The Optophonic Piano
Wladimir Baranoff-Rossiné started building his optophonic piano in the 1915s. A set of painted glass discs are rotated via the small keyboard. Light is projected through the discs onto the wall. The player can control intensity of light and speed of rotation. 6 or 8 keys of the 3-octaves keyboard are devoted to colored discs. It is not clear what kind of sound the keyboard is able to produce. Oscillator frequencies (as stated in some articles) are rather unlikely between 1915-1920. More probably the light show was performed with piano accompaniment, maybe performed on the reduced keyboard of the Optosonic Piano, akin to a toy piano.
Read more about this topic: Music Without Sound
Famous quotes containing the word piano:
“Film music should have the same relationship to the film drama that somebody’s piano playing in my living room has to the book I am reading.”
—Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971)