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Okay, check this out:

 

When I play my acoustic piano, one of my dogs always comes into the room and curls up next to, under or near the piano. Always...and usually pretty quickly, too.

 

DHigPBq.jpg

 

When I play the Hammond, both dogs come listen. Pretty much always...and again, within a few minutes (if it takes that long).

 

When I'm playing with the synths, neither dog comes to hang out. Occasionally, the one who likes both the piano and organ wanders in to say hey...but he never stays. Makes no difference what sound/instrument I'm playing. :idk:

 

Fascinates me.

 

Anyone else with similar experiences?

 

dB

 

:snax:

 

:keys:==> David Bryce Music • Funky Young Monks <==:rawk:

 

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I have mentioned before that I feed wild raccoons on my back deck. Sometimes if the weather is good I play guitar for them through the screen door--electric, but unplugged, so it's very quiet. I figure their hearing is much better than mine, not having been abused, so that volume level is plenty.

 

I have discovered through trial and error that raccoons prefer arpeggios to full chords and that they are discriminating enough to know when I'm "on" in that if I play lead riff/single note material, they'll approach the door to listen if I'm playing well. If not, they eat and ignore me.

 

Humbling, that is.

 

And there I was, believing that "music hath charms to soothe the savage breast." Um...maybe...but only if you're at the top of your game. The bloody audience is far more discriminating than I'd been led to expect. Humans are far less picky...give 'em a beer, play 'em a tune, let 'em dance, and they're happy. Raccoons? Raised pinky on the cuppa and a raised eyebrow to go with it. Not so easy to please.

 

You have been warned.

 

Grey

I'm not interested in someone's ability to program. I'm interested in their ability to compose and play.

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In a similar discussion not long ago, I had the theory that the piano would have lots of overtones we can't hear, which dogs can, which may make it a more interesting sound for them, compared to anything that comes out of a speaker, which usually has basically nothing over 20k at best. But that wouldn't explain the interest in the Hammond.

Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-)

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But that wouldn't explain the interest in the Hammond.

Loki (the one who also likes the piano) seems to dig the Leslie a lot - he usually positions himself near it. That's actually what he's listening to in the photo above...

 

My Husky usually sits on the other side of the Hammond (five to ten feet away). She actually comes over faster than he does when I fire it up.

 

dB

:snax:

 

:keys:==> David Bryce Music • Funky Young Monks <==:rawk:

 

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And there I was, believing that "music hath charms to soothe the savage breast."

 

I don't know about soothing, but I've seen them set free at a few gigs.

Dan

 

Acoustic/Electric stringed instruments ranging from 4 to 230 strings, hammered, picked, fingered, slapped, and plucked. Analog and Digital Electronic instruments, reeds, and throat/mouth.

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My late great nineteen year old dog would not stay in the room when I played piano. My two younger dogs lie down under the piano if theyre around when I play. I notice if I leave the windows open, birds start singing along. All true.

 

No organ (clonewheel) data. Different room, door usually closed and not a lot of places to lie down.

Kawai KG-2C, Nord Stage 3 73, Electro 4D, 5D and Lead 2x, Moog Voyager and Little Phatty Stage II, Slim Phatty, Roland Lucina AX-09, Hohner Piano Melodica, Spacestation V3, pair of QSC 8.2s.

 

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Okay, check this out:

 

When I play my acoustic piano, one of my dogs always comes into the room and curls up next to, under or near the piano.

 

When I play the Hammond, both dogs come listen.

 

When I'm playing with the synths, neither dog comes to hang out.

 

Fascinates me.

 

Anyone else with similar experiences?

 

dB

Dave, I am also fascinated by this behaviour.

 

We have a much loved pooch who will come and listen to me play my acoustic piano, it seems to lull him into a trance!

 

When I play my digital keyboards, including piano patches, he couldn't care less.

 

 

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We were fostering a crazy temperamental cat for a while and when I'd play my piano, she often came in the room and started rolling around.

"I'm so crazy, I don't know this is impossible! Hoo hoo!" - Daffy Duck

 

"The good news is that once you start piano you never have to worry about getting laid again. More time to practice!" - MOI

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My recently departed mutt would come down often and hang while I was practicing. Funny thing is: I was almost always wearing cans, so all she was hearing was me bang away on the keybed.

