But when you interview Neil about it, don’t mention the moon part.
I heard they had a space program
When they sing you can’t hear, there’s no air
-They Might Be Giants
An acoustic grand piano depends on gravity to operate correctly, specifically to return the hammer to a position where it is ready to be struck again. The dampers depend on gravity as well. You could probably play it, but very slowly.
That “grand piano” that Keith Emerson played in the contraption that rotated it upside down? Electronic keyboard in a grand piano case.
It wouldn’t be too tough to retrofit an acoustic piano with springs, though.
Guitarist stomps on his pedal(s) and launches himself slightly into the air.
He would have to bolt the Wah-wah to the floor and have a strap to keep his foot affixed to the device.
Guitar should be no issue since it has been played in free fall:
Brian
In space, no one can hear you rock&roll.
Drumsticks have the same mass regardless of gravity. Drumheads have the same physical properties regardless of gravity. Your muscles have the same mass and wield the same force regardless of gravity. Gravity wouldn’t affect the physical means of sound production of muscle-powered sticks on skins.
One small step for a band, one giant leap for bandkind.
“Spaceship Superstar”, one of my all-time favorite songs!
Spinal Tap also toured the world, and elsewhere.
This is another great Prism song with allusions to outer space.
Which begs the HHGTTG reference:
Disaster Area
And would the first band be OK Go? They’ve already been practicing their stage show…
I would definitely think rebound strokes would be affected and at least take the drummer some time to acclimate to the feel of it.
I saw them when they opened for Chang’e:
There were no electronic keyboards capable of realistic grand piano sounds in the 70’s (expect bulky Mellotrons). So mostly likely it was pre-recorded on tape.
Although considering the Emerson’s extravagance I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a real piano with a custom-made mechanism inside.
I was curious about this, so I rotated one of the toms on my drum set so that it was completely vertical instead of mostly horizontal, so that the rebound from hitting it would not be affected by gravity. There is still Earth’s gravity involved, but the force of gravity is now at a right angle to the drum stick and tom compared to what it normally is.
If I very lightly held the stick and hit the tom, it did rebound slightly more than the normal horizontal tom. But if I actually played any kind of drum beat the difference wasn’t noticeable.
Based on that I am going to say that the rebound wouldn’t be affected in any meaningful way.
FWIW, I was also surprised at how quickly I was able to adjust to the tom being both higher and vertical.
I sure hope their legs don’t break.
And don’t forget:
Bagpipes in spaaaaace!
Stereolab also addressed this, more than 30 years ago.
They took their instruments, and recorded on the moon…where the air is different.
Volume is the issue, sorry if I phrased it poorly.