Youtube Of The Day – Sparky’s Magic Piano

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This audio recording from 1947 is possibly one of the scariest children’s stories of all time. It is essentially a short audio book as the music and sound is essential to its narrative. Sparky is a child taking piano lessons from a private teacher but he is very frustrated by how hard it is to master the piano until his piano comes to life, playing itself with perfect classical performances. Sparky just has to sit pretending to play to sound like Beethoven or Chopin. However, the piano has its own cruel agenda. The cop out it was all just a dream finale is perhaps a touch disappointing though. The electro-demonic voice of the piano seems right out of a Stephen King novel to an impressionable 7 year old, and this cautionary tale probably put thousands of kids off music lessons for life. Arthur Chappell