Nora the Cat and a lesson about God

Nora the Cat in Catcerto, by Mindaugas Piečaitis

Yesterday I presented the adorable Nora, a pianist cat. Today’s video is even better: Mindaugas Piečaitis, a Lithuanian composer, managed to put together a piece inspired by and containing various fragments of music that Nora spontaneously executed. A live orchestra was used to accompany the video montage of Nora’s own solo improvisations. What makes this “Catcerto” unique is the fact that Piečaitis came up with a compelling, catchy music composition, while at the same time retaining the flavor of the original inspiration… something that came from a cat! Nora tends to play on keys that are close together, due to her physical limitations (being a small animal!) which translates into melancholic tunes; at…

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Nora the Cat Genius, playing the piano

Nora the cat

Plus some thoughts about the artists’ brains… You need to see this, if you don’t know about Nora already. Nora is a genius cat, capable of playing the piano, sorta. She got adopted by a music family. She had the opportunity to observe and eventually imitate the students that were getting piano lessons at her home.   A piano isn’t designed for a cat, her paws are too big to begin with. But it’s remarkable how she’s trying, producing somewhat convincing sequences of notes. Of course she can get easily distracted, but you must admit her performances are quite extraordinary.  Other cats may walk on keys, even step on a key producing a sound…

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