Volunteering with the Pianodrome in 2018 gave me an outlet for creativity and playfulness away from the stress of teaching. Pulling pianos apart, installing the Pianodrome and helping run events was escapist, anarchic fun which took me back to my days as a community music tutor and volunteering whilst travelling.

In 2020 I started getting paid work building the sculptures for Leeds piano trail. Next I worked on the build team for the second Pianodrome for Old Royal High and helped get the third Pianodrome over the line in Charlotte, North Carolina. This gave me confidence to start making things with piano parts. To see my favourite thing I’ve made please see this blogpost.

Venue managing at the Old Royal High in 2022 with a great team of volunteers and colleagues was an epic thing to be part of.

I still really enjoy dismantling pianos in our Adapt a Piano workshops and I currently run the Piano adoption showroom where we recondition old pianos destined for the dump and give them to good homes. After pulling old broken pianos apart for several years it feels good to care for the ones which can be saved. In the future I want to continue learning how to fix pianos and transform pianos in new ways.