Nora The Piano Cat (born September 10, 2004
) is a gray
tabby cat
A tabby is any domestic cat (''Felis catus'') with a distinctive 'M'-shaped marking on its forehead; stripes by its eyes and across its cheeks, along its back, and around its legs and tail; and (differing by tabby type), characteristic striped, d ...
, rescued from the streets of Camden, New Jersey, by the Furrever Friends animal shelter. Nora gained international prominence after a YouTube video of her playing the piano went viral in 2007. ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'' of London, in its online edition, characterized her music as being "something halfway between
Philip Glass
Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimal music, minimalism, being built up fr ...
and
free jazz
Free jazz is an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventions, such as regular tempos, tones, and chord changes. Musicians during ...
".
Life and music
Nora was adopted as a kitten by artists and musicians, Burnell Yow! and Betsy Alexander of the Fitler Square area of Center City Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. She was given the name Nora after the surrealist artist
Leonora Carrington
Mary Leonora Carrington (6 April 191725 May 2011) was a British-born Mexican artist, surrealist painter, and novelist. She lived most of her adult life in Mexico City and was one of the last surviving participants in the surrealist movement of ...
. When she was a year old, Nora climbed up onto the bench in front of a
Yamaha Disklavier
Disklavier is a brand of reproducing pianos manufactured by Yamaha Corporation. The first Disklavier was introduced in the United States in 1987.
The typical Disklavier is a real acoustic piano outfitted with electronic sensors for recording and ...
piano and began to play.
Since that time, Nora has continued to play the piano on a daily basis, sometimes playing duets with Betsy, who is a music teacher, or with Betsy's students. It was the students who encouraged the creation of a YouTube video, which was uploaded in January 2007. It received a large number of views and attracted the attention of other media. It was featured on many
talk show
A talk show (or chat show in British English) is a television programming or radio programming genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Show ...
s,
newspapers
A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background.
Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports ...
and
news channels
News broadcasting is the medium of broadcasting various news events and other information via television, radio, or the internet in the field of broadcast journalism. The content is usually either produced locally in a radio studio or televi ...
including
Martha Stewart
Martha Helen Stewart (, ; born August 3, 1941) is an American retail businesswoman, writer, and television personality. As founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, she gained success through a variety of business ventures, encompassing pub ...
,
CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...
, ''
The Daily Show
''The Daily Show'' is an American late-night talk and satirical news television program. It airs each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central with release shortly after on Paramount+. ''The Daily Show'' draws its comedy and satire form from ...
'',
Public Radio International
Public Radio International (PRI) was an American public radio organization. Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, PRI provided programming to over 850 public radio stations in the United States.
PRI was one of the main providers of programm ...
, ''
The Today Show
''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'' or informally, ''NBC News Today'') is an American news and talk morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It was ...
'' and ''
The Philadelphia Inquirer
''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper's circulation is the largest in both the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the Delaware Valley metropolitan region of Southeastern Pennsy ...
''. Nora was featured on the syndicated television show, ''Wild About Animals'', episode #332, in September 2010.
Nora has attracted the interest of both musicians and scientists, who are fascinated by her rare behavior. It appears that she likes the attention it brings her, but she also plays when alone. She does express a preference for playing with students, when they play
Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...
, and for playing a specific piano, a Yamaha Disklavier. In addition, she gravitates toward the D-E-F range on the keyboard and includes
the black keys
The Black Keys are an American rock duo formed in Akron, Ohio, in 2001. The group consists of Dan Auerbach (guitar, vocals) and Patrick Carney (drums). The duo began as an independent act, recording music in basements and self-producing their ...
in her playing.
The
National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National I ...
has included Nora in a video about animal behavior which was shown in museums in the fall of 2007. ''Pianist Magazine'', based in London, featured her in an article,
[. Mentioned in: ]
and a video of her playing was used at the 2007 National Conference of Keyboard Pedagogy. Dean Santomieri, an avant-garde musician from San Francisco, used a loop of Nora's playing in an improvised group performance in July 2007. A dance student at a college in Leeds, England gave a solo performance using Nora's music. Betsy Alexander has written a composition called ''Fur Release: A Prelude for Paws and Hands'', incorporating Nora's music. A CD of music with one song incorporating Nora's playing has been released by the Laurel Canyon Animal Company.
See also
*
Zoomusicology
Zoomusicology () is the study of the musical aspects of sound and communication as produced and perceived by animals. It is a field of musicology and zoology, and is a type of zoosemiotics. Zoomusicology as a field dates to François-Bernard Mâc ...
*
Mindaugas Piečaitis
*
List of individual cats
This is a list of famous cats which achieved some degree of popularity either in their own right or by association with someone famous.
Before the modern era
* Nedjem or Nojem (Egyptian: ''nḏm'' "Sweet One" or "Sweetie"), 15th century BC. The ...
References
Further reading
*
External links
Nora's Original YouTube performanceNora YouTube sequelNora's owner's websiteDean Santomieri websiteChamber piece composed for Nora by famous Lithuanian composer Mindaugas Piečaitis (catcerto)
{{Authority control
2004 animal births
21st-century pianists
Camden County, New Jersey
Individual cats in the United States
Zoomusicology