Dan Tepfer: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert

Watch Dan Tepfer play “Canon At The Octave“, “Tremolo“, “TriadSculpture“ and “Constant Motion“ at the Tiny Desk. More from NPR Music: Tiny Desk Concerts: Twitter: Instagram: Aug. 29, 2019 | Colin Marshall -- Dan Tepfer has transformed the acoustic piano entirely with his new project, Natural Machines. Watch the keys and you’ll see this Disklavier — a player piano — plucking notes on its own. But it’s not a prerecorded script. Here’s how it works: Tepfer plays a note, and a computer program he authored reads those notes and tells the piano what to play in response. Tepfer can load different algorithms into the program that determine the pattern of playback, like one that returns the same note, only an octave higher. Another will play the inverted note based on the center of the piano keys. These rules create interesting restrictions that Tepfer says make room for thoughtful improvisation. In his words, he’s not wr