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A Guitar Lesson To Help You Test Your Note Knowledge.
In this guitar lesson we look at a great way to test your note knowledge of the guitar fretboard. But before we look at that, why even bother...Read more on Music
Play The Piano Like A Pro Meet the 12 Major Notes: 1. C (do) 2. C# - Db (do sharp or re flat) (one-key only) 3. D (re) 4. D# - Eb ...Read more on Music
Your First Guitar Congratulations, you just bought you first guitar! Now that you've met the love of your life and made that big commitment, you're probably excited...Read more on Music
Deciding on a String Musical Instrument How can a young child discover the particular musical instrument they would like to devote years to learning? Simple! Expose them to a wide variety...Read more on Music
Start Your Own Sheet Music Collection Starting a sheet music collection is easy, once you've decided what you want to collect. Sheet music is inexpensive and relatively easy to find. You...Read more on Music
Hobbies Guitar Playing the guitar is one of the most popular hobbies in America. Millions of Americans play the guitar as a leisure activity; and why not? It is one...Read more on Music
Wedding Music Areas And Options There will be music played throughout the day at your wedding. Some areas you will want to remember to arrange music for include the period of time...Read more on Music
Choosing the Right Bass Guitar All musical instruments need to be comfortable to hold if you are going to play them. This is especially true with bass guitars or any other guitar....Read more on Music
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Some music box and antique collectors may not realize that there are other forms of mechanical music to collect in addition to inlaid music boxes, musical jewelry boxes, ballerina music boxes, antique cars, antique jewelry, and other collectibles. These include Bird Organs, Barrel Pianos, the Pianola, the Welte-Mignon Orchestrion, and the Racca piano.
The Bird Organ
The bird organ is a small type of barrel organ about 6 inches square. The name comes from a type of barrel organ used to teach canaries how to sing. High pitched pipes which played simple tunes were used to teach a bird how to mimic the tune. Also known as "Serinettes", there is one collectible in Paris that dates back to 1765. While some of these mechanical collectibles do not play well, they still make interesting items for the music box and antique collector.
Barrel Pianos
For collectors, finding a barrel piano developed by Joseph Hicks is possible. Hicks made an upright pianoforte, which was played with a pinned barrel. These collectibles were seen all over England at one point and a large number were made with handcarts so that they could be played and wheeled in the streets. Finding a barrel piano is not difficult since there are many on the market.
The Welte-Mignon Orchestrion
Invented in 1887 by Emile Welte of the Welte-Mignon company, the Welte-Mignon Orchestrion is a paper roll that can be used with pianos or organs. An expansion of Welte's invention was orchestrions, which were made to be placed in large homes or assembly rooms. David Tallis stated in "Music Boxes: A Guide for Collector's": "A typical Welte orchestrion had forty-four notes which play on eight stops or ranks of pipes with the addition of a percussion section; triangle, snare drum and bass drum. The music played by these instruments is largely operatic, but marches and popular melodies can be found".
The Pianola
The pianola is a player piano. David Tallis also states the following about the pianola: "Soon after the advent of the paper roll for the mechanical reproduction of music came the invention of the player piano. In 1897, American Mr. E.S. Votey, constructed a contrivance that could be pushed up to the keyboard of an ordinary piano. Felt-covered fingers projected from the front and these played the keys of the piano when activated by a perforated paper roll. This push-up device was improved so that its mechanism became built into the piano to make the piano as we know it today.. . . The best reproducing pianos were made by Welte-Mignon, Amico, Duo-Art, and Steck."
The Racca Piano
The racca piano is a rare music collectible and not easy to find. It plays from "book music". Created in 1886 by Giovanni Racca, the racca piano looks like a minature grand piano and had an arrangement as wide as the keyboard so the book music can go through the machine with a controlled memory. This piano had quite a romantic sound.
For the music box and antique collector, there are other interesting mechanical music collectibles that can be sought. While inlaid music boxes, musical jewelry boxes, ballerina music boxes, antique cars, antique jewelry, and other types of collectibles are valuable, discovering some of the other types of mechanical collectibles can be just as fun and rewarding.
Copyright 2006 Monique Hawkins
About The Author
Monique Hawkins
Established in May of 2005, http://www.My-Music-Box.com is a music box gift store specializing in products such as inlaid ballerina music boxes for ballerina rooms décor, whimsical carousel music boxes, and musical jewelry boxes. The company provides interesting information for music lovers of all ages. Owner Monique Hawkins is also the author of the blog "What You Never Knew About Music" http://whatyouneverknewaboutmusic.blogspot.com, and owner of the eBay store "Monique's Music Box" at: http://stores.ebay.com/moniquesmusicbox/ Monique can be contacted at (540) 858-2885.
Written by:
Monique Hawkins
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