They said you can’t teach old dogs new tricks. But what if the trick is playing Old McDonald on the piano?
Liam Thompson, a YouTuber from New Zealand, was playing a heartfelt rendition of Beethoven’s Fur Elise, or at least that’s what he wanted us to believe. It was actually Old McDonald, which can also be considered as a masterpiece alongside Beethoven.
As he played this rather classical tune, as nursery rhymes are ubiquitous classics, Liam poses an important challenge facing every young pianist of our generation.
How can you play piano with one hand?
Yes, a piano should be played with two hands for two different sets of keys, but what if you’re on the phone? Playing a rubric’s cube? Or grabbing a bite to eat? How can you pull off the masterpiece that is Old McDonald?
Can someone or something else play the other set of keys for him?
And the answer comes in brown curled fur, button eyes, and an animal just waiting for its inner concerto genius to be discovered.
Max, Liam’s labradoodle has done things no other dog could.
In this YouTube channel, Liam has a section dedicated entirely to Max doing things “unbecoming of a dog”, like reviewing cat toys, bowing to his cat for whatever reason, how to clean up, how to beat noobs at Minecraft, how to play rock-paper-scissors just in case his life depended on it, and how to do the laundry.
“This is my dog Max. He has absolutely no idea how to play the piano. Or at least not yet.”
Liam divides his curriculum into stages. In stage 1, all Max had to do is to play the keys Liam was pointing to. In theory, it’s easy enough. Point a key, wait for the dog to give in to its curiosity, then let them hit the key with their paw.
And that’s exactly what Max did.
Every time Liam says “Play”, Max hits the board. The notes are inconsistent at best, but you have to remember that this is a dog playing the piano. That is if we define “playing” as hitting random keys.
“That literally took fifteen minutes!”
With progress noted and treats eaten, they move on to Stage 2 to address the randomness of keys.
In this stage, Liam customized the piano keys and assigned Max three specific notes to play. He taped three post-it notes of different colors to label each key and added modifications to make it easy for Max’s big paws to hit the finger-sized keys.
The first key should be hit twice. The second, twice as well. And the third, just once.
The task was fairly easy for a dog who knows how to play Minecraft, and that was exactly the case.
Liam continued training Max with the old technique of rewarding compliance with a treat, just like how pianists trained back in the day. Okay, maybe human pianists don’t practice like that, but Max’s talent is becoming more and more undeniable. So much so that Liam almost fell off his chair.
It was already dark when they reached the later phases of the curriculum, but Max was not showing signs of slowing down.
At one point, he even harmonized so well, Liam couldn’t believe what Max had done.
It was keys after keys, treats after treat, an occasional cat visit, then more piano action.
In the end, Liam and Max have done what they have set out to do – a duet of man and beast performing the classic Old McDonald with only one hand each.
A tired and proud Liam proclaimed:
“Max is officially a pianist.”
Watch the video and find out how Max fared with Old McDonald, and what he had to go through just to become a piano genius.
SHARE this with your friends and family and see if they taught their dogs some amazing tricks!
