Drawing inspiration from the great Conlon Nancarrow, a pioneer in acoustic player piano manipulation well before the era of MIDI and DAWs, I find myself contemplating a unique but surely controversial idea: I wonder, what would be the outcome of creating "computer music" designed for a MIDI-compatible yet acoustic player piano? The execution involves feeding meticulously crafted MIDI data into the player piano through systems tailored for select models capable of interpreting MIDI files. The programming dictates the execution, yet the acoustic piano recording would be entirely authentic—captured in a breathing moment of time.
Adding an intriguing layer to this concept is the ability to infuse expressive nuances into MIDI data—a well-established technology and a known technique for producing convincing MIDI mock-ups.
Does anyone know if this has been done in the past? More importantly, if so, what did the results sound like? Solely listening to Nancarrow's recordings, the result appears quite artificial, yet with a subtle nuanced charm added by the true acoustic piano.Bear in mind, Nancarrow's writings were not exactly well suited for "Human Performance." Works written for true piano live performance would undoubtedly be more convincing.
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Wow that's hilariously over-the-top dramatic. :-D And yeah, looks absolutely impossible to play unless you have multiple players in charge of the different parts (and even then, it's ridiculously fast).
And yeah, totally insane indeed!
here's for me the most striking example of the possibilities of automated piano, a piano speech:
https://youtu.be/muCPjK4nGY4?si=Of8Oc_I2VqIe3B-q
That's awesome!! 😯
Makes me wanna write a piano speech fugue... 🤪🤣
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