Conventional Fixtures Big: The Musical light-up piano

[mattbarber51993]

If you have seen the musical or movie you know there is a piano that lights up. My question is how could we make a piano keyboard light up? This is a high school doing the musical and we only have access to 8 side of house ellipsoidals (4 each side) some offstage par cans on vertical truss and MAYBE (and this is a very slim chance of happening) 2 moving heads. I thought of shuttering off some ellipsoidals to fit the shape of the key, but then we can only do a few keys. Any better ideas out there? Help is much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[LampieTheClown]

Matt,
Not sure why a leko would only hit a few keys, but you're there, and I'm not, so I'll take your word for it.
There are many inexpensive ways to "light the keys", but the first one off the top of my head is miniture Christmas lights. They draw little power, and I'll bet if you asked the cast n crew to look in their attic's, you would end up with enough strings to fill a baby grand.

Tape, tie, or hot glue the strings to a broom handle so that the bulbs all lay flat along it, then attach the result to the underside of the hinged cover that protects the keys.

Circuit as you would any "practical".

Good L ... umm, I mean, Break A Leg!

 

[zmb]

Christmas lights might look a little weird with having all the little lamps glowing undernearth. I would recommend 40 watt A21 lamps (common household lightbulb) evenly spaced in each key with some sort of diffuse material.

 

[Footer]

Just so we are all on the same page, the "Big Piano" is a staple of FAO Swartz on Fifth Ave. It is still there and you can still play on it. The FAO Swartz building is now blocked by the apple "cube" store, but its still back there.

We had a QOTD awhile ago that dealt with a light up check board, odds are you could use similar approach.

 

[Les]

Matt,
Not sure why a leko would only hit a few keys, but you're there, and I'm not, so I'll take your word for it.

I think the OP wants to light each key individually, and he only has enough instruments to light a few keys this way.


Anatomy of a piano.
In the unlikely event that you're using a real piano, there is no way you can light the keys from underneath. They're solid wood (spruce, usually) with a plastic (or ivory if its old) veneer. Putting any kind of lights in the piano (under the fallboard, etc) would be difficult or impossible because of space constraints, and it would most likely anger the owner. Maybe you could buy a used 61-key keyboard on ebay and light it. Some even come with lighted keys as a gimmicky learning feature, but they usually use red lights for this.

Here's a video of the FAO big piano in action:
Two girls, one giant piano - StumbleUpon

Something like this could be built much like how you would build a light up disco floor. Of course, it wouldn't function as a piano, but with some corresponding light and sound cues, it could be believable.

 

[zmb]

I think the OP wants to light each key individually, and he only has enough instruments to light a few keys this way.
Something like this could be built much like how you would build a light up disco floor. Of course, it wouldn't function as a piano, but with some corresponding light and sound cues, it could be believable.

Or could go farther and add in a switch to trigger each light.

 

[derekleffew]

... Any better ideas out there? ...

As said above, the best way is to build a light box for each key. The key is white Plexiglas® or Lexan® with an internal light source.

The next decision is how to trigger it? There are two options:
1. When the actor steps on the "key," he depresses a momentary switch, the note sounds and the key lights up.
2. The sound and light sequence is pre-recorded, and the actor follows the choreography to convince the audience that he is triggering the lights and sounds.
Either method is valid. The choice depends on the actor's talent and of course, budget and resources.

 

[c21anna]

We are doing the HS production this year. I was wondering how you ended up doing the piano? Thank you!

 

[jhsones]

Hi Anna,

I built a piano back in 2006 for this show. We made it in 3 sections (2 6' sections and 1 5' section). We unded up making the keys just wide enough for a DJ relay pack (I think we went with Chauvet) and put 3 or 4 light sockets with standard incondescent bulbs in each key. Each section had 2 relay packs inside and the first unit had a device called a Lanbox which we programmed to convert a Midi signal from a keyboard into a DMX signal to light up the matching key. So instead of being touch sensitive, the dancers just had to match the painist and it looked great. It was definitely a little pricey to build (the packs were around $90 each and the lanbox was around $400 - then the price of materials), but we do still have it in working order, so feel free to send me a message if you'd like to discuss renting it.

You could save some money by lighting it with DMX directly (without the midi lanbox), but then you have to sync the cast, board operator, and pianist together which could become quite a task.

Good luck with the show.

-Jordan

 

[Angelicabroadway]

Hello Jordan, can you give me more information about the piano rental? Do you have photos or video?
Angelica Torres [email protected]

Hi Anna,

I built a piano back in 2006 for this show. We made it in 3 sections (2 6' sections and 1 5' section). We unded up making the keys just wide enough for a DJ relay pack (I think we went with Chauvet) and put 3 or 4 light sockets with standard incondescent bulbs in each key. Each section had 2 relay packs inside and the first unit had a device called a Lanbox which we programmed to convert a Midi signal from a keyboard into a DMX signal to light up the matching key. So instead of being touch sensitive, the dancers just had to match the painist and it looked great. It was definitely a little pricey to build (the packs were around $90 each and the lanbox was around $400 - then the price of materials), but we do still have it in working order, so feel free to send me a message if you'd like to discuss renting it.

You could save some money by lighting it with DMX directly (without the midi lanbox), but then you have to sync the cast, board operator, and pianist together which could become quite a task.

Good luck with the show.

-Jordan