Boys praised for playing broken piano at estate

Videos of Teon, 17, (left) and Jamie, 15, (right) were viewed accumulatively more than 100,000 times

Two boys have been praised for their impromptu performances on a battered old piano dumped at an industrial estate.

Last week, Teon was on his way home from playing basketball when he stumbled across the discarded instrument in Harlow, Essex.

Despite missing half its keys, the notes he played attracted workers from across the road and more than 100,000 views on social media.

Another local boy, 15-year-old Jamie, was also videoed playing the piano and he has since taken it into a garage to try restoring it.

Tracey Knight, who works at a car garage on the estate, filmed 17-year-old Teon.

With his permission, she uploaded it to social media.

"He didn't know anybody was watching. He was in a world of his own," said Ms Knight.

"I couldn't believe out of this broken piano with half the keys missing, he could play something so beautiful.

"And he wasn't doing it for an audience. He was just doing it for the love of music."

Ms Knights was full of praise for both boys after they brightened her work days

Teon said: "I thought I might as well play it because I was bored and I've got this keyboard at home and it's around the same size."

Someone has offered to give Teon a piano, since watching the video online.

"People of my generation can just... come together when we see something we like and we imitate it and I feel like that's really cool, it shows our growth."

Jamie says he will do whatever he can to restore the piano

Jamie spotted the video online, and after his mother drove him to the site of the piano, he performed a rendition of Phantom of the Opera on it.

Ms Knight recorded his handiwork as well - which she said "completely blew me away" - and the subsequent video accumulated another 45,000 views online.

Jamie has autism and ADHD, and is self-taught; he has learnt to play without reading sheet music.

"I feel great when I do it, you can express yourself so much through music," he explained.

"It can communicate emotions and it's an art of pure beauty."

Jamie has taken the piano into a garage unit where he says he will attempt to restore it with new keys - carving out new ones from wood "if I have to".