...a line of cats fixed in place with their tails stretched out underneath a keyboard. ... The instrument was ... for the purpose of treating patients who had lost the ability to focus their attention. ...if they were forced to see and listen to this instrument, it would inevitably capture their attention and they would be cured.
Finally, after 10 long years, an answer. posted by DU at 5:31 AM on June 16, 2009
Note to future alien overlords. Humans are much easier to train than cats. posted by munchingzombie at 5:47 AM on June 16, 2009
That pale shirtless dude (torso only) in the third link, and the way he eagerly attacks his tangle of wires & rods, going into the shot of him in the nightclub testing it out on some gum-chewing pubgoer -- that image will stick with me all day. It's almost dream-like, in that way that dreams make some sort of sense but not really.
"What should we say about the cat piano? The idea that such an instrument could have existed gives a lot to think about, even if it was built on an experimental basis: a piano where strings are replaced by cats, each of them giving a different note. "It seems that Father Kirchner, a German Jesuit of the XVIIth century with an interest in musical things,gave the first description of this weird and cruel instrument.
"'Not long ago,' says he, 'an actor, as ingenious as illustrious , built such an instrument to cure the melancholy of a great Prince. He gathered cats of differing size and therefore in the pitch of their voices. He enclosed them in a basket specially built for this purpose, so their tails, coming out through holes, were held in tubes. He added keys with thin needles instead of hammers, and installed the cats according to their voices in such a way that each key would correspond to the tailof an animal, and he put the instrument in a suitable place for the pleasure of the Prince. Then he played it,producing chords corresponding to the mewings of the animals. Indeed the keys pressed by the fingers of themusician, by trotting the tails of the cats, would enrage the poor animals and make them scream with a high or low pitch, producing a melody that would make people laugh or even incite mice to dance.'"
--LES MEDECINES DE LA FOLIE by Dr. Pierre Morel and Claude Quetel and Martin Roberts posted by msalt at 8:34 AM on June 16, 2009
The Gong Show had a performer who stood behind a row of lit candles, of gradiated sizes, and placed his hand to the flames in sequence, producing a melody of, " OW! OW! OW! OW! OW!..." posted by StickyCarpet at 8:45 AM on June 16, 2009
A common mistake. Organ cat is keyboard cat's morbid cousin who plays people off this astral plane. He has no need for puppetry to tickle the ivories where you are going. posted by mccarty.tim at 10:15 AM on June 16, 2009
"WTF?"
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Seems there was a bit in one of Moorcock's Elric novels where the palace had a choir of slaves who had each been surgically rendered able to sing only a single note. Maybe that's as decadent as the Katzenklavier, maybe not. posted by Mister Moofoo at 4:42 PM on June 16, 2009
I'm sure there's an anecdote about Keith Moon getting a bunch of naked groupies to line up and bend over. He instructed each one to sing a different note when he blew up/on their backsides. He then played them like a set of pan-pipes. posted by Brian Lux at 2:07 AM on June 17, 2009
Finally, after 10 long years, an answer.
posted by DU at 5:31 AM on June 16, 2009