Museum Speelklok Collectie

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Actions	Details Remove from selection Add to selection Image(s) TitleUpright Player-Piano 'Grandiola' CreatorStems, Direct Pneumatic Action Company PlaceDresden (Germany), London (England) Year ca. 1925 Object number0109 Object categorymechanical hammered string instruments Object namepianola, piano with roll DescriptionThe instrument can be played by a pianist as normal, but is also playable by means of a pneumatic system with perforated paper rolls (relying on the patent granted in 1887 for this purpose to Welte in Freiburg) covering all 88 notes. The earliest form of automatic piano-playing consisted of placing a so-called 'piano player' in front of the instrument. This played the keys in place of a pianist. A logical step in the development of the automatic piano was the complete incorporation of such a pneumatic playback system into the piano itself. The Grandiola-Stems pianola is an example of these pedal-activated pianolas with facilities for manual accentuation. Here there must still be someone sitting at the keyboard during playing - not to play the keys, but to monitor the tempo and vary the dynamic shades using specially fitted mechanisms with levers, and to operate the pedals. Through these two pedals, the "pianolist" provides the air pressure that activates the playback system. Accompanying textsBy manually operating the pedals and levers, the playing of the mechanical instrument becomes dynamic. Thus, the skills of the pianolist, who can manually influence certain musical accents with these levers, are certainly not unimportant. The repertoire is diverse. The term "pianola" was initially the name given to self-playing pianos made by the American firm Aeolian. Since then, the term has come to be used in a general sense for automatic playing pianos in which a pneumatic system takes care of translating the musical program perforated in the paper rollers into strokes of the piano hammers. Dimensions height: 138 cm width: 162 cm depth: 75 cm Keywordsprogrammadrager: roll geluidsbron: strings aandrijving: muscle power klavier keys Digital references

Image(s)

TitleUpright Player-Piano 'Grandiola'

CreatorStems, Direct Pneumatic Action Company

PlaceDresden (Germany), London (England)

Year ca. 1925

Object number0109

Object categorymechanical hammered string instruments

Object namepianola, piano with roll

DescriptionThe instrument can be played by a pianist as normal, but is also playable by means of a pneumatic system with perforated paper rolls (relying on the patent granted in 1887 for this purpose to Welte in Freiburg) covering all 88 notes. The earliest form of automatic piano-playing consisted of placing a so-called 'piano player' in front of the instrument. This played the keys in place of a pianist. A logical step in the development of the automatic piano was the complete incorporation of such a pneumatic playback system into the piano itself. The Grandiola-Stems pianola is an example of these pedal-activated pianolas with facilities for manual accentuation. Here there must still be someone sitting at the keyboard during playing - not to play the keys, but to monitor the tempo and vary the dynamic shades using specially fitted mechanisms with levers, and to operate the pedals. Through these two pedals, the "pianolist" provides the air pressure that activates the playback system.

Accompanying textsBy manually operating the pedals and levers, the playing of the mechanical instrument becomes dynamic. Thus, the skills of the pianolist, who can manually influence certain musical accents with these levers, are certainly not unimportant. The repertoire is diverse.

The term "pianola" was initially the name given to self-playing pianos made by the American firm Aeolian. Since then, the term has come to be used in a general sense for automatic playing pianos in which a pneumatic system takes care of translating the musical program perforated in the paper rollers into strokes of the piano hammers.

Dimensions

height: 138 cm
width: 162 cm
depth: 75 cm

Keywordsprogrammadrager: roll
geluidsbron: strings
aandrijving: muscle power
klavier keys

Digital references

Details