I first watched this and exclaimed “WOW!”, “that’s amazing!!!”… that was until I noticed something that didn’t quite look or sound right.
Check out this YouTube video above really carefully, and look out for two exact same notes he plays at around 1:34 - the two balls he throws down are on different places on the keyboard, yet they are the SAME NOTE.
I had to keep watching from 1:30 and watch out for the two same notes played at 1:34 to notice it - I watched over and over, and even had S watch with me until she too noticed it - you’ll see the first ball is thrown down along the inside of his right leg (on your left) and the second one right afterwards drops down the outside of his right leg (again on your left), but the same note is played.
He’s an amazing juggler and great entertainer, but that’s it. That keyboard is obviously a pre-programmed sequencer. Great entertainer, but to claim that he can play the piano with balls is nothing short of bullshit.
December 10th, 2008 at 9:22 am
Except … the video on his web site shows him playing the piano with the balls again, and in that video, he missed a note about halfway through. He hits the wrong key with the ball and it obviously sounds wrong.
While I agree that he has reprogrammed the keys, he could also program the same note on two different keys, to make it easier for him to hit it with two balls thrown from the same hand, which is what happens at 1:34 in the video you show.
What he is doing is amazing, and there is probably no other person in the world who can do it … since he created the keyboard and programs the keys, he can program to make it a little easier on himself. I do not believe he has the keyboard play a pre-programmed note no matter where he strikes the keyboard with the ball. The balls all strike roughly where you would imagine the corresponding pitch to be.
And the ultimate example is the video on his own site, where he misses a note. If he programmed it for perfection, why program a missed note?
December 12th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
I see where you’re going with that, and in theory it has strength… apart from my nagging brain asking the question, why would he program two separate keys with the same note? and if he does indeed go that route, how many other keys has he “double programmed”? surely if that is what he decided to do (in an effort to perhaps allow himself some room for errors, the keyboard is too small for many duplicate noted keys for him to play the music in the first place.
no?