Should pianos talk? It’s a longstanding question without an easy answer. “No,” some might say. But the psychoacoustic phenomenon of instruments sounding human remains, and it’s a bit uncanny. Why? I’m not sure. I think it’s the uncanny valley of sound. You can hear the words being spoken, but something’s obviously not quite right. I mean, it’s a piano.
Up top is a piano speaking the Proclamation of the European Environmental Criminal Court back in 2009. But here’s a different example of the Bee Gees’ “Stayin’ Alive,” played entirely on piano. But not just on a piano, you know. With several pianos. You get enough clarity to hear the Bee Gees singing the words in something that sounds like a distorted musical nightmare at 2:00 a.m. But it’s there!
It’s not so different from sine-wave speech, I guess, but a little more pointed because the sound is coming from something mechanical and physical.