Piano in IMU Starbucks reflects commitment to arts

Late afternoon light fell across the Baldwin piano’s white lid in the back corner of the Indiana Memorial Union Gallery Starbucks.

As students sit at small tables crammed up against the baby grand, they tap away at their laptops or scribble in notebooks, ignoring the chipped piano keys.  

Thomas Simmons, associate director of the IMU, said the white Baldwin in Starbucks and several other pianos scattered throughout the IMU were acquired around 1960.

“As the school of music was replacing their pianos, some that had been there a long time came to us,” Simmons said.

Gerald Carson in “The Piano in the Parlor,” an article in a 1965 issue of American Heritage, said “the piano, the first luxury item to reach the mass market, epitomized family values and social aims.”

Though a half-century has passed since the rise of the piano’s popularity as not only an instrument but also as an art piece and a social statement, Simmons said the presence of pianos in nearly all of the large public rooms in the IMU reflects the values of the University.

“It reflects the emphasis on the fine arts and entertainment,” Simmons said.

When an IMU room containing a piano is rented out for an event, piano students from the Jacobs School of Music are often paid to provide entertainment at the function.

The IMU Starbucks, where the white Baldwin is located, can be reserved by student organizations for programs concerning the arts or humanities, Simmons said.

At many points during the day, however, the piano remains benchless and silent. Barista Angelina Smith has worked at the IMU Starbucks for 15 months, but said she rarely hears anyone playing it.

“While I’m working, it maybe gets played three times a month,” Smith said. “I don’t know how people who are studying feel about it, but I think it’s cool. It shakes stuff up a little bit.”

Some students sitting nearby have taken notice of the piano, but have also rarely heard it played.

Freshman Melissa Young said she studies at a table beside the piano once a week.

“My friends are musicians, so I like this spot,” Young said.

Senior Jill Shakoor, an IMU Starbucks regular, studies there whenever she has the chance. She said she has never seen the piano played but thinks it adds to the atmosphere of the room.

“It makes it a little more authentic, a little more homey,” Shakoor said. “It gives it more character.”

The white Baldwin is in disrepair and in need of restoration, which may discourage students from playing it, Simmons said. However, he said the IMU has plans to invest in its restoration soon.

Once the piano is restored, more students might be encouraged to sit down to entertain other students and Starbucks employees.

“We value it enough to maintain the pianos,” Simmons said. “We provide an instrument there so that anyone can sit down and play.”  

Simmons said he has had the opportunity to travel to other universities and visit their student unions.

“As I travel around the Big Ten, I can’t think of a real open public lounge with a piano in it that is open for students who come through to play,” Simmons said. “I think that makes us unique.”