# A cat. Played on a piano **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [March 27, 2023, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-cat-played-on-a-piano/981736 "2023-03-27T21:01:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2023, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-cat-played-on-a-piano/981736/1 "2023-03-27T21:01:28Z")
If you ever wondered what a cat would sound like if played on a piano :- https://www.youtube.com/embed/zECqpwghQOs?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque&list=UULFGfGP45SQujt5vZVJsa3nHQ It’s part of a whole series of animal musical renditions. (No stoat though). Yes discourse. while i agree there are similarities it’s actually **NOTHING LIKE THOSE**. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2023, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-cat-played-on-a-piano/981736/2 "2023-03-27T21:20:03Z")
I opened this thread just because I was having a really hard time parsing the title. What the heck is a cat, played on a piano!? Oh. That’s what it is. Yup. These must have taken incredible skill to make, to come up with something that actually sounds like music. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2023, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-cat-played-on-a-piano/981736/3 "2023-03-27T21:42:33Z")
Huh, it’s actually a really nice song. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2023, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-cat-played-on-a-piano/981736/4 "2023-03-28T00:23:19Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I opened this thread just because I was having a really hard time parsing the title. What the heck is a cat, played on a piano!? I am very relieved. I’m not even going to say what I’m relieved that it wasn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2023, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-cat-played-on-a-piano/981736/5 "2023-03-28T02:57:28Z")
I expected this. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/J---aiyznGQ/hqdefault.jpg "Charlie Schmidt's Keyboard Cat! - THE ORIGINAL!") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J---aiyznGQ) ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2023, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-cat-played-on-a-piano/981736/6 "2023-03-28T16:48:45Z")
Charlie Schmidt is a local “celebrity” from nearby Spokane. Keyboard cat isn’t his only contribution to raising local culture. He also won several art and performance awards for live performances. 😉 [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/z6OTkBRW8OI/maxresdefault.jpg "Charlie Schmidt - "It's Not Unusual" (1994) - MDA Telethon") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6OTkBRW8OI) ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2023, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-cat-played-on-a-piano/981736/7 "2023-03-28T18:34:21Z")
IIRC this one was the real original [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/5fGQLHKx-Y0/hqdefault.jpg "Nora: The "Original" Practice Makes Purr-fect") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fGQLHKx-Y0) ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2023, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-cat-played-on-a-piano/981736/8 "2023-03-28T19:20:22Z")
Nora may be an artist. But keyboard cat is a STAR. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2023, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-cat-played-on-a-piano/981736/9 "2023-03-28T22:36:38Z")
I don’t know about “original”… We had a cat that liked playing the piano back in the 90s, and I imagine that she was far from the first, either. Probably there have been feline pianists for nearly as long as there have been pianos. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2023, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-cat-played-on-a-piano/981736/10 "2023-03-29T01:45:09Z")
My cats (all 6 of ‘em) weren’t impressed. They submit [THIS](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWPfSvRYWag&t=3s) as their feline anthem. ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2023, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-cat-played-on-a-piano/981736/11 "2023-03-29T03:10:33Z")
My first kitty liked to occasionally wander across the piano keys. We **guess** he got chased onto the keys by a littermate at some point, liked the sound and started his keyboard wandering. He scared the living daylights out of my sister the first time, though. She was home alone and heard him walking. She was all “ghost? Burglar? But why would a burglar be playing the piano?”, then snuck over to the living room and peered around the corner and saw him walking back and forth. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2023, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-cat-played-on-a-piano/981736/12 "2023-03-29T04:47:17Z")
> [@kitap](#): > > He scared the living daylights out of my sister the first time, though. She was home alone and heard him walking. She was all “ghost? Burglar? But why would a burglar be playing the piano?”, then snuck over to the living room and peered around the corner and saw him walking back and forth. Advantages of living with cats? One is, if there are weird noises in the night, you can always think ‘It must be the cats!’ and go back to sleep. If you wake up and there are weird noises and all the cats are asleep on the bed: ‘well, if it were serious trouble, the cats would be awake!’ So if they’re asleep, you can go back to sleep too. If you wake up and the cats are on the bed, but wide awake and staring intently at something you can’t see: ‘eerie beings are the cats’ business, they can see them and I can’t. The cats will take care of it, I can go back to sleep.’ – I ran through that sequence once for a friend and he looked at me and said ‘But what if it’s a real live burglar?’ I said, “That’s the dog’s job!” . ; (in practice, if the noises are suspicious enough, I get up and check. But so far it always has been a cat. Or the dog.)