Nicole Salykine, freshman political science major, started playing the piano at a young age. At NSU, she can often be found playing her favorite song “River Flows” on the grand piano on the first floor of the Don Taft University Center. Salykine loves walking in the UC and hearing others play the piano, as well.
“It’s beautiful hearing all the pianists playing, it always calms me down, and I love playing for everyone, too. It’s the best way to destress and just have beautiful music playing when you’re walking in the UC,” Salykine said.
Jared McMeans, freshman exercise science major, plays “Lucid Dreams” by Juice WRLD. Photo by Indaya Byer.
Like Salykine’s experience, many students stop by to play the grand piano, making it an esteemed part of the university.
The thought of the piano moving from that location created a commotion among students who feel it is an integral part of NSU. It all started with a rumor that the piano would be removed and replaced by a tech store, which upset many and almost led to a petition from students to keep it where it is.
“I know that during the campus tours, they definitely mention the piano, and I know a few people who have played the piano just for fun, and that got me interested in it,” said Angelo-Nathan Fleurime, sophomore law major. “I think it’s pretty important that they keep it because people like it, and there really is no reason to remove it.”
Pablo Perez, sophomore chemistry major, feels the piano is a way to meet new people.
“It’s kind of cool that we have a piano. There’s always people playing here. And you can always come up and talk to them,” Perez said. “It’s just fun to have here.”
The rumor has been clarified to just be a rumor by Ayanna Stephens, director of the Design and Construction department.
Stephens believes the rumor started due to a request for a different piano removal, and the grand piano on the first floor of the UC was never meant to be removed.
“There’s an older piano that’s somewhere else that wasn’t working that was requested to be removed, not this piano on the first floor of the UC, but somewhere in PVA up on the second or third floor,” Stephens said.
But while the piano is not currently being removed, there are plans to place a tech store on the first floor of the UC, causing the grand piano to be relocated, but not removed. The tech store is still in the planning stage but would serve the purpose of becoming a place where students can get help from the Information Technology department.
“We have been talking for a while about a project to do a tech store at the University Center. The purpose of the store is to provide an amenity for students, it would be a place where you could go and buy a computer, or if you needed a computer or something happened to your computer, you could go for support,” Stephens said.
There is no set date as to when this store will be added to the UC, but the idea is in process as an architect has visited the area to design for the space.
“You want it to feel a little bit like the stores that you see at the mall for similar purposes,” Stephens said. “We don’t have a timeline for when the project would happen. All we’ve done thus far is complete the design.”
Emilia Noninyan, freshman psychology major, goes to the UC just to hear other students play the piano and is happy to know it is not going anywhere.
“I know a lot of students that come to the piano as a form of therapy to play, but I also made a lot of friends through the piano,” Noninyan said. “I come and listen to the piano and then it turns out I meet others and make connections like we have similar majors or hometowns. It’s really important to us.”
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