Anything can be an instrument, right?
As kids, we bang on pots and pans, imagining ourselves as rock-star drummers. We tap our toes, snap our fingers and experiment with the objects around us. But it’s a safe guess that few of us ever thought to harness the musical qualities of an old-fashioned typewriter.
That’s okay, though. Leroy Anderson did the harnessing for us.
Anderson, who was probably best known for the holiday classic “Sleigh Ride,” wrote a short piece called “The Typewriter” in 1950. A composition for a full orchestra, it contained one unlikely instrument: the typewriter, of course.
A lively, playful tune, “The Typewriter” was used in a number of television and radio programs, such as Candid Camera. It wasn’t just popular in the mass media, however. Anderson conducted the piece with the Boston Pops back in 1953, and a number of other noted musicians have performed (and recorded) it as well.
Fun fact: A professional percussionist usually plays the typewriter part due to the speed needed, and the typewriter itself is typically modified so that just two keys work. (The last thing you need during a live performance is a jam!)
Sometimes the musicians have extra fun with it, such as in this performance, in which the typist hams it up as a somewhat frumpy secretary.
Will the next generation―which has barely seen manual typewriters, let alone had a chance to develop an appreciation for their unique sound and rhythm in the workplace―appreciate the creative artistry behind “The Typewriter”? It’s hard to say. But those of us who grew up learning how to type certainly do!