Every day, it seems, is “world [something or other]”. World Piano Day is a relatively new addition here, having been created by German pianist and composer Nils Frahm in 2015.

There is not a fixed date per se as it is supposed to happen on the 88th day of the year to represent the 88 keys on a standard piano, as initially created in 1880 by Steinway. Obviously the date will shift depending on if it is a leap year or not, but this year it was on 29th March.

“The aim of the day is to create a platform for piano related projects in order to promote the development of musical dimensions and to continue sharing the centuries-old joy of playing piano,” is how it describes itself. “Piano Day welcomes all kinds of piano lovers — young and old, amateur and professional, of any musical direction – to join in. It is intended to be the most joyful of all holidays!”

There are all manner of live events each year to celebrate the piano and to encourage people to take it up. This year there was a 32-track exclusive album made up of unreleased piano pieces from musicians including Ólafur Arnalds, Chilly Gonzales, Nils Frahm, Büşra Kayıkçı and Alexandra Hamilton-Ayres. Piano Day Vol. 1 is the first (obviously) in what is planned to be a rolling series.

As we covered in our recent classical music marketing report, social media is increasingly a powerful driver here and TikTok in particular is being embraced by classical musicians to reach younger audiences.

It was inevitable that TikTok would jump on this and really push it with a series of challenges and promoted clips on 29th March. The #pianocovers challenge saw celebrities and “civilians” perform their favourite covers on the piano and posts with the associated hashtag have had over 32m views.

Among the famous musicians participating were Emeli Sandé as well as a relatively unknown piano player called Elton John who shows considerable promise. (Their video has over 1.2m views so far.)

One is always wary when a brand sees a trend or event and jumps on it, often with less than altruistic intent (something TikTok challenges are far from immune from). In this instance, however, TikTok itself is opening up the piano to huge, and often young, audiences and can play just one part in encouraging the next generation of musicians to take up the instrument.

Cynicism be damned.