Pianist fights water pressure to play ‘Under the Sea’ beneath the waves

December 16, 2022 at 5:40 p.m

A musical YouTuber dived into the sea to perform a song from The Little Mermaid. And now we know what a piano sounds like underwater…

“Underwater pianist” Joe Jenkins is a master at making videos of pianos being played in unusual places. From outside Buckingham Palace to inside a real hot air balloon, his sonic adventures have earned him more than four million YouTube subscribers.

As his latest pianistic endeavor, Jenkins was challenged by one of his followers to sink a piano into the sea and play it.

“In this video,” Jenkins says of his performance, “I actually play the song ‘Under the Sea’ under the sea.”

Dressed in scuba gear and a two-piece red wetsuit, the YouTuber dives into the deep waters off Swanage on the south coast of England and performs the Disney song “Under the Sea.” The little mermaid.

Continue reading: The engineer fills his piano with water and climbs in like a swimming pool

Before filming, he appeared on British television to promise he would accept the challenge.

After speaking live on air to millions, Jenkins was informed that this challenge had already been met by YouTuber Zealous, who filmed himself “playing” a sunken piano sculpture underwater in the Bahamas, placed there by American illusionist David Copperfield would.

But while the sculpture (see below) emits gentle classical music, the piano is actually unplayable.

Continue reading: 16 stunning musical sculptures adorning the streets and parks of the world

Logistically, Jenkins said finding a piano whose keys wouldn’t expand when submerged in water was a challenge in itself.

The piano he finally landed on was a Shannon Lindner instrument bought by a family in Tewkesbury. Lindner pianos use plastic rather than wooden mechanisms that do not stretch. “I think this will be the key to solving my problem!” says Jenkins in the video.

Before taking the piano out of the family home, Jenkins gave them a taste of his new home with a short rendition of The Beatles’ “Yellow Submarine.”

“Like a yellow submarine, I turned my piano into a submarine and waterproofed it [the instrument]’ he adds in the YouTube video.

Ready to play the piano underwater, Jenkins had yet another problem to solve – making the piano keys sound underwater. He added pins to the piano’s hammers, which meant they would be metal discs that hit the strings rather than felt, producing a sound more akin to a harpsichord.

“That was incredible !!” One of Jenkins’ followers commented on the end result. “Now I doubt you could play Mr Blue Sky while in the sky.”