Automated Piano Playing with Python: Multithreaded Keyboard Simulation

The article presents a method to automatically perform piano music using Python by controlling keyboard keys on the autopiano web page, allowing users to simulate finger movements and play complete songs.

Implementation steps (four parts):

Create a play function that maps musical symbols to keyboard actions and handles timing.

Use multithreading to run separate melody threads for main melody, chords, and individual fingers.

Define the piano score strings for right and left hands, including thumb and index‑finger parts.

Open the autopiano webpage via Chrome and start the threads to simulate playing.

Play function code:

def play_piano(music, keytime):
    for n in music:
        if n.isupper():
            keyboard.press(Key.shift)
            time.sleep(0.001)
            keyboard.press(n.lower())
            time.sleep(keytime - 0.001)
            keyboard.release(n.lower())
            keyboard.release(Key.shift)
        elif n == "|" or n == ")":
            pass
        elif n in "!@$%^*(":
            keyboard.press(Key.shift)
            time.sleep(0.001)
            keyboard.press("1245689"["!@$%^*(".index(n)])
            time.sleep(keytime - 0.001)
            keyboard.release("1245689"["!@$%^*(".index(n)])
            keyboard.release(Key.shift)
        elif n != " " and n != "-":
            keyboard.press(n)
            if music.index(n) != len(music) - 1 and music[music.index(n) + 1] == ")":
                time.sleep(keytime / 2)
            else:
                time.sleep(keytime)
            keyboard.release(n)
        elif n == "-":
            time.sleep(2 * keytime)
        else:
            time.sleep(keytime)

Sample melody thread definitions (excerpt):

right = "s-as f |a --u |p -ops |" \
        "o --uu|i-uis-|u - sss|a-Ii a |" \
        "a --|"
left = "etu --|0wr --|qet --|" \
       "80w --|9qe --|80w --|7Qr --|" \
       "370Wr |"
thread_play(play_piano, 0.3, right, left)
# Additional variations with thumb and index‑finger strings omitted for brevity

Browser automation and execution entry point:

if __name__ == '__main__':
    # Prepare keyboard controller
    keyboard = Controller()
    chromePath = r'C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe'
    webbrowser.register('chrome', None, webbrowser.BackgroundBrowser(chromePath))
    webbrowser.get('chrome').open('https://www.autopiano.cn', new=1, autoraise=True)
    # Start playing threads (examples shown above)

By adjusting the score strings, users can adapt this framework to play different piano pieces automatically.