Karlheinz Essl

Listen Thing

Palindromic Christmas Canon in 4 Parts
Versions for Music Box / Toy Piano or Harpsichord
2008

Listen Thing is piece of 4 parts; the titles of each are anagrams of the name Listen Thing:

When the piece is performed on a music box, a single custom-punched paper tape is used which is inserted in 4 different orientations.

Furthermore, a version for toy piano exists which is basically a transcription of the original music box piece.

Karlheinz Essl performing Listen Thing on a music box
Recorded by Marian Essl on 30 Nov 2008

Isabel Ettenauer performing Listen Thing on a toy piano
Studio kHz, 27 Dec 2011

Karlheinz Essl punching the paper tape for Listen Thing

Exerpt of the score of Listen Things (2008) for toy piano

Here you can download the score in two different transpositions (C or G) in order to play it on various toy pianos.

Isabel Ettenauer: A short introduction to the Music for Toy Piano by Karlheinz Essl
Published in: Fowl Feathered Review, Issue 4, Summer 2013, ed. by Virgil Kay (Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada), p. 74-81.

Updated: 25 Dec 2014