Locks and Liszt: How The Piano Boat brings concerts to the canals

I meet Rhiana Henderson and Masayuki Tayama (pictured below) while off duty in the concert saloon of their custom-built Piano Boat, the Rachmaninov, at its mooring in Uxbridge. Over coffee and scones accompanied by their two feline stowaways, we discuss how they came up with the idea of running concerts on the water, and how the business evolved to be the well-oiled machine audiences now enjoy, with Tayama’s piano performance on the boat’s Steinway Model A grand piano complemented by Rhiana’s elaborate afternoon teas. Both trained pianists, I’m keen to find out just how much their music training supported their ambitious business venture.

What initially drew you to start a business on the British canals?

Masayuki Tayama: I had a middle-range concert pianist career, I wasn’t playing the Barbican and the Proms, let's be honest, but I had good recognition and I enjoyed that side of things. I also taught first study at Chetham’s School of Music for many years.

Rhiana Henderson: On the side, Masa has always loved the waterways and the canals. He (literally) roped me into it, and we started doing narrowboat holidays. Masa is quite high tension but there's definitely a difference in him on the waterways, everything just kind of calms down.

MT: When you've got to get yourself out there and do concerts all the time, it’s a lot of responsibility, a lot of nerves, but just stepping onto the boat there's a sense of relief.

How did the idea of transforming this passion into the Piano Boat business come about?

RH: There was one particular narrowboat holiday which fell quite close to concerts we both had coming up. Going that long without any practice wasn’t a good idea, so we took a digital piano with us. One person would be steering the boat while one person would be practicing. I guess it's quite unusual to hear the sound of a piano drifting out of a boat, so people on the towpath were peering in and stopping to ask us questions. That suddenly made me think, “Well, there's interest here, wouldn't it be fun to do concerts on a canal?”

It was something different, combining work with pleasure. I mean that's what everybody wants to do, isn't it? You want to do something that you love.

As we thought it through, we realised we couldn't possibly fit everything we wanted to on a typical narrow boat (around 7 feet wide) and so the project got bigger organically. What we wanted was so specific and so bespoke that it was quite hard to find a builder who was willing to do it. The company that we found in the end, Tristar Boats, is run by a couple who understood our desire to combine a nautical feel with the atmosphere of a concert hall. Jeremy used to repair violins and he did set design for theatres and his wife Michelle is very big on interior design so between the two of them it was the perfect combination.

MT: My original idea was to have a decent digital piano and then have lots of speakers around the saloon, but when we went shopping to see what pianos would be available, we agreed if we are going to actually charge people for the experience of a piano recital, then it has to be an acoustic piano.

RH: For us it's really important to put the music first, because that's what this is all about. The canals and the afternoon tea are lovely, but it's the music that is the main thing.

What challenges did you face in the early days of The Piano Boat?

RH: A big challenge was that we have no business experience, we’re trained musicians. This was something we wanted to do, so we were going to make it work, but we had no idea how to do that.

Masa has experience in boating, but only as a hire boater where you give the boat back after two weeks, so he never had to deal with any of the engine problems that come up. I'd never really done any cooking before too. We don't outsource, so one of the main challenges has been managing it all and learning as we go and trial and error.

MT: The uncertainty of working out the costings was tough, it was very difficult to pin down because there's hardly any examples of anyone doing this at all.

RH: We were incredibly fortunate to have some really good publicity early on; the project was picked up by Channel 4, then The Times and then BBC London. This coverage meant that we were sold out for months, and we still get bookings because of that. Unfortunately, we were cut short in our prime. We had to cancel last year’s cruises as Masa was unwell, so we lost a bit of momentum. Now we're just trying to build back that momentum.

What are the biggest changes you have made to the business since it first launched?

RH: We had a lot of time to think about the business before we started because we had the boat delivered in the middle of 2020 and we didn't start until the following summer because of Covid. We had a whole year to think about what we were going to do, and I think we were quite well prepared in the end. It’s become a lot more streamlined since then – It doesn't take me a whole day to prepare the food anymore.

