The golden age of the player piano stretched from 1895 until the stock market crash of 1929. The first automated piano player was known as the Pianola. The device was pushed up to or installed over an existing piano keyboard and actually pressed or played the existing piano’s keys. Eventually, these devices were integrated into the pianos themselves, and the “player piano” was born.
Most player pianos utilized pedals which when pumped created a pneumatic suction to activate the piano keys. Paper music rolls signaled to the piano which note to play along with note duration. A step up from the player piano was the “reproducing piano”. These pianos introduced dynamics and musical expression into the piano player mechanism. Entertainers of the times often created copies of their performances in the form of player piano rolls.
The advent of the radio and radio broadcasts began to erode the popularity of the player piano, and very few of the companies that produced player pianos were able to survive the Great Depression. Surprisingly, there is still a company that manufactures piano rolls, QRS Music (https://www.qrsmusic.com/default.asp). Enjoy a blast from the past.
I rebuild pianos, I also played the piano while riding zipline!!!!
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