MIT holds annual piano drop Students at MIT have held one of the university's more bizarre traditions: The annual piano drop. The Baker House dormitory drop marks the last day that students can drop classes without them appearing on their college report. About 200 people watched as the upright piano crashed into a second piano, a baby grand, which was positioned six floors below. As soon as the site was safe, people scrambled in for souvenir pieces - keys, hammers, strings and splinters. According to Michael Plasmeier, who heads the dormitory's student governing body, the tradition began in 1972 and was observed sporadically until 2006, when it became an annual event.