Out of 2500 designs, 88 mechanical fingers were selected and manufactured, with the help of school children from across the UK.
These fingers were arranged onstage, each attached to one of the 88 piano keys and extending up to 7 metres to allow 88 pianists to play a single piano at one time.
To see them all in action, watch the film of the full performance here
| Title | School | |
|---|---|---|
| #1 The Flying Rabbit |
The lowest note on the piano is played by this brilliant invention from Lydgate Junior School in Sheffield, realised by the children and our team from the University of Sheffield. The original design is something our engineers would truly never have thought of - to shoot a rabbit out of a... |
Lydgate Junior School, Sheffield |
| #2 See Saw |
Created by the children of Great Willbraham School CE Primary School in Cambridgeshire, See Saw shows a moving see saw and a collection of walking sticks! This is a really interesting design which allows the note to be played every 2 seconds with only a 0.1 second delay between pressing... |
Great Willbraham School CE Primary School, Cambridgeshire |
| #3 Flying Football |
Mechanism #3 named the flying football, was invented by the children of Robert Mellors Primary Academy in Nottingham, with assistance from the 88 Pianists team at the University of Nottingham.
... |
Robert Mellors Primary Academy, Nottingham |
| #4 Wire Hat! |
Piano key number 4 will be played by this fantastic invention from Great Wilbraham CE Primary School in Cambridgeshire. A particularly important design feature is the hat, which our team wanted to ensure would be seen onstage and so developed into a much larger hat which would cover the entire... |
Great Willbraham School CE Primary School, Cambridgeshire |
| #5 Bow & Arrow |
Contributed by the children of Cottenham Primary School in Cambridge, 'Bow & Arrow' was selected to play note number 5. It shows a bow & arrow connected to the piano by a zip wire along which the arrows are fired.
... |
Cottenham Primary School, Cambridge |
| #6 Cog and Hammer |
Scott’s design for this mechanism is very well thought-through: he’s shown a detailed support frame, describes the gears carefully, has a clear idea for the paddle for the player and the hammer at the keys, and even shows a lovely flower on the piano! When we thought about making the design... |
Great Willbraham School CE Primary School, Cambridgeshire |
| #7 Flying Superhero |
Created at Cottenham Primary School in Cambridge, this design was given to us without a name. We decided that 'Flying Superhero' was the best title for this wonderfully imaginative design, which shows our caped hero flying along a guidewire to press the piano key. We perfected the... |
Cottenham Primary School, Cambridge |
| #8 The Hydraulic Key Pressuriser |
Invented and realised at Bourneville Junior School in Birmingham, this invention uses a syringe to push water along a pressurised pipe to press the piano note. Oliver’s design shows the piano played by a pair of syringes connected by a hose. This was one of the ideas we explored with the... |
Bourneville Junior School, Birmingham |
| #9 Hot Wheels |
Hot Wheels was a popular choice at Hillcrest Primary School in Norfolk, so this mechanism was actually based on two designs, both of which required a 'Hot Wheels' car to be sent around a track towards the piano.
|
Hillcrest Primary School, Norfolk |
| #10 The Flusher Pusher |
This toilet-based design probably needs no further explanation - but just in case - here is the design from Statton Drew School in Bristol! The pianist presses the flush button which makes the water level rise, sending a ball down a tube and onto the piano key. Brilliant! The pianist... |
Stanton Drew, Bristol |
| #11 The Key Player / Balloon and Balls |
Key number 11 is played by this fantastic design from Hatfield Heath school, in which a balloon filled with balls is popped with a pin, sending the balls to the piano. The children at Hatfield Heath School really understood the project and a brilliant first design session was experienced... |
Hatfield Heath, Essex |
| #12 Car Down Tube |
Another entry from Bourneville School in Birmingham, this design shows a rather cleverly invented car with a weight on the front. Johana’s design shows a car with a special beater, a bit like a digger used to make roads. The car runs across a bridge and along a track to play the note. When we... |
Bourneville Junior School, Birmingham |
| #13 Spoon-O-Matic |
This was defintely one of the most colourful designs we received! Amelia provided a colourful and imaginative design involving a ladder, a spoon, a box and magnetism. We eliminated some elements such as the ladder for safety reasons and for space economy, but we kept the most critical... |
