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It's Fun to Play the Piano ... Please Pass It On!
Today I put a runner on the piano, the kitty immediately came to see what's going on, jumped on the piano, slipped on the runner and thrown it on the floor. The sound of the piano does not bother him - he likes to listen to it as well as to walk on the keyboard feeling he is producing music. May try to buy a cover tomorrow... will see what is easier to live with - a cover or the cat on the piano.
The solution should include all parties coexist peacefully.
Oh, and while on the topic of cats and pianos, for those of us who don't happen to have a Bosendorfer Imperial, if you can get your cat to purr, then it will produce the same frequencies as the additional bass notes of the Bosendorfer. I prefer a light touch for this effect, with flattened fingers ...
Mind you, though your cat can also hear frequencies four octaves above the highest note on the piano, it doesn't identify them very accurately. So I wouldn't encourage it to sing, as the result will be badly out of tune ...
Until I saw the video below, I used to say "the only good cat is a [piano gotten rid of] cat." But now I must confess that they may have some redeeming qualities...
I grew up with cats around the house, mostly kept outside, and as companions for my younger sisters. I never paid too much attention to them (nor they to me) as I was too busy "doing my own thing".
Much later, and after many years of resistance, I reluctantly acceded to my wife's request to get a cat as a companion, particularly as work meant I was most of the week away. So a tiny little kitten, about 6 weeks old and badly underweight, arrived in our house from a rescue. (She had been dumped, with her 3 siblings, in a cardboard box at the side of the road before somebody spotted the box and brought them all to the rescue--they were nearly dead from starvation at that point.)
From the first day she stuck to my lap like a limpet, and I couldn't get rid of her. Like this:
Now, I'd find it hard to imagine our home without her.
So, in short, just because you might once have thought "the only good cat is ...", you might be surprised (and surprise yourself!) by what a cat is really like--loving, loyal, funny, graceful, clean, curious, smart, playful, communicative, and full of surprises. For some of us, anyway, there is no going back (a bit like going back to a life before having or playing piano), and at least in my case, I continue to be surprised by them, almost on a daily basis. Mind you, introducing a new strange cat into the house with one already established there is not for the faint-hearted, but that's another (long and rambling) story ...
Anyway, end of the Party Political Broadcast on behalf of Cats ...
PNO40 is so right about cats. Granted, growing up our house cat hid under the bed most of the time, and never went on my lap.
However, our two current animal family members are just like the one described above. I would also add "athletic" and "quick as lightning" to the adjectives.
I hope lots of folks are lucky enough to have a cat in their house like our two (both rescue cats) or PNO40's.
Yamaha C2X | Yamaha M500-F Groucho Marx: "Those are my principles, and if you don't like them... well, I have others." Curriculum: Faber Developing Artist (Book 3) Current: German Dance in D Major (Haydn) (OF); Melody (Schumann) (OF)
My family had a cat when I was young. We also had a huge old upright piano. The cat was vicious and anti-social, and decades later my extended family still loves to tell stories about his attacks. He periodically knocked the pedals off the piano and given his personality I am sure it was deliberate. He was too huge and clumsy to get on top of the piano, luckily, or I am sure he would have gone up there and knocked off the American art pottery that was displayed on top. In my view, you cannot really train a cat not to do something that the cat wants to do--the cat will just wait until you are not looking.
I do like cats, though, as long as they belong to someone else and as long as they are indoors and not killing the birds that I love to watch.
Dogs are great. My dog used to sleep with his head on my right foot while I played. He seemed to like the pedaling motion. While PN040's kitten is undeniably adorable, if you want a pet that you know in advance will have all the wonderful attributes PN040 mentions, in addition to not going on the piano (or being trainable not to), get a dog!
Last edited by Rank Piano Amateur; 12/19/1409:53 AM.
Oh boy! Here we go with "cat people" versus "dog people".
Seriously though, I love animals of all sorts; cats, dogs, ferrets, etc.
Regardless of what type of animal you have in your home, if you and the animal really "connect", that certainly adds to your quality of life.
Yamaha C2X | Yamaha M500-F Groucho Marx: "Those are my principles, and if you don't like them... well, I have others." Curriculum: Faber Developing Artist (Book 3) Current: German Dance in D Major (Haydn) (OF); Melody (Schumann) (OF)
if you want a pet that you know in advance will have all the wonderful attributes PN040 mentions, in addition to not going on the piano (or being trainable not to), get a dog!
Why not get both?!? It's certainly easier to have a cat and dog share a house than two cats who aren't related to one another ...
Oh, and I don't think the adjective 'clean' is readily applied to dogs, though it is guaranteed with cats ...
I do like cats, though, as long as they belong to someone else and as long as they are indoors and not killing the birds that I love to watch.
Reminds me of an old Tom Waits quip: "I don't mind going to weddings ... as long as it's not my own ..."
