Playing Piano features a partially deconstructed upright player piano prepared in the spirit of John Cage. This fully mechanised 1920’s player piano is animated by a motor and pneumatics (as opposed to being played by a person). A perforated paper roll, the physical translation of the musical score, controls the mechanised elements. The preparations to Playing Piano include various machines which strum and press a pie plate against the strings, whistle using the air of the pneumatics and amplify various parts of the piano’s mechanics. An array of sensors placed on the strings in conjunction with a computer and a series of microprocessors, enables the player piano to control these preparations.
Recorded at: YYZ Artists’ Outlet in Toronto (January 2008) and mixed in Calgary (May 2018), both by John Abram. Mastered by Harris Newman, Grey Market Mastering, Montreal (June 2018).
See also: Playing Piano (2008), YYZ Artist Outlet
