Berklee Student is World’s Fastest Pianist

The following blog post was written by Bence Peter, a third semester film scoring/EPD major from Debrecen, Hungary.

A crazy idea, long preparation, infinite hours of paperwork and organizing, hundreds of people included. This is how a Guinness World Record attempt looks like behind the scenes. I came up with the idea when I saw a Hungarian pianist’s CD with a golden sticker saying “The World’s Fastest Piano Player.” Since then, an Indian-American pianist also broke the record, so I had to overcome 669 piano hits in one minute. There was no problem with that; I hit 765 piano keys in a minute on one of the world’s most expensive pianos, the Bösendorfer 290 Grand Imperial (at midnight on January 14, 2012 at Kolcsey Convention Center, in Debrecen, Hungary). After a long process of authentication, this achievement has brought me the title of being the No. 1 Fastest Pianist and the nice and legendary Guinness World Records certificate. It took me two weeks of practicing “hitting the same note on piano the most times” and the risk of tendonitis, but it was worth it afterwards.

On the other hand, it was a great opportunity for me to promote Berklee throughout my country and Europe as well. There were tons of articles, TV performances, interviews etc., even with MTV Hungary.

The Guinness record distinction also served as a platform to get people’s attention and accomplish more. One example is a project that we have initiated at Berklee, based on Ubuntu, a South African philosophy focusing on people’s allegiances and relations with each other: “I am what I am because of who we all are.” Everything that today’s society does not have or refuses to have and exists deep in our veins but has been completely ruined by our accelerated and money-driven world. I believe that through a song and a documentary, with appropriate promotion and support we can make a difference and plant new seeds for our future generations.

Second is the “Food Revolution Song” and music video, which will  hopefully feature Jamie Oliver in an effort to create new, never-seen perspectives of supporting this campaign to inspire people to cook and eat healthier, and to reform today’s bad habits of eating, and introduce “Food Education.” The official Food Revolution Organization has already committed to provide the best of its help on promotion, but we will need further support on production and in getting in touch with Jamie Oliver.

These are my major goals for the upcoming year, and are part of the reasons why I really need to be at Berklee, because—with all these amazing, diverse, and talented people—there is no better place where I could bring such great projects to reality. It is a privilege for me, but also comes with a great challenge in terms of finding sufficient support for the upcoming semesters. I hope it will work out somehow.

Whatever happens, I am not going to give up with my dreams. I will stick to my artistic statement: “We are human beings first, and musicians second.”