Need a smile on a Sunday? This may help.
It sure made me smile. And I wonder… are there any stairs with 88 steps? That might make a good opportunity for a flash concerto.
Tip o’ the well tempered spandex to Fark.
-
About Bad Astronomy
Phil Plait, the creator of Bad Astronomy, is an astronomer, lecturer, and author. After ten years working on Hubble Space Telescope and six more working on astronomy education, he struck out on his own as a writer. He's written two books, dozens of magazine articles, and 12 bazillion blog articles. He is a skeptic and fights the abuse of science, but his true love is praising the wonders of real science.
The original BA site (with the Moon Hoax debunking, movie reviews, and all that) can be found here.
Contact me: The Bad Astronomer "at" gmail "dot" com
Bad Astronomy was chosen as one of Time.com's Best Blogs of 2009. Science Getaways
Subscribe to BA
Death from the Skies!
Order a copy of Death from the Skies! from Amazon, or Barnes and Noble.
"If things worked the way I wanted them to, any reporter about to do another 'sensational' story on deadly meteors would consult this volume, and bang! common sense would find its way into the news. How strange would that world be?"
-- Adam Savage, Mythbusters
"Reading this book is like getting punched in the face by Carl Sagan. Frightening, but oddly exhilarating."
-- Daniel H. Wilson, author of How to Survive a Robot UprisingSocial/Networking/Cool Stuff
DISCOVERmagazine.com: Latest Articles on Space- DISCOVER Blogs: The Loom
- Animal Friendships: My cover story for Time magazine
- The Future of E-books–podcast of my interview on Wisconsin Public Radio
- Thursday, February 16: Science and social media panel in New York
- A Scientific Jonah: My profile of Joy Reidenberg in tomorrow’s New York Times
- Ebooks on the radio: 6 pm ET tonight
Copyright © 2012, Kalmbach Publishing Co.
Privacy - Terms - Reader Services - Subscribe Today - Advertise - About Us
October 11th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
The excercise is good, but it’s the smiles that really count. More funtheory, please.
October 11th, 2009 at 12:28 pm
Thanks for sharing. First time at this blog, any blog, really. Maybe fun will change my opinions of blogs. *smile*
October 11th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
You mean people actually walk up those stairs 1.0 things?
http://www.stupidvideos.com/video/standup_comedy/Stuck_on_an_Escalator/
October 11th, 2009 at 1:05 pm
This did make me smile! Thanks!
October 11th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
I’d take those stairs! Fun is important. Thanks for the smile Phil!
October 11th, 2009 at 3:05 pm
Too bad that it is an advertisment. Still, good idea. One should really try this on a bigger scale, a real scientific experiment (and it must run longer than, say, a week – it is important to see if it begins to bore people….)
Still: A good ending of the weekend
October 11th, 2009 at 3:09 pm
There’s a set of musical stairs at our local science centre (W5 in Belfast) – great fun. Although theirs aren’t laid out to look like a piano. I feel cheated now.
October 11th, 2009 at 3:09 pm
Next step: Number the “keys” and put some posters on the wall with simple song instructions.
And, as DrFlimmer points out, I’d be curious of after a few weeks people start to avoid the stairs because they’re annoyed at the sound.
October 11th, 2009 at 3:25 pm
Nifty idea, but will people still be using the stairs a month later when it’s gotten old?
October 11th, 2009 at 3:30 pm
Here is another one from the same people, called the worlds deepest garbage can:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wOe0aqYguY&feature=player_embedded
October 11th, 2009 at 4:58 pm
Just got back from Boston where the museum of science has a similar set up. My brief observation seemed to indicate that children were more likely to take turns than work together. It is amusing to watch though.
October 11th, 2009 at 5:05 pm
I would absolutely fall and break my neck trying to play actual tunes on these stairs!
J. D.
October 11th, 2009 at 9:05 pm
It’s just a matter of time before we see a stairway performance of Rach 3 or Tchaik 1…I hope!
October 11th, 2009 at 10:35 pm
I can imagine some demented coach telling his/her atheletes that instead of running stadiums, they had to “run” a particularly fast piano piece.