Cookham Dean |
| #14 Banana Gun |
What classical piano concert would be complete without a banana-firing gun? The children of Cottenham Primary School in Cambridgeshire certainly think so! They invented this fantastic machine in which an initial force from a 'Smart Bot' causes a banana to shoot at piano key number 13. ... |
Cottenham Primary School, Cambridge |
| #15 Stretchelator |
Niamh’s design shows a beautifully decorated hand mounted on jack scissors. These are the set of connected levers that you sometimes see on cork-screws or on lifting platforms used by builders and decorators. We wanted the hand to move the whole distance from the player to the keyboard – because... |
Abbey Junior School |
| #16 Falling Finger |
In this invention from Abbey Junior, Funkie Fred stops playing his saxophone in order to pull the trigger string, resulting in the blade chopping off the finger which lands on the piano! This was supported by the University of Cambridge. Ronan’s design is very dramatic, but a bit... |
Abbey Junior School |
| #17 Pizza Racket |
"A boy who eats a pepperoni pizza causes a door to open and then his younger brother hits a ball with his racket..." Rookery School present the brilliantly imaginative 'Pizza Racket'! Next step - how are we going to build it? Ethan’s brilliant idea is both a design and a story. ... |
Rookery School |
| #18 Air Pump |
Mechanism #18, named the “pump”, was invented by the children of Robert Mellors Primary Academy in Nottingham, with assistance from the 88 Pianists team at the University of Nottingham. The note that this would play had to be carefully chosen because it has a long delay and cannot be... |
Robert Mellors Primary Academy, Nottingham |
| #19 Press The Button / Sea Snake |
Finger number 19 is a collaboration between Bourneville Primary School in Birmingham and Hillcrest Primary School in Norfolk with support from engineers at the University of Cambridge. Darcy’s design clearly shows how pressing a button causes a wheel to rotate and a lever to lift and play... |
Bourneville Junior School, Birmingham, Hillcrest Primary School, Norfolk |
| #20 The Puller |
A very technical design, key number 20 is played by this creation from Hatfield Heath School.
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Hatfield Heath, Essex |
| #21 Watt Bolt NW39 |
Holy Trinty CE Primary School invented this mechanism. Oksa’s design is based around a giant door. Oksa’s also shown a zipwire with a stick that flies down towards the keys. However, we have other designs with things sliding along wires, but no other giant doors, so we decided to focus on that... |
Holy Trinty CE |
| #22 Metal Hand |
Mechanism #22, named the “metal hand”, was invented by the children of Robert Mellors Primary Academy in Nottingham, with assistance from the 88 Pianists team at the University of Nottingham. This striking design of a large metal hand was chosen to play note 22. We wanted to make it pivot... |
Robert Mellors Primary Academy, Nottingham |
| #23 The Cat-O-Matic 3000 |
The Cat-o-matic 3000 invites the pianist to pull on a handle which makes the cat's tail press on the piano key! We loved the artistic representation of the cat.
|
Mayfield Primary School Cambridge |
| #24 Rocket Launcher |
The children of Mayfield School in Cambridge present... Rocket Launcher! |
Mayfield Primary School Cambridge |
| #25 Ping Pong Balls |
Another fantastic design from Mayfield School, Ping Pong Balls plays the note by sending the balls along the string and onto the piano.
... |
Mayfield Primary School Cambridge |
| #26 The Metal Cog Thingie |
'Metal Cog Thingie' is finger number 26. It shows a series of cogs joined together to touch the piano. It was one of many brilliant submissions from Brockwell Junior School who were visited by our brilliant engineering team from the AMRC in Sheffield. ... |
Brockwell Junior School |
| #27 Guinea Pig Run |
Guilden Morden Primary School have come up with a great design for a mechanical finger, involving a guinea pig - and we were hugely relieved to see that they had considered the ethical implications of their invention with their official statement 'This is ethical!'
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Guilden Morden School |
| #28 The Mechanical See Saw Beanstalk |
Another collaboration, this time between Pleasant Street Primary School and St Joseph's, the two designs show a see saw mechanism and a very artistic representation of a beanstalk with a troll!
... |
Pleasant Street and St Joseph's |
| #29 A Leap of Faith |
The beautifully named 'A Leap of Faith' is a lovely design from Grove Primary School in Towbridge, showing a dog leaping afte bone in order to trigger the piano note.