Yamaha P515 & CK88, Pianoteq, Mainstage, iOS, assorted other stuff.

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My beagle will actually climb on the upper octave of pedals when Im cranking the B. When I have the reface YC in my lap it develops nose prints instantly, and hes accidentally hit those funky draw bars to find different registrations.

 

At least he doesnt howl along any more......

 

Jake

1967 B-3 w/(2) 122's, Nord C1w/Leslie 2101 top, Nord PedalKeys 27, Nord Electro 4D, IK B3X, QSC K12.2, Yamaha reface YC+CS+CP

 

"It needs a Hammond"

 

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My recently departed mutt would come down often and hang while I was practicing. Funny thing is: I was almost always wearing cans, so all she was hearing was me bang away on the keybed.

Now that's really interesting. I have no problem allowing for the possibility that she was able to perceive how much you were digging it. That would actually make sense in my case - every time I fire the Hammond up, it makes me way happy.

 

Yes, I completely believe that kind of connection is possible with animals. Including other humans. :D

 

dB

:snax:

 

:keys:==> David Bryce Music • Funky Young Monks <==:rawk:

 

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That would actually make sense in my case - every time I fire the Hammond up, it makes me way happy.

 

Yes, I completely believe that kind of connection is possible with animals. Including other humans. :D

 

dB

 

My Maine Coon cat Choo Choo always joins me in the studio. If I'm in other parts of the house he's MIA but when I play he lays down right behind my bench. He's happy when I'm happy. Last night as I powered the gear down he stood up and began purring loudly. So we had a little personal attention time and went our separate ways, at least until meal time.

9 Moog things, 3 Roland things, 2 Hammond things and a computer with stuff on it

 

 

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My recently departed mutt would come down often and hang while I was practicing. Funny thing is: I was almost always wearing cans, so all she was hearing was me bang away on the keybed.

Now that's really interesting. I have no problem allowing for the possibility that she was able to perceive how much you were digging it. That would actually make sense in my case - every time I fire the Hammond up, it makes me way happy.

 

Yes, I completely believe that kind of connection is possible with animals. Including other humans. :D

 

dB

 

LOL, not MY other human. My wife doesn't want to hear the keybed sonatas even a little (there's no door at either end of the staircase), and when I come up I usually find that she's put an additional level between us and gone up to the 2nd floor. Can't really say that I blame her.

Yamaha P515 & CK88, Pianoteq, Mainstage, iOS, assorted other stuff.

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Now that you say it... same here. Our dogs all reliably gather around the piano. They dont always convene around me otherwise. The electronic stuff is not an attractant. I have wondered if they can connect musically, like the sounds, or just feed on the vibe.

Chris

Main gear: Yamaha C7, Kronos 2 88, Moog Sub 37, CK61,  Kurzweil PC2x, Pearl epro, Mac/Logic/AUs

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the dogs I had always seemed to get 'jealous' when I played the piano and would come up and put their nose under my elbow and demand to be petted or act like they were begging at the table. The piano I had was always out of tune as well.
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no dogs, but my cat and my wife both go running out of the room when I start to play. No acoustic piano frequency mojo to entice them to stay, would be curious to see if that would work.

 

Here's 10 hours of music that's supposed to relax your dog. I listened for a minute and it worked on me as I fell right to asleep.

 

[video:youtube]

Some music I've recorded and played over the years with a few different bands

Tommy Rude Soundcloud

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the dogs I had always seemed to get 'jealous' when I played the piano and would come up and put their nose under my elbow and demand to be petted or act like they were begging at the table. The piano I had was always out of tune as well.

Maybe because the piano was out of tune, they were begging you to stop.

Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-)

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It does seem that cats do have a proclivity for Leslies at least. Good thing it didn't reach its destination. It wouldn't be as funny as the video of the cat and the ceiling fan.

 

[video:youtube]https://www.youtube.com watch?v=i9baOuxCKEc

Don

 

"Yes, on occasion I do talk to myself, sometimes I need an expert's opinion."

 

Alesis DG8, ARP(Korg)Odyssey Mk.1, Roland JU-06 & Keystation61. Stratocaster if I get tired of sitting.

 

 

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I had an old powered Roland mixer that ran so hot, it could toast a bagel. My cat would bond with it in the winter. I assume that her relationship with it might have been strained if I was not in a headphones-only mode. Cats seem to disappear like a shot if you come up with a bass transient event that rattles a window.

