atriptofrance.com

byAlma Abell

Everyone loves nostalgia, and some of the nostalgia people love most revolves around music. There are many instruments still in use today that date back hundreds of years. One of these instruments is the player piano. One of the first things that comes to mind when thinking of these instruments is a saloon in an old western movie. While they were popular props for movies, and often found in saloons, they were also popular in many other ways. These instruments were extremely popular in the early 20th century, and there are still many around today, which are still being used.

The player pianos in Cincinnati, OH plays via a pneumatic mechanism. Music is coded to create a pattern of holes, which are on a special roll of perforated paper. These instruments have been around for many years, and by the beginning of the 20th century, they were actually becoming quite intricate. The very first model was built in New York City in 1880, and the design just evolved from there. Early models were not actually inside pianos, but were external, and it was necessary to line them up with the keyboard. Later models had the automatic music mechanisms built right in. They could be used in this way, or played normally.

Throughout the years, the instrument saw a number of different designs, but the guts of the machine always stayed pretty much the same. Two foot pedals were used to create suction. A roll of the music paper turned on a reel, and a tracking bar read the holes, or perforations. Each time a hole passed over a particular valve, it would open, which would tell the motor to play the proper piano note. Music rolls are still frequently made today, and they are often made with popular music, as well as classic songs from the past.

There aren’t a lot of manufacturers that are still making these instruments, but there are some. There are also many companies that will retrofit regular pianos to turn them into player models. Visit PianoCenter.com to see some of the player pianos in Cincinnati.