7/24/2026 at 4:21:17 PM
Whenever I think of a true musical multitasker, I picture Dick Van Dyke’s character in Mary Poppins.There's an element of multitasking that is (while not exclusively) inherent to piano definitely is an important focus.
For instance, I play a lot of stride and blues piano. One of the hallmarks of those styles is having a rock-solid left hand that can maintain ornate but very consistent patterns. Once that’s locked in, your right hand is pretty much free to do whatever it wants. You'll find that your right hand can literally be almost totally independent.
It can sing out the melody, feed yourself grapes, or turn the pages of a book while your left hand just keeps on going - honestly fatigue is the biggest factor particlarly at higher tempos.
OTOH, musical multitasking where the left and right hands (or different parts of the body) are genuinely playing new, independent lines is tremendously more difficult.
Mad respect for Johann Sebastian Bach, who by all accounts could extemporize contrapuntal music essentially inventing fresh, independent patterns in both hands at the same time. I know that’s not multiple instruments in the literal sense, but in effect it kind of is, especially when you factor in the foot pedals of an organ.
by vunderba
7/26/2026 at 12:12:14 PM
Re: Bach, also factor in that an organ player’s two hands would often be playing on two separate manuals (keyboards) that produced different sounds from each other and from the footboard. The player could activate a different set of stops (groups of pipes that provide a consistent sound for each note playable in the range of the keyboards) for each keyboard or footboard, and could also vary those selections to some extent during a piece’s performance.If you look past conventional terminology, an organ really a single instrument in a similar way as a multi-input and multi-output synthesizer is a single instrument today — the difference is more that even a modern organ generally encodes most of the technology limitations of Bach’s time, whereas a computer-based synthesizer’s additional sound flexibility reflects the broader technology capabilities of our current times.
by butterflyhug
7/29/2026 at 7:57:15 PM
One nitpick: changing registration and playing on different manuals was not common in Bach's time; some scholars have gone as far as saying it was not done, even some pieces contain explicit instructions. But it's more of a Romance thing.by tgv
7/29/2026 at 6:42:42 PM
Many keyboard players will play stacked keyboards today - I've got a big Nord plus a bunch of little Reface keyboards, and they often each have their own pedals attached to control sustain, rotary speaker, etc. This is basically the same situation as what you're describing (except I'm not playing notes with my feet).by QuercusMax
7/29/2026 at 8:01:53 PM
For that matter, a kit drummer is essentially playing (up to) four instruments at once since each limb could be doing something unique (granted for many (most?) drummers, they’re just using the high-hat pedal as a footrest, beating quarter or half notes on the bass drum and their hands will be focused on a single instrument, but a truly talented drummer might have four unique rhythms going at once). Add in the fact that some drummers sing backup and it can be quite impressive.I had the pleasure of working with an amazing organist in my time at Holy Name Cathedral (he’s apparently since become semi-retired, just doing occasional fill-in work). Watching him do a Messiaen organ piece as a postlude after Mass it was like seeing video of Keith Moon on the drums. Limbs moving in a seemingly chaotic manner and yet music came out the other end (on top of crazy multi-manual keyboarding and pedalwork, he was also frequently changing the stops on the organ as he played).
by dhosek
7/29/2026 at 9:06:55 PM
As a fan of drumming, you're probably one of the millions who have seen this. But for anybody who hasn't, here's a fun video showing how complicated drumming can be with a live performance by someone whose nickname is "The Octopus".While the entire video is fun, the link is cued up to a place where there's a lot going on, but it's slow enough that you can kind of see what he's doing. Watch his knees to see what he's doing with pedals. Notice that his hands seem to be going in cycles, but there are subtle variations in the cycles.
At 8:54, strobe lights start up - that can't make it simpler to keep this focus. What he's doing looks essentially impossible to me, but I'm well aware that I don't know enough to understand just how insanely difficult it really is.
by rented_mule
7/29/2026 at 8:04:09 PM
Nice. Oh yeah for sure that makes sense. I also think of the locking in a limb to play a preset "pattern loop" is also really similar to juggling which is something I enjoy. Just a lot of overlap in general!by vunderba