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Grove Primary School, Towbridge |
| #30 Magnificent Mermaid Mechanism |
Finger number 30 from St Joseph's Catholic Primary School is a very clever design which uses a complex conveyor system to press the piano key using a weight, combined with a lovely mermaid design from Pleasant St Primary School. ... |
Pleasant Street and St Joseph's |
| #31 Rainbow Unicorn Cat Spaghetti Meatball See Saw |
One of our favourite mechanism titles! This finger comprises two designs which fitted together very well, and were selected from designs at St Joseph's and Abbey Junior School.
... |
St Josephs and Abbey Junior |
| #32 Rock and Roll |
The children of Houldsworth Valley School in Suffolk came up with the design for finger number 32, which uses a rock covered in bubble wrap!
... |
Houldsworth Valley, Suffolk |
| #33 The Mole |
Cottenham School in Cambridge invented this mechanical finger in which a mole pops his head out of his hole to tap the piano note. Quite a challenge for our engineers!
... |
Cottenham Primary School, Cambridge |
| #34 The Pop Hop |
"You are the best visitors that ever came to our school. I really wish it is going to be invented in real life." Well, it is, Houldsworth Valley School! We absolutely love this design involving strings and hammers.
... |
Houldsworth Valley, Suffolk |
| #35 Pivot Play |
There are some natural engineers at St Joseph's school, and they came up with this clever design called 'Pivot Play' in which the player pushes down on the arm which then pivots around in the centre to tap the key.
... |
St Joseph's School |
| #36 Santa |
Elephants, marbles, tennis rackets, Santa... a wonderful design from Lydgate School in Sheffield! Just an average day in the office for our Sheffield engineering team!
... |
Lydgate Junior School, Sheffield |
| #37 The Crow |
The Crow is the creation of the children of Woodthorpe Community Primary School in Sheffield. A really clever design, this involves a carefully arranged collection of wires. |
Woodthorpe Community Primary School |
| #38 Extendable Arm |
Taking the brief very literally, the children of Hullavington School invented the 'Extendable Arm', which shows a lever activated arm pressing piano key number 38.
... |
Hullavington Primary School |
| #39 Rhino Eat Apple |
'Rhino Eat Apple', or 'The Amazing Piano Player' is an invention from Arbury Primary School in Cambridge. It shows a very enthusiastic rhino which want to eat the apple near the piano and then plays the piano key with its horn! |
Arbury Primary School, Cambridge |
| #40 Bike Conveyor |
Another fantastic collaborative design, finger number 40 is a combination of two submissions from Place Farm School in Suffolk. Both designs show a conveyor system triggering the key and one combines this with a bicycle. A bicycle is a treasure trove of engineering techniques so we were... |
Place Farm, Suffolk |
| #41 Hanzos Swirl Attacker 3.0 |
This designer thought very carefully about how frequently this would be able to play the note - and saved our engineers a job! A conplex combination of swirling mechanisms and pedals, this is a fantastic invention from Rookery School. ... |
Rookery School |
| #42 Peculiar Pencil |
Dennis’ design shows a stone on a rope moving around a pulley to play the note. We liked this idea for the mechanism, but thought it needed some more decoration, so combined it with Tariq’s terrific picture of the “Peculiar Pencil”. We’ve made the pencil with three pieces of plywood, hinged... |
Pleasant Street and Cherry Hinton |
| #43 The Puppy Poppy |
A very clever piece of engineering design, this uses magnets repelling each other to drive a puppy to press the piano key - and the invention is, naturally, held up by unicorn legs. Well done Arbury School in Cambridge! |
Arbury Primary School, Cambridge |
| #44 Giant Hamster Wheel |
Giant Hamster Wheel is the creation of Stanton Drew Primary School and is used to play key number 44.
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Stanton Drew, Bristol |
| #45 Chainsaw |
The concept of 'Fear' manifests as a large green triangle in this inspirational design from Pleasant Street Primary School which is playing piano key number 45.
... |
Pleasant Street Primary School |
| #46 I Can't Think of a Name 2000 (Bicycle) |
Hallam Primary School in Sheffield take the credit for this invention which includes a 'secret weapon'!
