Musee Mechanique - Blues Player Piano

Last video from my visit to the Musee Mechanique. This is a player piano (with some steam-powered accompaniment) which has a catalogue of all blues songs. Like with all of these instrument related videos, I don't know what year it's from or what song is playing, but it sure is neat. I definitely want to come back here again and get even more videos.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Musee
• Mechanique
• Blues
• Player
• Piano
• Steam
• Powered
• Accompaniment

[KawhackitaRag]

@KawhackitaRag The roll loaded on this instrument (which is so excellent that it has not been changed in years) is Capitol A-1972, released in 1925. This roll was manufactured by the Capitol Roll and Record Co. of Chicago, no relation to the more recent (1940s-present) record company, and no relation to the New York firm that made this piano!

[CactusSmasher]

@KawhackitaRag Thanks very much for the info!

[petermackett37]

This orchestrion features violin pipes,you can see them at the side.

[CactusSmasher]

@petermackett37 Thanks for the help! Do you know anything else about violin pipes, i.e. how they work?

[Casundia]

IT"S HAUNTED! AAAAAAUUUUGH!

[CactusSmasher]

@Casundia Technically, it is, since it's playing itself, lol. Player pianos work on a complicated system of pneumatics and what is called a "piano roll", which is that long strip of paper in the middle of the piano that's moving. They were really popular from the mid-1800s to the 1930s, but they were phased out as record players became more popular. Look it up on Wiki if you're interested.

[KawhackitaRag]

Capitol had a medium-size roster of about two or three dozen performers who played their rolls, including some great Chicago jazz and pop pianists of the day. Some of the names on the rolls were actually pseudonyms, used to disguise the identity of the staff editors who would occasionally arrange an entire tune from scratch without a performer present.

This hot roll is made up of tunes played mostly by James Blythe (real), Clarence "Jelly" Johnson (real), and Paul Jones (probably not real).

[KawhackitaRag]

@KawhackitaRag I'm not trying to give you a hard time; I really like that you posted a video of this great coin piano playing a great performance of a great tune! This instrument is a Capitol coin piano with (as you have found out) a small rank of violin pipes, and also a mandolin attachment which modifies the sound of the piano on cue from the roll. The piano was probably made circa 1920 in North Tonawanda, NY.

[KawhackitaRag]

@KawhackitaRag Actual steam whistles are rare, and are only found on things with an actual steam boiler and water supply, which is what you need to play them. Do you see either in this piano?!? Also, if those really were steam whistles, this mostly-wooden piano would be in grave danger of burning down, not to mention the rest of the museum! Joking aside, I am here to inform you that most instruments you see with pipes like this are played via compressed air: Pipe organs, band organs, etc.

[KawhackitaRag]

@CactusSmasher OK, Peter Mackett provided a very nice description, but he failed to get to the basics down that the average joe needs to know.

Here 'tis: violin pipes are just another form of organ pipe, and are blown by AIR pressure, NOT steam.

The tubes you are thinking of that are blown by steam are called "whistles" and they were once commonly found as noisemakers used on locomotives and factory buildings, and on the now-rare steam calliope.

[petermackett37]

@CactusSmasher Yes,the violin pipe as we know it was invented by the French Organ builder,Ludovic Gavioli in Paris in around 1892.It is basically an open flute pipe made of wood but in the mouth is fitted a Harmonic Brake or "Frein Harmonique" which is a piece of brass fitted into the mouth which gives the pipe the characteristic stringy sound of a violin,you can see them in the video,most mechanical organs have violin pipes in them,some of the German ones are so realistic they sound authentic!