Celebration takes note of drop deadline
Source: Agencies |
April 28, 2012, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
IT'S one of the annual highlights at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States, but it only lasts a few seconds.
Residents of an MIT dorm dropped an upright piano from their roof on Thursday to celebrate the last day students can drop classes without having them appear on their college transcript.
About 200 onlookers watched as the piano crashed into a second piano, a baby grand, positioned on the ground six stories below. People scrambled for souvenir pieces - keys, hammers, strings and splinters.
The tradition began in 1972 at the Baker House dormitory and was observed sporadically until 2006, when it became an annual event, said Michael Plasmeier, who heads the dorm's student government that organized the ritual.
The tradition is a simple affair.
"There is just a countdown and the piano falls off the roof," Plasmeier said.
Broken pianos are used in the drop, generally donated by people eager to get someone to pick up the unwanted instrument for free. Other items may be placed below, such as the second piano this year.
Residents of an MIT dorm dropped an upright piano from their roof on Thursday to celebrate the last day students can drop classes without having them appear on their college transcript.
About 200 onlookers watched as the piano crashed into a second piano, a baby grand, positioned on the ground six stories below. People scrambled for souvenir pieces - keys, hammers, strings and splinters.
The tradition began in 1972 at the Baker House dormitory and was observed sporadically until 2006, when it became an annual event, said Michael Plasmeier, who heads the dorm's student government that organized the ritual.
The tradition is a simple affair.
"There is just a countdown and the piano falls off the roof," Plasmeier said.
Broken pianos are used in the drop, generally donated by people eager to get someone to pick up the unwanted instrument for free. Other items may be placed below, such as the second piano this year.
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