Piano concert at Hinkle Fieldhouse

Description:	Eight hundred twenty five people played 125 grand pianos at Hinkle Fieldhouse on May 3, 1936. Organized by Sigma Alpha Iota, International Music Fraternity, the concerts kicked off the start of National Music Week and featured both an afternoon and an evening performance. The pianists, who were selected from throughout Indiana, played in four groups of 200 people, with two people at each piano, while the remaining 25 people were guest artists of the organization. The piano players ranged in age from nine years old to adults and they played in groups based on their ages. Each age group played duets, while one of the songs featuring high school students, was an arrangement for eight hands. The concerts also featured a combined choir of approximately one hundred people from both Butler University and the Arthur Jordan Conservatory of Music. A May 1, 1936, article in the Indianapolis Times titled Music Spectacle, referred to the upcoming concerts as colossal: the biggest thing of its kind ever attempted! Such superlatives usually are reserved for sports events, circuses, conventions, and such. This time they apply to the spectacle of a 125 grand piano ensemble (p. 20). At the time, it was considered to be the worlds largest piano recital, but the current Guinness World Record is held by the Blüthner Piano Group, who staged a 639 person piano recital on October 6, 2018, in Hengshui, Hebei, China, with each person playing at a separate piano.
Origin:	1936-05-03
Created By:	Bass Photo Company
Source:	http://palni.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/BldgsGrnds/id/964
Collection:	Butler University Buildings and Grounds Collection
Rights:	http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-EDU/1.0/
Copyright:	In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted
Geography:	Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, 39.843607, -86.167299 39.843607 -86.167299
Subjects:	Butler University--Buildings College buildings Field houses Sports facilities Gymnasiums Basketball arenas Piano Pianists Concerts Sigma Alpha Iota Butler University--Choral organizations Arthur Jordan Conservatory of Music--Choral organizations Choirs (Music) Conductors (Music) Bunting (Cloth) Jordan College of Music Jordan College of the Arts Butler University--History Indianapolis (Ind.)--History People Hinkle Fieldhouse Butler Fieldhouse National Music Week Fairview campus

Further information on this record can be found at its source.