Mary St Live is an independent music venue on Mary Street in Sheffield city centre, putting on gigs, club nights and music education events. For a while it was also home to a small grand piano. When that piano was moving on to Lowe Academy of Music and the Arts, a Sheffield music school, we were asked to get it down off the stage and across the city.
A grand piano on a working stage
A venue stage is a different job from a front room. This one was set up and ready for the next night: wedge monitors along the front edge, a drum kit, amps and mic stands behind, cables running everywhere and a mirror ball overhead. None of that was ours to move, so the piano had to come out through the middle of it all without knocking anything over.
It was not a showroom instrument. Years on a working stage had left the case scuffed and scratched, and nobody would call it pristine. That makes no difference to how we handle it. A tired piano weighs just as much as a new one, and it gets the same care, because it is still somebody's piano.
How a grand comes down off a stage
Grand pianos travel on their side. On the stage we took the legs, lyre and pedals off, stood the piano on its straight edge whilst carefully manoeuvring it into the long skid we use for every grand. Then it was wrapped in blankets and strapped, so nothing could shift and nothing could scratch.
The awkward part is the step from the stage down to the floor. You do not lift a grand down from that height. With the piano secure in its skid, we walked it to the front edge and brought it down keyboard end first. That end always goes first, because it gives us far more control and keeps the piano balanced as it leaves the stage. Two of us stayed on the stage holding the top while the third took the weight on the floor, then we settled it onto the dolly and wheeled it out to the van.
A new home with a Sheffield music school
Lowe Academy was founded in Sheffield in 2017 by Jack and Emily Lowe. They teach piano alongside vocals, guitar, drums, strings, brass and more, in schools across South Yorkshire and at their own education centre. It is good to see a venue piano stay in the city's music scene rather than end up in a skip.
Delivery was straightforward by comparison: out of the skid, legs, lyre and pedals back on, and the piano set down where they wanted it. Like any piano that has been moved, it will want a few weeks to settle into its new room before it is tuned.
Moving a piano out of a Sheffield venue, school or hall
Venues, schools, churches and community halls all have pianos, and they rarely sit somewhere easy. A few things make the day go smoothly:
- Pick a quiet time. A weekday morning, or well before any get-in or soundcheck, when the stage and the floor are clear.
- Tell us about the stage. Roughly how high it is, whether there are steps or a ramp, and how the piano got up there in the first place.
- Think about the way out. Loading doors, fire exits, lifts and corridors. In the city centre it helps to know in advance where a van can stop.
- Mention other people's kit. We work around bands' gear and school equipment all the time, but a clear path is quicker and safer for everyone.
- Send a few photos. The piano, the stage and the route to the door. That is usually enough for an accurate price.
If it is a grand piano, say so when you get in touch, and if it is past saving, we handle piano disposal and recycling too.
Piano movers for Sheffield and South Yorkshire
Yorkshire Piano Logistics is part of a family business that has been moving pianos since the name was registered in 1977, and it is still the same family three generations on. We are regular piano movers in Sheffield, from the city centre out to Dore, Fulwood and Hillsborough, and across South Yorkshire including Barnsley.
Call our Sheffield number, 0114 483 0217, or ask us for a quote and tell us a little about the piano and the way in and out.