88 MPH
magnetic resonator piano
magnetic resonator piano
The "Magnetic Resonator Piano" is a device created by musician and inventor Andrew McPherson. Inserted into the body of a traditional grand piano, and attached to a sensor bar above the keyboard, this device enhances the acoustic capabilities of the piano, using magnets to induce further vibrations upon the strings, in addition to those vibrations induced by the hammers. The result is purely acoustic, no speakers are utilized, but the traditional acoustic grand piano becomes capable of very "un-pianist" sounds such as indefinite, organ-like sustain or imperceptible "niente" attacks. Only a small handful of these devices exist.
I was invited to compose a work for this instrument for a concert in Los Angeles in 2015. At some point after being invited to write for the Magnetic Resonator Piano, I formed a fun connection in my head between the device and the time machine from Back to the Future. It started as a joke at a party, and then the joke stuck. Among the reasons for the image not going away: both the MRP and the Flux Capacitor are adapters that modify a traditional object (Grand Piano / DeLorean) giving that object amazing new powers, and both are ingenious inventions with a mad scientist behind them, and strange wires and electrodes protruding wildly from them. And then there are the numbers: 2015 being the year this piece was written and premiered, as well as the "future" year of Doc and Marty's travels, and lastly, the number 88, representing both the speed at which time travel takes place, and the number of keys on the piano. In final, unexpected instance of such a connection, the premiere took place at the Neighborhood Church of Pasadena, next door to the Gamble House, famously used as a filming location for "Back to the Future" as the exterior of Doc Brown's house. My intention has been to use the powers of the MRP to evoke the playful spirit and fun of the Back to the Future movies, with only a few veiled quotations of Alan Silvestri's score, along with, perhaps, a few distant echoes of Marty McFly's take on Chuck Berry. My thanks to Nic Gerpe for his invitation to write "88 MPH", People Inside Electronics for their amazing concert series, and Andrew McPherson, for his wondrous invention that is certain to take us all to an amazing musical and artistic future. |
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