Video: MIT students hurl piano off university roof About 200 people watched as the piano, a baby grand, fell six storeys from a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) building, before smashing into a second piano positioned below. Onlookers then scrambled for keys, hammers, strings and splinters to keep as souvenir pieces. The tradition, which began at the Baker House dormitory in 1972, was observed sporadically until 2006 before it become an annual event, said Michael Plasmeier, the head of the dormitory's student governing body and organisor of the ritual. "Today, it's an official event, and it's launched off a ramp instead of just throwing it off," Mr Plasmeier said. The upright piano was rolled from a makeshift ramp on the Baker House roof. There have been no injuries from falling pianos to date, organisers added. Broken pianos are used in the drop, usually donated by people eager to have the unwanted instrument taken away for free. Other items are sometimes placed below for a more resounding impact, such as the second piano this year. Onlookers appeared to enjoy the spectacle. "It's fun to see a piano hit a piano," said Tom Moriarty, "you don't usually see that."