Keyboards, pianos, harpsichords... oh my! Have you been on a tour of Cantos yet? If you haven't, this is something you've got to see. It was a stop on last Thursday's artWalk with Art.
Over 200 instruments are in this location and most are keyboard-based. From the earliest pianos to more recent keyboards and synthesizers, the music lover in me was captivated, and the engineer in a couple of other tour-goers seemed to be enthralled as well.
The tour itself was well orchestrated, our tour guide incredibly knowledgeable about each of the instruments she showed us, and equally as talented in her demonstrations of some of them!
For the life of me I cannot remember the names of the instruments (guess I'll just have to go back), but my favourite ones were the one-man band/organ and the instrument that played solely based on radio frequencies. The organ bit took up almost an entire room and used to be housed in theatres from days of yore when music was played live during a motion picture. The organ player could control a multitude of instruments from strings to percussion from one place. A more detailed description of it wouldn't even begin to do it justice. But experiencing it first-hand sure would! The radio frequency thing was extraordinary! You can control the volume with one hand and the tone and pitch with the other as the waves react with your own natural frequencies (forgive me for not having a more technical explanation). Again, can't really do that one justice.
Did I mention Elton John's first piano is also in the collection?
At any rate, the tour has convinced me to explore more of Cantos. It was 100% brilliant. Time for a concert :).