I'm gonna record the destruction of a piano. Suggestions?
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I'm gonna record the destruction of a piano. Suggestions?
So, long story short: my mom has stored an old upright piano for a friend for many years. This piano has a cracked soundboard, or something - can't be fixed and won't hold a tune worth anything. It's gotten so bad over time that now, even right after being tuned, there are a couple keys that sound a minor second rather than a unison. So: it's totally unplayable and has basically been a piece of furniture for years, but it has to go, and the friend has nowhere to put it. And nobody wants to move it.
Which is where I come in: I volunteered to take care of it if I get to destroy it and record the process. And I'm not gonna just go at it with an axe or a sledgehammer: I'm gonna spend a day doing it. It's gonna be great, and I'm psyched. I'll be able to use the strings for stuff, my mom's partner is a carpenter and wants the wood, the person who actually owns the piano wants a couple pieces of the wood for shelves, and I've got a couple artist friends who have dibs on the keys and stuff - it's gonna get thoroughly recycled.
So, if you were doing this: how would you record it? And what would your approach to destroying the piano be? I know what I'm planning on doing as of now, but I would love some other input too. (And bonus points for people with advice about recording the process in quad {or quad-ish}, which is what I'm planning on doing.)
Which is where I come in: I volunteered to take care of it if I get to destroy it and record the process. And I'm not gonna just go at it with an axe or a sledgehammer: I'm gonna spend a day doing it. It's gonna be great, and I'm psyched. I'll be able to use the strings for stuff, my mom's partner is a carpenter and wants the wood, the person who actually owns the piano wants a couple pieces of the wood for shelves, and I've got a couple artist friends who have dibs on the keys and stuff - it's gonna get thoroughly recycled.
So, if you were doing this: how would you record it? And what would your approach to destroying the piano be? I know what I'm planning on doing as of now, but I would love some other input too. (And bonus points for people with advice about recording the process in quad {or quad-ish}, which is what I'm planning on doing.)
"I don't need time, I need a deadline." -Duke Ellington
"I liked the holes in it as much as I liked what was in them." -Tom Waits
"I liked the holes in it as much as I liked what was in them." -Tom Waits
First of all, be very careful.
My suggestion is if you can manage to drop it somehow, even just a few inches, that would be very worthwhile recording.As for musicians involved in piano destruction pieces, Karl-Erik Welin (1934 ? 1992) was a Swedish composer, pianist and organist who seemed to have a love-hate relationship with the piano and appeared to be drawn to music that allowed for his flair for drama. His chamber piece titled Esservecchia written in 1963 required a pianist to deliver several strong fist blows to the piano?s keys and strings. In 1964 whilst performing a piece by Theodore Liber titled Rendez-vous 1963, he threw himself into destroying the piano using a chainsaw with such fervour, he injured himself and had to be taken to hospital. Rumours were abound that he almost cut off his legs although eye witnesses have described how his inexperience at handling a chainsaw caused the tool to bounce haphazardly across the keys.
http://www.scrapclub.co.uk/texts/piano-destruction-text
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Yeah, any cutting of strings would be done after the string is already really loose - I've been cut by snapping guitar strings before and I can only assume that a piano's strings are more dangerous.
Excellent advice on disabling the dampers very early in the process - that's exactly the kind of idea I hadn't thought of that I was hoping for.
I actually don't have any contact mics (gasp!) but I do have a Crown PZM I was going to use for essentially the same purpose.
And I was planning on bringing some speakers and headphones to play sound at the harp to use it as a reverb unit of some sort (a pair of headphones or two would offer more wet vs dry signal but might not be powerful enough to really get the harp vibrating enough).
I honestly hadn't thought to video it. I'll think about it, but I'd almost rather just have the aural result...I don't think it's going to look very interesting as I'm not really going to end up being terribly violent toward the piano.
And I'll think about leaving the harp intact - I actually hadn't thought about that at all. That'll probably depend a lot on how heavy it is, how cool it looks, and if I think I can find a practical use for it in the future besides just being an awesome thing to have.
Excellent advice on disabling the dampers very early in the process - that's exactly the kind of idea I hadn't thought of that I was hoping for.
I actually don't have any contact mics (gasp!) but I do have a Crown PZM I was going to use for essentially the same purpose.
And I was planning on bringing some speakers and headphones to play sound at the harp to use it as a reverb unit of some sort (a pair of headphones or two would offer more wet vs dry signal but might not be powerful enough to really get the harp vibrating enough).
I honestly hadn't thought to video it. I'll think about it, but I'd almost rather just have the aural result...I don't think it's going to look very interesting as I'm not really going to end up being terribly violent toward the piano.
And I'll think about leaving the harp intact - I actually hadn't thought about that at all. That'll probably depend a lot on how heavy it is, how cool it looks, and if I think I can find a practical use for it in the future besides just being an awesome thing to have.
"I don't need time, I need a deadline." -Duke Ellington
"I liked the holes in it as much as I liked what was in them." -Tom Waits
"I liked the holes in it as much as I liked what was in them." -Tom Waits
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Just thinking out loud here... maybe take a small speaker, no box just the driver. Make the cone heavier by loading it up with caulk or something, then stick the magnet to the piano harp. Every reaction == equal and opposite reaction, so if the cone is heavy then the magnet will start moving a lot more.wren wrote:And I was planning on bringing some speakers and headphones to play sound at the harp to use it as a reverb unit of some sort (a pair of headphones or two would offer more wet vs dry signal but might not be powerful enough to really get the harp vibrating enough).
Maybe hang the whole thing from the ceiling somehow, to let it vibrate more freely.
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