Mechanical Pianos

Speaking of pianolas, or "player" pianos, Jaquard looms, or other manifestations of computer genetic material, I once participated in one of Trimpin's installations.
It consisted of nine computer operated toy pianos arranged in groups of three with a coin operated control panel.
One could stuff a quarter in the slot and select one of about 44 titles most of which were by local composers who responded to a call for scores,
One of them was my own "Slo motion number 9"
Scoring for this ensemble was tricky because, although all 9 pianos had the same limited range, each piano needed a separate line, so some needed to be in the treble and some in the bass clef.
I tried to include a passage in which a rapid line swirled around the room, each note on a different piano. It didn't work. It just sounded like random tinkling, which wasn't too bad an effect on it's own but didn't really fit the rest of the piece.
Not that the music was sophisticater enough for it to make too much difference.
Anyway, the composers got to keep the quarters (I made $10.00)*
But it was fun for all except, perhaps, for some of the Jackstraw employees who reported that the favorite piece of the installation "Alley Cat" was overplayed and got a bit annoying.
If you ever get a chance to experience a Trimpin computer controlled music installation, do it. One of my favorites was the water organ. A room full of water filled buckets had organ pipes lowered and raised into them causing the air to be pushed through the reeds making the sound.
The raising and lowering was controlled by a bank of photoelectric sensors passing over a wall of CD blanks.
A wonderfull sound not unlike being in a cathedral on some distant planet.
You realize that we are on a distant planet?
Way out in space?
Don't you?


* to the IRS; I reported it.