The Player Piano And The Edwardian Novel

In her study of music-making in the Edwardian novel, Cecilia Björkén-Nyberg argues that the invention and development of the player piano had a significant effect on the perception, performance and appreciation of music during the period. In contrast to existing devices for producing music mechanically such as the phonograph and gramophone, the player piano granted its operator freedom of individual expression by permitting the performer to modify the tempo. Because the traditional piano was the undisputed altar of domestic and highly gendered music-making, Björkén-Nyberg suggests, the potential for intervention by the mechanical piano's operator had a subversive effect on traditional notions about the status of the musical work itself and about the people who were variously defined by their relationship to it. She examines works by Dorothy Richardson, E.M. Forster, Henry Handel Richardson, Max Beerbohm and Compton Mackenzie, among others, contending that Edwardian fiction with music as a subject undermined the prevalent antithesis, expressed in contemporary music literature, between a nineteenth-century conception of music as a means of transcendence and the increasing mechanisation of music as represented by the player piano. Her timely survey of the player piano in the context of Edwardian commercial and technical discourse draws on a rich array of archival materials to shed new light on the historically conditioned activity of music-making in early twentieth-century fiction.

In her study of music-making in the Edwardian novel, Cecilia Björkén-Nyberg argues that the invention and development of the player piano had a significant effect on the perception, performance and appreciation of music during the period. In contrast to existing devices for producing music mechanically such as the phonograph and gramophone, the player piano granted its operator freedom of individual expression by permitting the performer to modify the tempo. Because the traditional piano was the undisputed altar of domestic and highly gendered music-making, Björkén-Nyberg suggests, the potential for intervention by the mechanical piano's operator had a subversive effect on traditional notions about the status of the musical work itself and about the people who were variously defined by their relationship to it. She examines works by Dorothy Richardson, E.M. Forster, Henry Handel Richardson, Max Beerbohm and Compton Mackenzie, among others, contending that Edwardian fiction with music as a subject undermined the prevalent antithesis, expressed in contemporary music literature, between a nineteenth-century conception of music as a means of transcendence and the increasing mechanisation of music as represented by the player piano. Her timely survey of the player piano in the context of Edwardian commercial and technical discourse draws on a rich array of archival materials to shed new light on the historically conditioned activity of music-making in early twentieth-century fiction.

Instructions On How To Rebuild The Player Piano And Related Instruments.

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: Chapter II. THE PNEUMATIC ACTION. I have already spoken of the operating principles on which the playing action of the piano-playing mechanism depends. In the description given of these principles in Part I, however, I spoke almost entirely of the single system; that wherein one valve is employed to control the pneumatic directly from the tracker- bar. Although the description there given is entirely correct, manufacturers have adopted various modifications in practice, which often considerably alter physical appearance and operating processes. It is necessary therefore to consider this phase of our subject with some care. Just as bellows-systems may be divided into two classes, so a similar two-fold division may be made in the description and classification of pneumatic actions. In fact, the division is here more definite and positive, since it rests upon the difference between the use of one valve to each pneumatic and of two valves for the same purpose. There are, in Pig. 5. Pneumatic Action; Single Valve Ttpe Music Roll. 8. Take-up Spool. 9. Tracker-Bar. 10. Tracker-Tube. 12. Pouch. 13. Vent. Reduced Pressure Chamber. Valve. Pneumatic open. Pneumatic closed. Passage to Bellows-System. Piano Key. Piano Action. Two pneumatics are shown open, and one closed. Valves are in corresponding positions fact, two great divisions in modern practice which rest upon this one difference, and the best inventive thought seems to be almost equally divided between them. As I remarked before, the direct- variation bellows and the single-valve playing action seem to go together, while the converse is true of the other system. Although I do not wish to lay undue stress upon this fact, the reader will appreciate its significance. The two sy...

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Published in 1915, The Art of the Player-Piano is a comprehensive guide to the history, technology and aesthetics of mechanical music devices. Grew's lucid prose and insightful analysis make this book a must-read for anyone interested in the cultural and social impact of technology on music. This book also includes a detailed discussion of the economics of the player-piano industry during the early 20th century. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.