A MIDI-Controlled Piano Amazingly Speaks the Words to an EU Environmental Proclamation Aloud

Austrian composer Peter Ablinger transposed a child’s voice reading the Proclamation of the European Environmental Criminal Court onto an amazing MIDI-controlled piano that interpreted and spoke the words aloud in a fairly understandable voice. Ablinger created this project for the World Venice Forum in 2009.

(translated) I break down this phonography, meaning a recording of something the voice, in this case – in individual pixels, one can say. And if I have the possibility of a rendering in a fairly high resolution (and that I only get with a mechanical piano), then I, in fact restore some kind of continuity. Therefore, with a little practice, or help or subtitling, we actually can hear a human voice in a piano sound.

Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.