The Piano (Channel 4 TV Show)

I’ve just finished watching Channel 4’s new TV show – the piano. I’ve been excited to watch this since I first heard about it a couple of weeks ago.

Hosted by Claudia Winkleman (and her perfect hair), the show follows different pianists from many walks of life performing at train stations across the UK. Unknown to them, Lang Lang and Mika are watching close by and will select one person from each show to perform at a concert at London’s Royal Festival Hall.

Lang Lang and Mika are looking for something different, someone that can tell a story through the piano.

First stop: London St Pancras. So let’s see who played.

Jared 

First up was Jared. A 21-year-old truck mechanic who started learning piano during the lockdown on YouTube. He played a Boogie woogie style piece which I believe was improvised. It wasn’t much different to other boogie woogie improv but he has impressive control and stamina to play this for the length he did, with some really nice riffs. The judges seemed impressed and wondered how well he would be able to play if he started as a child.

Ilya 

Next up, 11-year-old Ilya played Dance Of The Knights by Prokofiev. Also known as ‘The Apprentice theme tune’.

Ilya is half-Ukrainian and has lessons online with a Ukranian teacher in Kyiv. His performance was nice and probably better than I could do. But I don’t think it was enough.

Erin

There was a short cut to Erin singing Alicia Keys – ‘If I ain’t got you’ But the camera didn’t stay long enough to give a full impression. I get that answers that one.

Amiss Tori

A drag queen performed Tori Amos Crucify. Tori Amos is AMAZING. Mika referred to her as the Bach of pop music which I adore. Sadly the drag queen’s voice did not do this song justice.

Fiona

Fiano has played the piano for years. Her singing career had to come to halt when her son was diagnosed with autism and she gave it all up to look after him. She mentioned how the piano helps her autistic child fall to sleep.

She played her own composition called ‘Landscape’ and wow, it was amazing. My favourite performance of the show.

Ollie 

Ollie played Billie Joel ‘Piano Man’ and he gave an amazing performance! I’m surprised this didn’t get more love from the judges.

Jay

Jay from the Isle of Wight started playing the piano at 15.

He played his own song called ‘Fire’ which was a gorgeous piano piece with him rapping over the top. I’m not usually a fan of rap but this piece was intriguing for sure. It worked really well together and the contrast of the two different genres was very interesting.

He got up and started fastening his trouser strings which made me laugh. The judges loved him.

Adam

Adam plays ‘Always look on bright side of life’. It was a fun performance but it felt a bit more like an entertainer at a holiday camp.

Melissa 

Melissa started playing 4 years ago and got to grade 8 already, after teaching herself how to play piano.

She played her own composition called ‘Hope’. It seemed like quite a simple piece, with dramatic base notes and the left hand going from base to treble clef, while the right hand stayed in place. It reminded me of a Einaudi piece. Minimalised but dramatic and emotional.

The judges LOVED her. Although the piece was nice and it’s impressive she composed it herself, Fiona’s was a lot stronger and I was surprised the judges loved her as much as they did. 

Zethan 

Zethan works in construction. He played Debussy’s Clair de Lune. The judges spoke of how nice his touch was and how clean all his notes were. Though he changed parts of the song and it didn’t sound quite right.

Harry

92-year-old Harry stole everyone’s heart. His wife has Alzheimer’s, and he plays for her as music is one of the few things she remembers. Harry tells us how playing the piano is a way to block everything else out. It’s like going on a holiday. You can’t think of anything else when you play the piano. He played ‘The Lady Is a Tramp’ and it was brilliant.

Who goes through?

The judges say that Fiona, Jared, Jay and Harry are all In the running to win. They bring the performers together and Claudia reveals that Lang Lang and Mika have been watching, they invite them all as VIP guests to the concert and then announce that someone will play.

They picked Jay.

I am a bit disappointed as I loved Fiona’s composition and I thought it was better than Jay’s, but can see why they picked him as his was unique.

Overall thoughts

The show did a great job of showing a diverse set of people playing different styles. I would have liked to have seen a bit more classical music on the show, though.

I’ve already seen the show criticised on piano groups for the contestants being ‘average’. They think using people that have learnt on YouTube isn’t taking piano playing seriously. It hardly feels fair that there are lots of pianists that have studied for years and years, but the show focuses on those that have learnt how to play from YouTube in two years. But I guess that’s the story that will win people over and get the views.

Overall, it was a heartwarming show and it showed a diverse set of people from different backgrounds with different abilities and styles. I hope it encourages more people to take up the piano.

Remember, it’s never too late! I started playing the piano at 33.

I’m looking forward to next week!

You can watch The Piano on Channel 4, 9pm on Wednesday. Catch up on All 4.

Are you interested in learning piano yourself? Read this post about upright pianos and how much they cost.