MT: When we started off, we would run two cruises a week and Rhiana was teaching five days a week.

RH: I was doing more than full time, it was just not sustainable. We did it for six months, I was working seven days a week and we were both absolutely exhausted.

MT: Now we're just focusing on the school holidays, when Rhiana takes a complete break from teaching.

RH: Doing cruises in bursts is more efficient in terms of food preparation as well, because we do consecutive days. We'll be doing Saturday and Sunday every weekend through the holidays, all afternoon tea.

What sort of adjustments have you made to ensure the quality of the music is maintained in this unique venue?

RH: People always think that being on the water it gets damp, but actually we find more often it gets dry because we've got everything – we've got a humidifier, dehumidifier, air conditioner and heating. It's better insulated than our house!

MT: We’ve got hydrometers and thermometers in the piano, on the port side, the starboard side, aft and forward and they're all on an app which will alert me if there's any sort of change. I almost feel it's a bit unfair on my piano at home because it is much more neglected. I really minimise the practise on this one too – the piano gets more care than either of us really.

Are there any concessions you make as a performer when playing in this unconventional space?

MT: Playing to a 4,000 seat hall is different, you project in a different way, but this intimacy is good, it has been really satisfying. In this intimate venue there is definitely more of a sense of communication which you might not necessarily experience when you're playing in a huge symphony hall. In terms of pressure, if I appear in an important festival, I don't want to let the promoters down, but when I’m performing on my own platform, it can get just that extra bit more personal. I take that as a plus because it is personal, the Piano Boat is very much our baby.

You’re both trained pianists, what elements of your music training do you draw on when working on the business?

RH: It's funny because I have a music degree, but it doesn't feel like that has played a very big part in my life, to be honest. It feels like the experience that I've gained by osmosis from teaching, organising concerts, meeting people and reading articles is more relevant. I understand how the world of music works, which probably does help because I know about our audience so from a business perspective, it's useful.

The management of The Piano Boat is very similar to my work with The Piano Teacher’s Course. I do much of the same thing: organising, taking minutes of meetings, marketing, sending emails, managing finances, there's a lot of overlap. I have also taught since I was 17 so I guess there was a bit of organisation and management required in that. I was self-employed and managing bringing on new students and entering them for exams and organising concerts and balancing that with my degree.

MT: I was part trained in Japan, part here and I think in Japan fear played a rather large part of the weekly lessons. But the discipline in that perseverance can work positively when things are tough. I think that side of music training can help with this business when there's a constant deadline.

How does your time on The Piano Boat compare to your experience of a more ‘typical’ classical music career?

RH: I guess there's a lot more at stake now, because we are entirely responsible for this, and nobody's keeping us accountable for that. Compared to my teaching, it's easier to get new students than it is to promote the Piano Boat, and it's a lot more stable because they come every week.

It feels a lot more real when you do your own thing like this, it all falls onto you to make it work.

MT: Normally I'm the cautious one, but I have to say I love it. It's really off the beaten track. When I graduated from conservatoire, and I saw people doing the ‘living out of the suitcase’ lifestyle, I really didn't feel that would be for me. I was really interested in using my skill, experience and knowledge as a pianist to take a different approach. If that's where we are, I guess I'm loving it.

What advice would you offer to other trained musicians looking to diversify their careers or launch a whole new business?

RH: I think if we had really thought this through we wouldn't have done it, but I just felt this is such a good idea, it's got to work. I think that was well-judged on my part, I've got to say. If I’d really thought through the logistics and the costs and the amount of work that goes into it, I would have thought, “this is not realistic.” So I guess my advice would be: don't think too much – just do it.

MT: I would also say things take more time than you think. When you factor in other projects, things become suddenly quite time-consuming, so finding the time to fit everything in can be a challenge, particularly when you are facing these unknowns. There's no precedent, there's no examples to follow, so it may take more time than you originally thought. It's a big cliché, but I would advise a lot of planning, a lot of research.

RH: That's the opposite of what I said!