I have around 15 bird feeding stations in my rear yard. And my cats are allowed outside. Not one bird casualty to date. (I position them quite carefully.) And as it is winter in my part of the world, I imagine that even if the cats were to get one of the birds, the net effect would still be less than their not being fed in this time of short days, cold temperatures, and huge scarcity of natural food sources that means many simply perish overnight through not being able to maintain their body temperature.
The real enemies and destroyers of birds are humans, not cats. Both in terms of the destruction of natural habitats that has precipitated enormous population declines of countless species and extinctions of others. Not to mention what goes on in the broiler houses, egg-laying factories, and turkey farms. So, on this issue at least, I'd leave off the cats--they are more convenient scapegoats than genuine threats.
So I suppose the 'moral' of this tale (if it is a tale, and if it does have a moral) is that pianos, cats, dogs, and birds are not necessarily mutually exclusive. As one of the other posters mentioned, peaceful co-existence can be maintained, and with not a lot of effort either. "Live and let live" (and all that ...)
I've had cats all my life, but never a dog. I like dogs, but have a hard time with the smell.
I think that there are people who take this issue to extremes--One side saying "I can't stand cats" and the other saying "My precious little fluffy shall always be more important than the integrity of my case finish."
You can have it both ways. You can have a cat you love (like my huge 18lb sausage of a shin-biter) and also reasonably maintain your instrument with a little creativity. I think there are some on here who actually take umbrage to the thought of inconveniencing/scaring/irritating one's cat for the sake of the piano.
Cats feel a tremendous sense of entitlement that they alone are masters of their environment and have a right to everything in it. It's deeply gratifying and entertaining to remind them that this isn't so
2012 NY Steinway Model B | Kawai MP11 | Nord Stage 3 Compact | Moog Matriarch | ASM Hydrasynth 49 | Sequential Circuits Prophet 10 Rev4 | Yamaha ModX 61
We have 2 cats and 2 dogs. The dogs do indeed get along better with the cats than the two cats do amongst themselves although the cats have, after a few years, reached a reasonable detente. I like the cats; the two we have are numbers 4 and 5 for us but I count myself as a dog person. I have had a dog since I was 10, so close on to 47 years. The two we now are numbers 9 and 10 and that doesn't include the various foster and short term adoptions. I can live without cats. I can't imagine life without at least one dog.
Merry Saturnalia and a happy solar new year to all!
Kurt
********************************************************************************************************** Co-owner (by marriage) and part time customer service rep at an electronic musical equipment repair shop.
I'm chuckling a bit here. I adopted my cat from a local animal shelter. I was curious as to why the cat area had Mozart piped in ... all day. The director told me that "classical music calms the cats"' . Well when I got the cat home and she began to relax, she began to explore things a bit. I was working on some Zipoli at the time and the cat leaped onto the piano keys and lay down as if she belonged there. I was amused at first. Then I began to notice she had definite musical preferences and that certain composers seemed to strike a chord in her. She'd immediately leap onto the keys.
Her enthusiasm made it hard to practice. So I began to move her to the upper edge of the piano where she was "allowed" an octave's worth of keys, giving me enough space for most music. Sometimes I'd end up bumping her chin on the high notes. But we reached a compromise. I could skip a few notes now and then to avoid her. But the problem comes when I try to record some music for You Tube. Then she's relegated to the bathroom. Occasionally her howls ruin a recording session ... but I'm so fascinated by her clear preferences and that fact that she closes her eyes and purrs furiously when she like a particular piece. She lies there her body vibrating. The F major chord below middle C sends her into raptures. And anything by Bach or Zipoli.
However, the human voice .... mine in particular, irritates her terribly. I was at the computer one day, singing "Una Furtiva" rather badly I admit. Suddenly she uncurled herself from her nap and came over to me. She stared at me incredulously for a moment and then gave me a swat with her paw. First time that cat ever hit me. And the only time she hits me is when I sing. She hates "Ombra Mai Fu" too. I'm trying to catch one of these episodes on camera ... I'll bet it would go viral.
Sorry ... no help for the OP's problem. I've been hoodwinked by a musical cat.
I'm chuckling a bit here. I adopted my cat from a local animal shelter. I was curious as to why the cat area had Mozart piped in ... all day. The director told me that "classical music calms the cats"' .
And not only cats are partial to classical. I visited once a farm with close to 100 Jersey cows. They lived very good cow-lives, out all day till milking time, then in the barn till milking next morning. Now, the BARN was a sight to behold. The floor was so clean you could eat off it. And everywhere speakers with beautiful classical music coming out. When I asked the farmer about it, he said 'it increases milk production'. I don't remember the percentage, but it was substantial. I also asked him if he played other types of music, and he said no, that unsettled the cows.
I might add that horses as well seem partial to music, and will voluntarily 'move in step' with the rhythm.
Sorry if I'm off topic here. I don't suppose any of you have trouble keeping your cows or horses off the piano
XXXVII-XXXVIII I pray, that tomorrow I may strive to be a little better than I am today - and, on behalf of everybody else, I give thanks for headphones.
