"Want to play a chord? Try not to die."

October 9, 2009 9:46 AM

Piano Stairs! (Not everyone thinks they're a good idea.) Also see "The Deepest Trash Can". Both videos are from Volkswagon Sweden, whose new English-language website, TheFunTheory is still under construction. But here's the Swedish-language version.
posted by zarq (26 comments total)

For some reason, now I can't get The Cat Concerto out of my head.
posted by zarq at 9:48 AM on October 9, 2009

Think about it: someone on every stair? It’d be like someone pounding on every key on a piano, again and again. There’s a reason they don’t have audio for that part.

Yeah, I thought about that too. Maybe they could make piano stairs that play a pre-set little tune, like a hand crank music box, and it adds harmony or gets louder as more people walk on it. Or just design a piano that plays chords instead of chromatic scales, so it'll sound nice.

I liked the video, especially the little kid whose small feet play two notes for every stair.
posted by Solon and Thanks at 9:52 AM on October 9, 2009

Eventually, our workaday world will be so filled with wonder and whimsy that we will cherish the mundane.
posted by anazgnos at 10:01 AM on October 9, 2009 [4 favorites]

Someone playing a song on that would be quite impressive.
posted by Solomon at 10:06 AM on October 9, 2009

Sonata bad idea.

It's Volkswagen.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 10:07 AM on October 9, 2009 [1 favorite]

The fun theory definitely works--that's why I take the escalator. It's like I rescue the princess when I leap off the belt before it gets sucked back under.
posted by DU at 10:08 AM on October 9, 2009 [1 favorite]

Yet another clever, funny ad that would never see the light of day in the U.S. market.
posted by Zambrano at 10:11 AM on October 9, 2009

It's Volkswagen.

Oh hell. Oops.
posted by zarq at 10:13 AM on October 9, 2009

Maybe if my pants made a fun sound when they came off, I'd get laid more.
posted by orme at 10:22 AM on October 9, 2009 [3 favorites]

orme, like a chorus of laughter?
posted by yeti at 10:32 AM on October 9, 2009 [1 favorite]

> (Not everyone thinks they're a good idea.)

They call themselves CrunchGear, but they are completely unwilling to address the irresponsible wastefulness and hazards of actually crunching gear. Hypocritical bastards.
posted by ardgedee at 10:35 AM on October 9, 2009

The Museum of Science in Boston has had stairs like this for years, albeit without the decoration. I don't think they've killed anyone yet.
posted by Eideteker at 10:47 AM on October 9, 2009 [1 favorite]

Yeah, I always make a point of running up and down the piano stairs a few times when I'm at the MoS. Which is not as often as I'd like, anymore.
posted by uncleozzy at 10:59 AM on October 9, 2009

Did you know they have wooden escalators at the main Macy's in Manhattan? It's only barely relevant to this post but it's still cool.
posted by smackfu at 11:04 AM on October 9, 2009

Eideteker: The Boston Science Museum has also figured out how to make the staircase climbers defy gravity, as it apparently now runs from left to right, and not up and down.
posted by adamms222 at 11:08 AM on October 9, 2009

And do you know why they removed those from the London underground smackfu?
posted by jouke at 11:11 AM on October 9, 2009

Volkswagen: "I Am In Your Sweden Kicking Your Saab"
posted by Sys Rq at 11:20 AM on October 9, 2009 [1 favorite]

Just wanted to chime in: the Science Museum of Minnesota also has musical stairs. Along with a bunch of other cool stuff.
posted by jangie at 11:34 AM on October 9, 2009

The Fun Theory site is now available in English, and so are the films here Garbage Can, Piano and Recycling. Full disclosure (my site, yeah) & I've been bugging DDB since Monday for the English versions in order to be able to show the non-Swedish ad folks this, but they asked me to wait until the site was in English too (aargh!) and not breathe a peep until then. I have no idea why they didn't just do two versions from the get-go.
posted by dabitch at 11:54 AM on October 9, 2009 [1 favorite]

The people on the escalator are playing 4'33".
posted by MysteriousMan at 12:08 PM on October 9, 2009 [1 favorite]

Full disclosure (my site, yeah) & I've been bugging DDB since Monday for the English versions in order to be able to show the non-Swedish ad folks this, but they asked me to wait until the site was in English too (aargh!) and not breathe a peep until then.

Cool! Nice work! :)
posted by zarq at 12:13 PM on October 9, 2009

If I was depressed, I'd walk up a minor scale so everyone would know. But most of the time, I'd like to think I'd walk a blues pentatonic.
posted by LordSludge at 1:23 PM on October 9, 2009

"The people on the escalator are playing 4'33"."

That's a slow fucking escalator.
posted by Eideteker at 1:26 PM on October 9, 2009 [2 favorites]

Heh heh. I wrote that CrunchGear article. Nice seeing myself on the blue!
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 2:12 PM on October 9, 2009

BlackLeotardFront, why do you hate fun?
posted by mendel at 10:10 AM on October 10, 2009

Ha! Imagine them trying this in America. You'd get about three seconds into taping those wires on a public staircase before DHS teleported your ass into an interrogation room.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 12:18 PM on October 10, 2009