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Hallam Primary School, Sheffield |
| #47 Flower Train Hits That |
A combination of two designs from Cherry Hinton School, this invention is able to hit the key frequently and with a one second delay. Gabrielle’s picture is packed full of ideas, but we especially liked the flower train. We’ve made this work by creating a very narrow conveyor belt, to... |
Cherry Hinton School |
| #48 The Rolling Balls |
In finger number 48 from Arbury Primary School, a windmill turns and hits some balls, causing them to roll onto the piano. Brilliant! |
Arbury Primary School, Cambridge |
| #49 The Wheel Machine |
The Wheel Machine uses a wheel and a chain to send a number of fingers repeatedly onto the piano key. Very clever engineering, Warboys Community Primary School! Sam’s idea for playing a key is very funny: if people play the piano using their fingers then a mechanism should also have a set... |
Warboys Community Primary School, Cambridgeshire |
| #50 Hands on Air |
Aaliyah’s idea is a little like Sam’s idea in mechanism 49, except that where Sam has the piano played by individual fingers, Aaliyah uses whole hands! This is a fantastic design from Rookery School. The player has a bucket of plastic hands to place on one end of a conveyor belt, and as... |
Rookery School |
| #51 Bicycle |
Well done to St Josephs School for this brilliant bicycle design! |
St Joseph's School |
| #52 The Lobster Cook |
A very imaginitive design, number 52 requires a lobster to travel down a tube in order to play the piano with its claw! |
Hillcrest Primary School, Norfolk |
| #53 Punch Tube |
Abbey Junior School invented this brilliant mechanism called 'punch tube - which does exactly what it says on the tin! Angelica’s design shows the player, Greg, sending a marble along a tube to release a plastic doll (a boxer) which lands on the right key. When we went back to Abbey... |
|
| #54 Rock Star Hockey |
Invention number 54 from Mayfield School in Cambridge is a brilliantly simple idea consisting of a hockey stick hitting the key.
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Abbey Junior School |
| #55 The Invention |
Hallam Primary School in Sheffield invented the enigmatically titled 'The Invention'. Rather unexpectedly, this invention requires a packet of pancakes to be placed in the crucial position on the seesaw and then a water bottle falls onto the piano when the box and the pancakes are lifted. Very... |
Hallam Primary School, Sheffield |
| #56 Wonderful Windmill |
Wonderful Windmill is a brilliant design which the wind would blow the mill around and that would hit the key. This design was slightly adapted due to the unpredictable nature of the wind blowing!
... |
Cottenham Primary School, Cambridge |
| #57 The Chimer |
Bourneville School invented 'The Chimer' for key number 57, which plays the note using strings and wheels. Louie’s design reminds us of the kit we used when we first visited the schools before Christmas. The kit contained some wooden boards with holes, some nuts and bolts, levers, string... |
Bourneville Junior School, Birmingham |
| #58 Shark Cannon |
Shark Cannon is a brilliant piece of design work from Queen Emma School in Cambridge. It requires that some fish be left as bait on the piano key, and then Kevin and Larry the sharks will be shot from cannons onto the keys, playing the notes as they eat the fish! ... |
Queen Emma Primary School, Cambridge |
| #59 The Bike Wacker | Hillcrest Primary School, Norfolk | |
| #60 Horse String |
If the name didn't give it away, a horse is the trigger of finger 60, created by the inventive children of Rookery School. Sara-Rebecca’s drawing shows the player pulling a horse’s tail (we decided not to use a real horse, so as not to hurt it!). The horse slides backwards, and through a... |
Rookery School |
| #61 Ding Dropper |
Mechanism #61, named the “ding dropper”, was invented by the children of Lawn Primary School in Derby, with assistance from the 88 Pianists team at the University of Nottingham. A great and vibrant design from Lawn Primary school. Inspiration was taken from the rainbows, bright colours... |
Lawn Primary School, Derby |
| #62 Axle Power |
Beginning this invention with a list of ingredients including a chair, sellotpe and pedals, this ingenius design connects the seated pianist to the piano and allows them to play using the pedals. We were really impressed by Imad’s design. It was unusual to think of a solution where the... |
Heathfield Primary School |
| #63 Washing Line |
An ingenious idea for a clothes washing line as a mechanism from Lawn Primary school. We created a sliding pole for a washing line with an 88 pianist t-shirt hanging from it to complete the design. The main challenge was creating a washing line pole which was stable enough to play the... |
Lawn Primary School, Derby |
| #64 Ultra Awesome Toothbrush |
This invention from Queen Emma School in Cambridge uses a windmill to push a giant toothbrush onto the piano!
