Nora, the Piano-Playing Cat.

• biltmore
  February 9th, 2007 at 2:54 pm

  That is soooooo cute!

• Christopher Innes
  February 9th, 2007 at 3:30 pm

  What a clever cat! My cat’s only talents are mooching food off the neighbours and sleeping 20 hours a day. Some of the pieces Nora played sounded almost exactly like free-form jazz music.

• Barrett
  February 9th, 2007 at 3:36 pm

  Bravo! I think the feline’s juxaposition of those grand gestures (ie. the modal sweeps), coupled with an almost atonal sensibility, makes for a radically iconclastic and, I daresay, refreshingly earnest approach to the impressionist idiom.

  also.. it’s cute.

• owen
  February 9th, 2007 at 6:39 pm

  I didn’t check out the link but I’m assuming they put catnip on the keys (the head-rubbing bit looks especially like that). Still cool though.

• ted
  February 9th, 2007 at 6:48 pm

  My thoughts exactly. Catnip.

• artschild
  February 9th, 2007 at 8:45 pm

  I don’t know about the catnip - I think anyone owning a quality piano would be a bit concerned about dumping catnip between the keys. Plus - the site says she started doing it on her own. My thought is Nora here sees people paying strict attention to those keys a good amount of the time, and thought she’d try it herself. Once she did, she got attention for it, so she kept going. My cats frequently express great interest in my laptop when they see me spend a lot of time with it, similarly, trying to rub their heads against it, and putting their paws on the keys. It’s like saying “look, if you won’t step AWAY from this thing, I’ll join you. Look, see, I like it, too. Just pay attention to me, already.”

• artschild
  February 9th, 2007 at 8:49 pm

  She also seems to favor notes in a certain frequency range, on the high end of those she can reach. She may just really like the sound - my cats go nuts for some high-pitched noises, getting equally head-rubby. I assume it has something to do with bird-seeking instincts.

• tomas
  February 9th, 2007 at 9:57 pm

  One of my favorite John Cage pieces…

• Jane
  February 10th, 2007 at 10:23 am

  Cute at first, but that would be more annoying than a small child after a while.

• Peter
  February 10th, 2007 at 2:15 pm

  @Jane: Naw! I’d love to have a cat like this!

• jonno
  February 10th, 2007 at 3:52 pm

  Am i the only one that think that cat sucks at playing the piano?!?

• ted
  February 10th, 2007 at 4:31 pm

  Nope. Can’t even play chopsticks.

• Heather
  February 10th, 2007 at 7:04 pm

  My late cat, Snoopy used to like listening to classical piano music on the radio - I think that they find it soothing. I never had a piano for him to play on though!

• Jenny
  February 10th, 2007 at 7:34 pm

  My cat doesn’t play the piano… when I play, he licks my elbow, though…
  He’s not very normal.

• Peter
  February 11th, 2007 at 6:31 pm

  @jonno: But then: You’re not a cat - or are you? Maybe you’ve just learned how to operate the keys of the keyboard in front of you.

• Peter
  February 11th, 2007 at 6:37 pm

  @Christopher Innes: I agree!

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