How about a stairway version of Mussoursky’s Pictures at an Exhibition (piano version, not the Ravel orchestral transcription)?
October 11th, 2009 at 10:49 pm
First the drive-by subway animation and now this. We need more interactive public art projects in the US — nice little surprises to shake commuters out of their dull days and make them smile.
@14: “How about a stairway version of Mussoursky’s Pictures at an Exhibition”
That would be one hell of an aerobic workout. Although “Stairway to Heaven” just begs to be adapted.
October 11th, 2009 at 11:02 pm
Kewl.
Gary 7
October 11th, 2009 at 11:26 pm
I think the opening theme of Pictures at an Exhibition contains an octave (upward) leap in its melody?
Yes, that will be one hell of an exercise to play on stairs. If anybody manages it, please post it on Youtube.
October 11th, 2009 at 11:52 pm
13. Tim Says: “It’s just a matter of time before we see a stairway performance of Tchaik 1.”
But only if the player is in a straightjacket and stuffed in a canvas mail sack.
- Jack
October 12th, 2009 at 3:58 am
Need to abandon the piano keys, and make a tune if you go up one stair at a time, a better tune if you go up two at a time,and a grand concerto if you run up three at a time…
October 12th, 2009 at 4:01 am
It’s Monday, but thanks anyway.
Yes, what was tested was more like a novelty.theory than a fun.theory@stairs. Even so, one can imagine changing stair novelty every now and then. Interactive stairs would be a hoot.
(For example, hip hop contests against a video screen would really be an opportunity to “break a leg”.)
[Btw, the rational way to get people walking in stairs is to shut down the escalators. Considering the sponsors/advertisers was a car company, one wonder why they didn't try to spice up traveling by horse carts?]
October 12th, 2009 at 8:27 am
Climbing these stairs is a good way to tone up.
I’m sorry.
October 12th, 2009 at 9:06 am
I expect this could become a new sport, mixing music with extreme acrobatics. Can you imagine someone doing Flight of the Bumble bee on this?
Makes me sweat just thinking about it.
GAry 7
October 12th, 2009 at 9:43 am
I’ve been loving the musical stairs at the Boston Museum of Science for at least 15 years, so this is not new to me. The musical stairs are at the exit to the IMAX theater, so you get lots of people exiting at once. If enough notes are played at once, you get interesting things like owl hoots, and duck quacks. Fun stuff!
Oh, and this NEVER gets old. Every time I go to the BMoS, I play on the stairs.
October 12th, 2009 at 1:49 pm
Brilliant, just brilliantly funny!
October 12th, 2009 at 9:49 pm
[...] imagine of my surprise when i saw this post on Bad Astronomy. I have embedded the video that is on the log here [...]
October 13th, 2009 at 1:01 am
I seem to remember that on the old Dean Martin Show, Dino’s set had a high platform above the normal stage level, accessed by a set of stairs painted as piano keys. The main differences were each step was painted as a complete keyboard, and they did not produce any sound. I don’t think the technology existed back then.
October 13th, 2009 at 2:33 pm
Bizarre.
I normally take the stairs, but I suspect that that noise would make me selfconscious and push me towards the escalator to avoid causing a fuss. Interesting to see that Swedes in general are apparently less shy.
October 13th, 2009 at 4:29 pm
Dang. The staircase at the Capitol South Metro station in Washington DC is only 80 steps (4 sets of 20 steps). Not quite enough for the 88 steps needed for a full keyboard. I count them every time I take the stairs, but it only takes 40 steps if I’m walking up the moving escalator.
October 13th, 2009 at 8:50 pm
The Minnesota Science Museum in St. Paul also has a musical staircase. Alas it is not painted like piano keys. It was fun though. My wife and I had the grandest time playing on those stairs, and we didn’t even have any kids with us!
October 15th, 2009 at 10:41 pm
we wanted the monkeys to press the button, so we made it shiny – drivers wanted
October 22nd, 2009 at 7:48 pm
I’m holding out for a violin in which each string is attached to dogs leash and can pinpoint a dog’s precise location by the note they sound. Eventually,teaching the dogs to run and play in a precise way to produce actual music, although hard rock would be my choice if this fantasy ever comes true.