SCP-4562 at the location of its discovery

Item #: SCP-4562

Object class: Safe

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-4562 is kept in a standard large item containment chamber. All research, security, or maintenance personnel that wish to enter the chamber must undergo a full psychological evaluation before entering to ensure that no traumatic events or family abuse occurred during their childhood.

SCP-4562-1 must be kept in a standard anomalous object storage box. Access to SCP-4562-1 is to be restricted to Level 3/C0 researchers and only for the duration of the testing.

Description: SCP-4562 is a black Bösendorfer Model 290 "Imperial" concert grand piano. Its anomalous effects manifest when any music is played on it. The user, herein designated SCP-4562-A, will experience different effects according to what key they are playing:

Low-note keys will cause SCP-4562-A to re-live moments they consider to be particularly traumatic or embarrassing;

High-note keys will cause SCP-4562-A to re-live moments they consider to be happy, such as time they spent with a friend, a success or a special present they received;

Black keys possess the ability to alter a subject's memories. When a high-note one is played, SCP-4562-A's memories of their childhood will change in a positive manner, while when a low-note one is played SCP-4562-A's memories will be affected in a negative way. This does not actually change the memories themselves, but rather the way SCP-4562-A perceives them.1

It should be noted that playing any single key will not cause these effects to manifest. In order for them to be activated, SCP-4562-A must play a specific melody2 .

SCP-4562-1 is a white envelope with the words "My Music" written on its front side. It contains 34 music sheets, all of which have piano pieces written on them. 12 of the pieces are unknown to Foundation music specialists and are presumed to be original compositions, while the other 22 are known music pieces such as a reduction of Beethoven's Ode to Joy for solo piano. All of the sheets have been marked as "Property of James Simons" with a red permanent marker.

Addendum A-Testing Log 4562-1

Foreword: As it was initially theorized that the only pieces capable of activating SCP-4562 were the 12 original compositions, D-class subjects were instructed to seat at the piano and play them one by one. The results were as follows:

Piece #1

Subject: D-1258

D-1258 is a 23-year old Caucasian male, convicted of multiple violent crimes including assault and rape. His background analysis revealed expulsions from 3 different school establishments for violent behavior against his classmates, as well as difficult family conditions, his father being an alcoholic and his mother being addicted to cocaine.

When playing SCP-4562, D-1258 reported watching himself in his high school courtyard, being bullied by the "tall guy", with noticeable tears flowing while he played. He then reported, presumably hallucinating, to be playing a game of football with his friends, before starting to repeat the phrases "Jake, it was not my fault. I did not beat him" and "You son of a bitch". He then punched SCP-4562 with great force, while shouting "that is for [intranscribable]" (SCP-4562 was unusually unaffected by this action). For approximately five minutes after this incident, D-1258 stopped playing, as he was holding his hands together in front of his body, as if he was handcuffed, and he started whispering "But I didn't mean to cause any harm…Please sir, I want to go home…I will be a good boy". Finally, he finished the piece, playing the final part very quickly and angrily hitting the keys, while shouting "Number Fourty-Six, reporting for duty, Sir!"

Follow-Up notes: When the piece was over, D-1258 kept breathing heavily for a couple of minutes, while his expression changed from anger to a slight calmness. In the follow-up interview, he reported to researchers that he felt "relieved" and "having finally understood it". He later described that, while the memories he witnessed were very disturbing to him, "the piano made me understand that it was my fault from the very beginning". One month later he was relieved of his D-class duties and he offered a voluntary service to his home city, ultimately being emancipated 2 years later.

[pieces 2-6 removed for brevity]

Piece #7

Subject:D-1409

D-1409 is a 21 year old Caucasian male, convicted to short-term imprisonment for pickpocketing and vandalism of public property which he committed with his unarrested friend Jamie Lanows. When playing the piece, a 23-minute long anthem, he started talking to "Jai", laughing and "sharing secrets", while also "spray-painting" with his left hand (conveniently, the piece at this point only required one hand to play). He then started playing faster, reporting to be "running away" and shouting "Run Jai!" and "I am here, buddy! No worries!" At the 10 minute mark, his laughing started to cease, finishing a sentence mid-word "don't you worry Jai bud-", and at about the 22nd minute mark he started to cry.

Follow-Up notes: When the piece was over, he seemed confused and distracted, reporting to researchers that "I thought he was my friend". He remained confused for the rest of the follow-up interview, not being able to explain how his feelings towards Jai changed during the course of the song, and he was transferred to Site 07 for a medical examination. This solidified the speculation that SCP-4562 is fully capable of altering subjects' perception of their memories.

[pieces 8-12 removed for brevity]

The subjects were then instructed to play the known pieces, starting with Beethoven 's Ode to Joy.

Piece #12/4th movement of Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, Op. 125 (the "Ode to Joy")

The Head of Research wished to find out the result of pieces written with a specific feeling in mind. D-4480, a 30 year old Caucasian male convicted of embezzlement of company money, reported feeling "strangely happy", for the duration of the piece, going as far as to start happily laughing towards the middle of it, repeating multiple times "This worked exactly as planned". After that, his expression changed to a mild annoyance, and he started repeating the phrases "Come on Sarah, we had something but it is now over" and "Don't you continue with this! I am RICH now, our affair has ended". He then continued laughing and commenting on his wealth, until the end of the piece, at which point a loud police siren was heard in the room, apparently coming from SCP-4562. The siren lasted for 2-3 seconds, before abruptly stopping.

Follow-Up notes: Despite the overall happy reaction he had to his memories, when the piece was over, D-4480 immediately fell to the floor crying. When asked what happened, he explained that he had "just now realized that my whole life up to now was just a huge mistake". It is unknown if in this case SCP-4562 altered the perception of a specific childhood memory, or of the subject's whole life, although researchers tend to the second option because of the nature of the subject's memories which mostly involved his adult life.

Piece #32/Frederic Chopin's Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor, Op. 35: III. (the "Funeral March")

D-856 is a 20 year old Caucasian male, convicted for unstable violent behavior against multiple victims. His background analysis revealed a very difficult childhood, having lost his aunt and uncle in a car crash and his father 2 years later.

He started screaming at the beginning of the piece, shouting "take them away", while at the same time moving his feet uncontrollably as if he was running. His anxiety continued to escalate, with his pulse drastically rising to more than 160 beats per minute. At the piece's crescendo, D-856's brainwave patterns were observed to drastically change from normal Beta waves (measured at the beginning of the test to 35 Hz) to Gamma waves3, reaching a dangerous level of 104 Hz. D-856 started to scream "Take them away, please, oh no, tell them to fucking STOP PLAYING!"

Follow-Up notes: When the piece was over, he dropped on the floor unconscious immediately after playing the final note, a very low A. He was hospitalized for 3 months, during which time all research involving SCP-4562 was postponed. After fully recovering, he explained to researchers that he witnessed all 3 of his relatives' deaths, while at the same time hearing the bands that played the March in each of his relatives' funerals playing aloud. He strongly denied hearing the piano itself playing during this, and instead insisted on his stating of hearing the three different bands, although he informed personnel that he was not present at either of the funerals.

It should be noted that the subject's description matches the existing records of said bands. Further research pending.

Footnotes

1. Extensive information about this effect can be found in Testing Log 4562-1

2. Any coherent set of notes that together form a music piece.

3. Gamma Brain Waves are the fastest brainwaves (high frequency). They relate to simultaneous processing of information from different brain areas