http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-rLrMGBUv4
A “cloaked” Jarrod Radnich plays the Harry Potter theme on this magical piano. “How does he do that?” you might ask. If you want to believe in magic (and who doesn’t?), stop reading this post now…
Alright, let’s talk about this high-tech piano! The piano in this video is a Yamaha Disklavier Mark IV. This instrument is a unique hybrid of an acoustic grand and digital piano. One of its functions recording what you play on it and reproducing your performance, pedaling and all. Imagine one of the old player pianos with the music rolls… then skip forward a hundred years or so. There are so many more features than just play-back, including tempo (speed) change, transposing (making it higher or lower), using headphones, adding recorded sounds from other sources (like singing), play pre-recorded songs, and more. Watch Bert Smorenburg demonstrating how the Disklavier works (with some beautiful playing, might I add).
Now, I’m not sure that this piano is magical; it’s got a pretty scientific explanation to how it works. But, I do know this… the way music IS… how it communicates with us, brings people together… how it can bring joy/wonder/sadness/anger/relief sometimes all at the same time… how it expresses our innermost thoughts when we lose the words… music itself might be magic.
