20 Instruments Reconstructed to Play Through the Keys of a Vintage Piano
January 30, 2019 11:32 AM   Subscribe

When the Ukrainian band Brunettes Shoot Blondes purchased a vintage, albeit broken, grand piano they decided to recreate this concept in analog form. The group secured twenty instruments to the inside of the piano and its sides so they could effectively play each as they pressed certain keys. [slyt] [via]
posted by ellieBOA (5 comments total) 11 users marked this as a favorite
 
Truly incredible. How did the string instruments work? I would love a "Behind the scenes" walk through of how they made this happen!
posted by rebent at 11:53 AM on January 30, 2019


The ultimate prepared piano
posted by The Underpants Monster at 12:33 PM on January 30, 2019 [1 favorite]


The string instruments don't appear to have any note control mechanism, and are just "bowing" open strings. But cool nonetheless.
posted by rocket88 at 1:27 PM on January 30, 2019


In the 60s, I used to love to visit a museum in St. Louis that had actual mechanical instruments from the early 20th century which you could play for a quarter. Pre-juke-box! One was a string quartet, which had four violins and rotating rosined felt cylinders which acted as bows. One instrument had a player piano, an organ, percussion, and who knows what else.

Obviously, with this spectacular memory in mind, this seems a little gimmicky and superfluous compared to what were true marvels a hundred years ago.
posted by kozad at 7:07 PM on January 30, 2019 [2 favorites]


One would think there would be a lot more sounds from the look of these things. Also, coudn't they come up with something more imaginative than that same four-chord progression that exists in like 10, 0000 other songs? (C-G -Am -F)
posted by Seekerofsplendor at 3:49 PM on January 31, 2019


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