MYP Personal Project

My name is Stepan Tkatchenko, and I am a year 10 student undertaking the Middle Years Programme, Personal Project in my final year of MYP. My Project is on the topic of Scientific and Technical Innovation, and I have tasked myself with restoring a one century old pianola; a self-playing piano.

Essentially, a pianola will look like an ordinary piano from the outside, but on the inside are many complex mechanisms which use perforated paper rolls to play virtually any song, provided you have the roll for it.

Having a passion for playing piano and repairing old things at home, the goal of my Project is to successfully restore my pianola (or player piano as it’s called in the United States) dated 1924, restoring both the internal components and the exterior woodwork in the progress. The pianola was bought by me for $50 from an old lady who was going into a retirement home. It had seen better days and was extremely battered both on the inside and the outside. However, now that I am highly involved in its restoration almost every day, it is starting to look like new! Most recently, I am in the final stages of lacquering the wood and the pianola is starting to shine.

This project has allowed me to become more familiar with the piano, and woodwork; which might come in handy in the future.

Overall, I am highly enjoying my Personal Project as I gain further knowledge into my chosen topic. I very much look forward to continuing my progress thus far, and I look forward towards what’s to come.