Video of piano thrown by trebuchet, with great sound?
February 11, 2022 6:00 PM   Subscribe

Can anyone provide a link to a video where a piano is thrown by a trebuchet, which ends with a funny, musical crash (instead of just a muffled crunch)?

There are a ton of videos from Burning Man, but the noise isn't satisfying: it's just a sort of woody smashing. I am hoping to find one with a twangy, musical noise.

It's, uh, to show one of my kids. Definitely not for my own amusement
posted by wenestvedt to Media & Arts (7 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: Would the piano fling from Northern Exposure do? Around 49:30 here, or 47:30 if you want Chris's speech first. (Sorry it's mirrored and all, but Northern Exposure is super hard to find in legit digital format.)

(Edited to add another link for context!)
posted by sigmagalator at 8:22 PM on February 11, 2022 [6 favorites]


Response by poster: OH, YEAH!!

That is very likely the exact video I was thinking of -- thank you both! I watched Northern Exposure from the very first episode, and can't believe I forgot this one.

The sound of impact miiiight have a little Foley help, but I don't care.
posted by wenestvedt at 5:10 AM on February 12, 2022 [2 favorites]


Oh man, thank you for this. When I was maybe twenty I was part of a crew of dudes moving a piano at a summer camp. We loaded it into a pickup, and then the knucklehead driving it took the only turn on the quick drive too fast, and the piano toppled out and landed flat on the road, making one of the most incredible sounds I've heard in my life. This is the closest I've heard to that since.
posted by lhputtgrass at 10:12 AM on February 12, 2022 [6 favorites]


Best answer: I also wondered about the realism of that Northern Exposure scene! This LA Times article suggests the final result in the show was edited together from 9 (!) flings, and includes the flinger's testimony of what it sounded like in person. Edited to add it in text, why not:

"To see that piano go whoosh, like a little pebble! It gets smaller in the distance, and the keys are flying off, dark keys and white keys. . . . The way they sprinkled through the air: Oh, it was beautiful!

Then there was a humming, like a harmonica sound. Air was blowing through the piano. . . . But the best sound of all was when it hit: a piano just smashing to pieces all over the frozen ground. . . . It’s not a crash. It’s a tinkly, air chime kind of--'ta-king!'--sound. And then there’s a little after-tinkle . . . a metallic clink-clink.

Then just dead silence.”

Anyway, I am glad it's what you're after!
posted by sigmagalator at 10:59 AM on February 12, 2022 [7 favorites]


Response by poster: "But the best sound of all was when it hit: a piano just smashing to pieces all over the frozen ground. . . . It’s not a crash. It’s a tinkly, air chime kind of--'ta-king!'--sound. And then there’s a little after-tinkle . . . a metallic clink-clink. Then just dead silence."

sigmagalator, that sound is the hymn I want played at the end of my funeral.
posted by wenestvedt at 5:11 PM on February 12, 2022 [1 favorite]


Ahhh. "It's not the thing you fling; it's the fling itself." My favorite show.
posted by Occula at 8:40 AM on February 14, 2022 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: Update: the video really was to show to one of my kids!

She joined the middle school Science Olympiad "Build It" competition this year for the first time. She and a friend built a trebuchet after watching one YouTube video. The friend's dad id all the power tool work, but they did all the design and tinkering.

They competed in the Rhode Island state event two weeks ago: four teams entered, two teams' devices failed to work, and our girls beat perennial try-hard Barrington (who has, like, a paid Science Olympiad coach) -- so they won! They're going to get a medal and stuff!

The videos you all shared certainly fired her imagination -- so thank you!
posted by wenestvedt at 10:17 AM on April 14, 2022 [2 favorites]


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