0:01  
Kerr Hall south at Ryerson University is near silent around 8pm. You might hear a few people talking. You might hear some footsteps and then you hear it.

0:19  
The faint noise of a piano playing. If you keep walking towards it, the volume increases.

0:34  
Soon you will arrive at Kerr Hall South 239. k Hs 239 is one of a few rooms at Ryerson with a piano in them. People are allowed to play these pianos after classes end. How these pianos came to Ryerson is unknown, but they were donated. The music section of the Department of Philosophy manages them. Touched by the hands of decades of Ryerson community community members, these pianos have been around for years. Second year architectural sciences students Matthew Martiri loves to practice the piano in KHS 239.

1:07  
I was on medical leave because I got diagnosed with ADHD. So it just helps me de-stress and use my brain for something while I'm figuring out my medical situation.

1:23  
Martiri plays minuet waltz by Chopin and gram cest brilliante by Chopin on the piano.

1:43  
Martiri says that he cannot afford a piano. So this one enables him to practice while playing the panels at Ryerson are fun. martiri says some of them are poor quality.

1:53  
To be honest, the pianos at Ryerson aren't the greatest quality, they always hide them, or they say they're open but they're not really. And they don't fix them. They don't repair them. So that is annoying, but at least I get a chance to practice

2:12  
The piano and KHS 239 has dampers but make a bizarre vibrating noise. One of the pianos in KHS 251 is out of tune.

2:32  
Another piano can be found in podium building 367 third year mechanical engineering student Nathan Yuimano learn to play the piano Apple one in pod 367 the first time when Ouimano played the piano. He remembers feeling happy.

2:48  
Oh, it was interesting because it's not it wasn't often at that point that I've used, you know, pianos, especially since I didn't really start playing until like a few months ago. So it was it was an interesting, it was fun. It was definitely fun. You know?

3:06  
Yuimano has a practice book that he uses to learn songs. Mechanical Engineering is a stressful program. So this panel allows him to take time away from Well,

3:16  
it's definitely a moment of solitude I guess it's some time away from you know, the lectures and the classes and the projects and the math. So you know, it gets some that time alone kind of gives me like some sort of peace of mind.

3:31  
University of Toronto music Professor Amy Clementes Cortez says that playing piano can improve student's mental health.

3:39  
You know, learning a musical instrument helps develop the pathways in the brain. So it has implications for neuroplasticity. And certainly engaging in actively playing music can help increase mood it can help lower stress.

3:57  
Students who are interested in playing the piano can head over to a one at Oakham house. However, this piano is not as accessible as the other ones. That is because the Oakham House choir uses a piano for their choir practices. Open House choir music director Matthew Yascovitch says this piano is unideal.

4:16  
It could be a good piano but it's totally neglected. No one fixes it. No one can see it. And things are broken. Never fixed. 

4:25  
Yascovitch says the political piano has been broken for 15 years. All that was done was assigned was posted about the broken light. Yascovitch says it is disappointing that management has ignored fixing the piano.

4:39  
That means that people just don't care about music here and then they don't give the students a chance.

4:47  
Ryerson community members cannot find out when classrooms or pianos are unlocked and unoccupied. Regardless, Ryerson community members use these pianos when they can to practice and de stress

4:58  
for RSJ Radio Jonathan Bradley.