Since I’m on my laptop a lot, I’ve found a laptop-based activity that’s been pretty therapeutic as well.
I keep it open in a separate tab on Google Chrome and anytime in between work when I feel like I want to clear my head, I use it.
Called Piano Genie, it’s a machine learning-based app that lets you pretend you’re a piano virtuoso by slamming eight different keys on your keyboard.
When I first discovered it, I thought: how fascinating but didn’t imagine how often I’d find myself actually playing with it.
(Piano Genie is built on Glitch, another great tool that makes creating web apps simple.)
Although the Piano Genie only has an eight-key input, it’s able to map these keys to a full 88-key piano. If you’re curious, feel free to read the entire article on how it works.
As someone who works across a range of industries, I’m always fascinated by intersections. Code + art (writing, music, visuals) has been a long time interest for me.
And although it’s been a while since I played the piano, music is still something that’s therapeutic. I’d play a piece over and over again until the notes became muscle memory.
I remember college days, when taking breaks from studying, when I was pissed about something, my go-to was the piano. I’d slam out something and immediately feel better.
Now that I’ve sold my piano, Piano Genie is a competent replacement. 😂
