Musician Performs a Catchy Cover of Scott Joplin’s ‘Maple Leaf Rag’ on the World’s Longest Piano
Musician Hyperion Knight performed a catchy cover of the popular Scott Joplin ragtime composition Maple Leaf Rag" on an incredibly long piano, in fact, it's the longest piano in the world.
A wonderful spontaneous recording by Hyperion Knight on the Alexander Piano.
Knight performed a bit of Gershwin and other songs as well.
Gershwin's Embraceable you by Hyperion Knight on the Alexander piano in a wonderful informal recording session. 3 pieces in 2 hours!
This incredible instrument, known as the Alexander Piano", was hand-built by Adrian Mann of Alexander Pianos in Dunedin, New Zealand. When asked why he wanted to build such a large instrument, Adrian replied that he wanted to hear what a long bass string sounded like.
It occurred to me that long bass strings sounded better. ... knocked a waratah (metal fence post) into the ground at both ends and with a big piece of timber with a hole and tuning pin in it I strung up an enormous bass string. After finding a safe tension I tuned it to the lowest A on a piano by moving rocks along the wire.I discovered the most interesting sound and from this point I was determined to build a piano to have the longest string sounding like this. I later did more experimenting. Fifteen year old me said Mum I'm going to build a piano!"
And so he did. With the help of his friend with a large farm and consultation of books such as the 1916 A Treatise on the Art of Piano Forte Construction, Mann forged ahead with construction until completion.
Knowledge was everywhere if you looked hard enough and pulling pianos apart was a crucial part of learning. Making the parts was another kind of learning I was better at. it was more hands on! Cutting, planing, chiseling, machining, grinding and welding.
Here's Mann debuting the Alexander Piano in 2017.
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via The Awesomer
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The post Musician Performs a Catchy Cover of Scott Joplin's Maple Leaf Rag' on the World's Longest Piano first appeared on Laughing Squid.