<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=us-ascii"> <TITLE>Message</TITLE> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.5730.11" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY> <DIV><SPAN class=640335219-07022007><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>From the Wikipedia entry <A href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Man_Group">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Man_Group</A>: It's called a Piano Smasher.</FONT></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=640335219-07022007><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=640335219-07022007><STRONG>Piano Smasher.</STRONG> The Piano Smasher is a <A title=Piano href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piano">piano</A> stripped down to its frame and stood up on its side. It is played by hitting the strings with a large soft mallet, resulting in a clangy, almost discordant sound. In live performances, this instrument is generally played with a <A title=MIDI href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIDI">MIDI</A> system, using sensors behind the strings, as the instrument goes out of tune very quickly. Each Piano Smasher is tuned to only one note, as it would be otherwise impossible to get anything resembling a musical tone from the instrument. </SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=640335219-07022007><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=640335219-07022007><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=640335219-07022007><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>-- Geoff Sykes</FONT></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=640335219-07022007><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>-- Assoc. Los Angeles</FONT></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=640335219-07022007><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=640335219-07022007><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=640335219-07022007><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=640335219-07022007><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV></DIV> <DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader lang=en-us dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Tahoma size=2>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B> pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org] <B>On Behalf Of </B>daniel carlton<BR><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, February 07, 2007 9:00 AM<BR><B>To:</B> college and university technicians; pianotech mailing list<BR><B>Subject:</B> Blue Man group prepared piano<BR><BR></FONT></DIV> <DIV>I recently heard someone mention briefly about a piano that the Blue Man group uses in their shows. Something about the entire piano being tuned to a C chord or something. Anyone know about this? I'd like to try it on a junker of mine. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Daniel Carlton</DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>