COOKEVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — A Tennessee Tech alum recently donated a piano worth $60,000 to the Tennessee Tech School of Music shortly after her 100th birthday TTU shared.

The School of Music has been working for years to become an All-Steinway School, with articles from the school’s website discussing the efforts reaching all the way back to 2014. After reading an article about the university’s goal, Billye Spicer, who celebrated her 100th birthday in July, donated her own Steinway grand piano.

“Of course, Steinway is the very best piano that is made,” said Spicer. “And since I had one I thought, ‘Well, I can just give it to Tech.’ It was my pleasure to give. I was very fortunate to have that piano. I had many years to enjoy it.”

Spicer began playing piano when she was 4 years old, the school shared.

“I had a good teacher,” she said. “But the only problem I had is that I can play by ear, and my teacher did not appreciate that.”

Spicer also said that her mother, grandmother, and great grandmother could all also play by ear according to the release.

  • Spicer with the piano at her home. (Tennessee Tech University)
  •  Tennessee Tech’s Lee Bledsoe with the piano once it was donated to the university (Tennessee Tech University)

The title of being an All-Steinway school is a badge of notoriety across the world, including schools in England, Korea, Scotland, Austria, the United States, and more. To be included in the manufacturer’s official list of All-Steinway schools, a school must have at least 90% of their pianos be Steinways and working toward making that 100%.

The piano donated by Spicer is the 10th Steinway grand piano in addition to dozens of Boston upright pianos, which are also owned by Steinway, according to the school.

Spicer’s piano is now located at the School of Music’s recital hall on the second floor of the Bryan Fine Arts Building.

“The School of Music is extremely grateful for the generous donation by Ms. Spicer,” said Colin Hill, director of Tech’s School of Music. “This instrument, a Steinway Model B Grand Piano, is a world-class instrument and has been kept in pristine condition. It will be used for student, faculty and guest artist recitals for years to come. We were thrilled to learn that Ms. Spicer wanted to donate her piano to Tech, and we are glad this instrument will remain in the Tennessee Tech family.”

The piano will hopefully be around for many more generations at Tennessee Tech.

“I can’t think of a better place for my piano to go than to the school that I attended when I graduated from high school,” said Spicer.