 

I also had a friend whose hippie dog would attend during our practices, but who would howl along when any woodwind-type sounds were employed. Not the bells, geetars or drums... just the flute-y & clarinet-ish patches. I had a g/f who did likewise, but that's another story.

 "I want to be an intellectual, but I don't have the brainpower.
  The absent-mindedness, I've got that licked."
        ~ John Cleese

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One Hypothesis:

 

1. Piano: Spectrum is band-limited by the acoustics of the piano. Fido is relatively soothed by the frequencies that roll off well before Fido's response (he hears it as muffled soothing tones).

 

2. Hammond: Similar argument as above. Sum of sinusoidal components. Percussion and distortion not withstanding.

 

3. Synth: Now you're exercising (irritating) the upper portions of Fido's hearing with the infinite (albeit filtered) frequency components of squared off waveforms. Even though they are filtered, the relative emphasis near the cutoff frequency probably turns off Fido. To him, it sounds like clanging pots and pans.

 

Dave, can you give us a 4th data point? When you play your Accordion, what does Fido do? It may help us extrapolate from the other instruments to advance this theory. :)

 

J a z z  P i a n o 8 8

--

Yamaha C7D

Montage8 | CP300 | CP4 | SK1-73 | OB6 | Seven

K8.2 | 3300 | CPSv.3

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Cats and Dogs both hear different frequency ranges than humans do and I always wonder how much that plays into it. My cats for a while used to flip out over certain sounds - like if I played dog bark samples, or made some synth sound that could be a whining cat. But over the years I think they've learned to ignore anything that comes out of my keyboard rig. Sometimes YouTube videos get their attention just a little, though. We watch a lot of cat videos (me and the kids) and sometimes the cats hear the sounds and get a bit worked up.

 

One thing....they are definitely afraid of my guitars, period. And also, they will ABSOLUTELY lay in any open case (keys or guitar, don't matter). Leave an open case, come back, cats WILL be laying in it. Hell, I can put an 8-1/2x11 sheet of paper on the floor and they'll lay on THAT.

Dan

 

Acoustic/Electric stringed instruments ranging from 4 to 230 strings, hammered, picked, fingered, slapped, and plucked. Analog and Digital Electronic instruments, reeds, and throat/mouth.

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One Hypothesis:

 

1. Piano: Spectrum is band-limited by the acoustics of the piano. Fido is relatively soothed by the frequencies that roll off well before Fido's response (he hears it as muffled soothing tones).

 

2. Hammond: Similar argument as above. Sum of sinusoidal components. Percussion and distortion not withstanding.

 

3. Synth: Now you're exercising (irritating) the upper portions of Fido's hearing with the infinite (albeit filtered) frequency components of squared off waveforms. Even though they are filtered, the relative emphasis near the cutoff frequency probably turns off Fido. To him, it sounds like clanging pots and pans.

 

Dave, can you give us a 4th data point? When you play your Accordion, what does Fido do? It may help us extrapolate from the other instruments to advance this theory. :)

Can't say about accordion but when I was a kid, my Dad had an old Hohner "Tremelo" harmonica (two slightly detuned reeds per note). Whenever he would play it, the cat would drop everything and climb up under his chin trying to get as close as she could to it. Just couldn't get enough of that sound. Any other instrument, meh.

Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.

-Mark Twain

 

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Nola enjoyed my SK1, but she also likes my Electro 5.

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj60/dan88z/8099b1b5-c4f4-4564-955f-95ba95b5e46b_zpssucqjhj7.jpg

Live: Korg Kronos 2 88, Nord Electro 5d Nord Lead A1

Toys: Roland FA08, Novation Ultranova, Moog LP, Roland SP-404SX, Roland JX10,Emu MK6

www.bksband.com

www.echoesrocks.com

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  • 5 months later...

Resurrecting this thread as the other day I was called out for procrastinating when I should have been practicing:

 

tumblr_pjndaghuQz1ual3guo1_1280.jpg

 

Lacking the fortitude to resist, I succumbed to the silent judgement of my good mate. Practice commenced shortly thereafter to a favourable response. Below photo was taken a few days later but is representative of the standard reaction to an afternoon at the piano (note wagging tail):

 

tumblr_pjndb2NtJR1ual3guo1_1280.jpg

 

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