I have a Bengal cat who plays piano and sings accompaniment. I can't imagine not allowing him to do that. His preferred hour is 3AM but the old Mason & Risch is in the basement so it really isn't as bad as it sounds.
Yamaha LU101, Casio CDP220R. 1968 Mason & Risch 'frankenpiano' only the cat plays. It's where our musical journey began though so I refuse to get rid of it.
PNO40 is so right about cats. Granted, growing up our house cat hid under the bed most of the time, and never went on my lap.
However, our two current animal family members are just like the one described above. I would also add "athletic" and "quick as lightning" to the adjectives.
I hope lots of folks are lucky enough to have a cat in their house like our two (both rescue cats) or PNO40's.
Rescue pets are the best!
My cats are declawed on all 4 paws (or all 8) from the previous owner, so scratches aren't a concern. One of them enjoyed sitting inside my piano (I leave the lid open usually). I then realized he was really enjoying sitting on the piece of felt I laid on top of the strings. Of course, I would sometimes sit down to play and not realize he was in there (he's black and so is the felt) then I'd hear a loud CLUNK when I struck the strings upon which he was slumbering, and then see two glowing yellow eyes with a look of great offense in them staring back at me.
My piano tech said that my cat gets to enjoy my piano in a way I never will be able to.
When I removed the piece of felt, however, he stopped sleeping inside the piano, so for now that piece is not in there.
I totally understand not wanting the cat on there, though, especially if they do tend to claw things. A cover sounds like a great compromise.
I'm chuckling a bit here. I adopted my cat from a local animal shelter. I was curious as to why the cat area had Mozart piped in ... all day. The director told me that "classical music calms the cats"' . Well when I got the cat home and she began to relax, she began to explore things a bit. I was working on some Zipoli at the time and the cat leaped onto the piano keys and lay down as if she belonged there. I was amused at first. Then I began to notice she had definite musical preferences and that certain composers seemed to strike a chord in her. She'd immediately leap onto the keys.
Her enthusiasm made it hard to practice. So I began to move her to the upper edge of the piano where she was "allowed" an octave's worth of keys, giving me enough space for most music. Sometimes I'd end up bumping her chin on the high notes. But we reached a compromise. I could skip a few notes now and then to avoid her. But the problem comes when I try to record some music for You Tube. Then she's relegated to the bathroom. Occasionally her howls ruin a recording session ... but I'm so fascinated by her clear preferences and that fact that she closes her eyes and purrs furiously when she like a particular piece. She lies there her body vibrating. The F major chord below middle C sends her into raptures. And anything by Bach or Zipoli.
However, the human voice .... mine in particular, irritates her terribly. I was at the computer one day, singing "Una Furtiva" rather badly I admit. Suddenly she uncurled herself from her nap and came over to me. She stared at me incredulously for a moment and then gave me a swat with her paw. First time that cat ever hit me. And the only time she hits me is when I sing. She hates "Ombra Mai Fu" too. I'm trying to catch one of these episodes on camera ... I'll bet it would go viral.
Sorry ... no help for the OP's problem. I've been hoodwinked by a musical cat.
Cats are notorious for their critiques of vocal prowess. When some of my students sing, you will not see my cats anywhere, but the better ones will attract them. They generally love all piano playing. Had a student play guitar for the first time in his lesson, and one of my cats in the room just glared at him with his ears back and wide-eyed. I couldn't help but laugh! Guess he's not much of a fan of guitar!
Morodiene--did you give the cat another piece of felt to sit on?
My cats have obvious preferences for texture and even fiber content. Blind Minnie is especially partial to anything made of wool.
Anyone concerned about cat claws should know that you can clip the sharp tips off of them using nail clippers. I have just upgraded from normal clippers to Furminator nail clippers and they're great. Some of the cats protest more than others, but they all get a bite of tuna when it is over.
My cat is not clawing the piano, but just by walking on it he leaves tiny scratches. He is 19 pounds (8.5kg) long-hair, able to reach piano keyboard from the floor, easily jumps on it from the sofa, leaving hair everythere. He treats the piano like a new musical cat condo, laying on it, just not scratching.
So I have no choice... either protect the piano or get rid of the piano Do not know why, but the digital did not interest him, probably due to a slope on the lid.
Morodiene--did you give the cat another piece of felt to sit on?
My cats have obvious preferences for texture and even fiber content. Blind Minnie is especially partial to anything made of wool.
Anyone concerned about cat claws should know that you can clip the sharp tips off of them using nail clippers. I have just upgraded from normal clippers to Furminator nail clippers and they're great. Some of the cats protest more than others, but they all get a bite of tuna when it is over.
He's got many other places that he enjoys sleeping on. For a while I had the felt on the couch and he liked that. He's got a bed that he enjoys as well (and mine!) so he's not short of comfy places to sit.
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