Using an array of inventions, the students managed to get 88 people playing the same instrument.
How do you fit 88 pianists on the same piano? With a little patience and a lot of ingenuity.
British schoolchildren have smashed the world record for the highest number of people playing a piano simultaneously by a whopping 67.
Set up as a project by engineers at the University of Cambridge, students were asked to dream up devices that would allow all 88 participants – one for each key – reach the piano.
Dubbed “88 Pianists”, the attempt to beat the existing record of 21 was part of plans to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the death of Renaissance artist and inventor Leonardo Da Vinci.
For the project to work, devices and mechanisms had been dreamed up that would allow some of the pianists stand up to seven metres from the instrument.
Working with engineers from another nine UK universities including Liverpool, Bristol and Sheffield, volunteers sifted through 2,500 ideas to choose 88 inventions to help break the record.
The children – aged between 6 and 14 – performed a specially commissioned piece by composer Martin Riley at the Birmingham International Convention Centre.
When it was all assembled, the final invention looked closer to something you would find in Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory than in an orchestra.
The record was judged by cellist Julian Lloyd Webber, principal of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, who confirmed that all 88 keys were officially played.
Project creator Professor Julian Allwood of the University of Cambridge said: “I’m really captivated by the opportunity that this project has revealed to explore the space for expansive imagination between the creative arts and technology.
“The reaction from the audience was overwhelming.
“To my surprise, the statement I heard most often from what I thought were my hard-headed academic colleagues from around the World, was that they were moved to tears.
“The children’s achievement in designing and delivering 88 Pianists was always joyful but it seems also to have sounded a profoundly emotional chord.”
Professor Lloyd Webber said: “This was a truly fantastic collaboration between engineering and music! The imagination of the children involved was astonishing and has to be seen to be believed.”
He added the project had “yet again proved that music empowers children”.
NEW YORK (AP) — Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has completed a book about her years in public life, from legislation she helped enact to such traumatizing moments as the Jan. 6 siege of the U.S. Capitol and the assault at her San Francisco home that left her husband with a fractured skull.
Simon & Schuster announced Thursday that Pelosi's “The Art of Power” will be released Aug. 6.
“People always ask me how I did what I did in the House,” Pelosi, the first woman to become speaker, said in a statement. “In ‘The Art of Power,’ I reveal how — and more importantly, why.”
Pelosi, 84, was first elected to the House in 1986, rose to minority leader in 2003 and to speaker four years later, when the Democrats became the majority party. She served as speaker from 2007-2011, and again from 2019-2023, and was widely credited with helping to mobilize support for and pass such landmark bills as the Affordable Care Act and the Inflation Reduction Act.
She stepped away from any leadership positions after Republicans retook the majority in the 2022 elections, but she continues to represent California's 11th district.
According to Simon & Schuster, Pelosi also will offer a “personal account” of Jan. 6, 2021, when a mob of President Donald Trump's supporters rampaged through the Capitol as Congress voted to certify Joe Biden's victory over Trump. She also recounts the night in 2022 when an intruder broke into the Pelosi home and assaulted her husband, Paul Pelosi, with a hammer. (Nancy Pelosi was in Washington at the time).
“Pelosi shares that horrifying day and the traumatic aftermath for her and her family,” the publisher's announcement reads in part.
Pelosi's previous book, “Know Your Power: A Message to America’s Daughters,” came out in 2008. In 2022, she was the subject of the HBO documentary “Pelosi in the House," made by daughter Alexandra Pelosi.
This image provided by Simon & Schuster shows the cover of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's new book, "The Art of Power." Simon & Schuster announced Thursday, April, 18, 2024, that Pelosi's book will be released Aug. 6. (Simon & Schuster via AP)
This image provided by Simon & Schuster shows the cover of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's new book, "The Art of Power." Simon & Schuster announced Thursday, April, 18, 2024, that Pelosi's book will be released Aug. 6. (Simon & Schuster via AP)
FILE - Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., talks to The Associated Press on April 19, 2023, at the Capitol in Washington. Pelosi has completed a book about her years in public life, from legislation she helped enact to such traumatizing moments as the Jan. 6, 2021, siege of the U.S. Capitol and the assault at her San Francisco home that left her husband with a fractured skull. Simon & Schuster announced Thursday, April 18, 2024, that Pelosi's “The Art of Power” will be released Aug. 6. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
