only started logging pianos systematically when Adopt a Piano started in January 2023 and used a conservative estimate of 300 pianos donated between 2017-2023 as a safe-to-assume basis. We may actually be gliding through the seven hundreds at this point, history does not record so precisely. This raises questions for us of how do we faithfully keep track of what we’ve done as we dash forward from one adventure to another? If each one of these washers is a moment in our history, how many more have gone past unregarded?
As the reassuring solidity of data has started to fray perhaps it’s better to give in to the randomness of colours rather than seek the pattern. Stepping back I can say ultimately making the Pianometer is an attempt to mark the contribution of our piano donors to the Pianodrome. Each variegated washer on the board is a token of our appreciation to all those who have helped us flourish by donating their instrument to us. The result is a vibrant, growing profusion of colour.
Washer 356 “Abbey”