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Queen Emma Primary School, Cambridge |
| #65 Box Lever |
The children of Shirley Junior School in Southampton invented this mechanism which uses a large lever to pull a string and trigger the piano key.
... |
Shirley Junior School Southampton |
| #66 Chicken Reindeer Penguin Banana Nugget |
One of our longer titles, this invention is brilliantly creative and a lot of fun! It describes a reindeer pushing a chicken bugget along a piece of string whilst skating on an ice floor with a banana and a penguin. Although this imaginitive inventor is clear that a human player is not required... |
Hallam Primary School, Sheffield |
| #67 Nuts and Bolts | Brockwell Junior School | |
| #68 TNT | Brockwell Junior School | |
| #69 The Giraffe and the Car |
Two designs from Guilden Morden School used a giraffe as the central feature, so we combined them into finger number 69!
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Guilden Morden School |
| #70 The Monkey Machine |
Greenside Primary School in Pudsey, West Yorkshire, delighted our engineers with this invention - 'The Monkey Machine'! Thankfully the imaginitive designer allowed us to build a mechanical monkey in the absence of a real monkey... It's design is simple - the monkey is held on two pieces... |
Greenside Primary School, Pudsey |
| #71 The Fantabulous Rainbow-Pooping Unicorn |
"The player pulls on the unicorn horn which is the lever. The tail lifts using the hinge and a colourful, glittery, selfiestick-like extendable rainbow reaches out". Such amazing imagination from Pleasant Street Primary School! ... |
Pleasant Street Primary School |
| #72 Fishing Key |
This invention from Cottenham Primary School is highly detailed and mechanically very clever! A small metal screw travels along a fishing rod and down a metal tube onto the piano key. |
Cottenham Primary School, Cambridge |
| #73 Piano Puller |
A simple, but nonetheless impressively effective design, Piano Puller plays key 73 and is the invention of the children of Warboys Primary School.
... |
Warboys Community Primary School, Cambridgeshire |
| #74 How To Play a Piano Without Touching It |
Another fantastic design from Warboys Community Primary School! |
Warboys Community Primary School, Cambridgeshire |
| #75 Let It Shine Primary tabs View(active tab) Edit Manage display |
A lever at the back of a rainbow tree takes two seconds to press the piano key in this beautiful design from Greenside Primary School in Pudsey. |
Greenside Primary School, Pudsey |
| #76 The Mechanical Gymnast |
Another fantastic design from Pleasant Street Primary School, The Mechnical Gymnast plays key 76.
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Pleasant Street Primary School |
| #77 The Fall of the Domino Wall! |
What a clever idea! A domino rally is knocked at one end by the pianist and hits the key at the other end.
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Stanton Drew, Bristol |
| #78 Water Whirler! | Woodthorpe Community Primary School | |
| #79 The Piano Express |
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Trinity Church School |
| #80 The Dorito Cannon |
... |
Queen Emma Primary School, Cambridge |
| #81 Rollercoaster Ride | Cottenham Primary School, Cambridge | |
| #82 Marble Key |
In Rumaisa’s design, a marble runs along a tube to play the piano, then returns along a second tube to the player. Rumaisa suggested having running water in the tube to make the marble run faster, but when we returned to Heathfield Primary School to think about the details of the design, we... |
Heathfield Primary School |
| #83 Stairs |
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Houldsworth Valley, Suffolk |
| #84 Hex Bug | Woodthorpe Community Primary School | |
| #85 Playing Machine |
... |
Pleasant Street Primary School |
| #86 Giant Engineer Kit |
Mechanism #86, named the “big version of kit”, was invented by the children of Edna G Olds Academy in Nottingham, with assistance from the 88 Pianists team at the University of Nottingham. The simple and elegant mechanism of a large lever mechanism from Edna G Olds Academy was excellent.... |
Edna G Olds Academy |
| #87 The Triple Wrecking Ball | Place Farm, Suffolk | |
| #88 Newton's Hit! | Mayfield Primary School Cambridge | |
| Sustain Pedal - The Tubalicious Invention |
When all the engineers and musicians who had visited schools before Christmas came together to select the 88 designs to use in the performance, Martin asked us a surprising question: how would we play the pedal on the piano? We’d forgotten to think about this, and started to worry that we would... |
Abbey Junior School |
