Player piano

A restored pneumatic player piano
Steinway reproducing piano from 1920. Harold Bauer playing Saint-Saëns' Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 22, excerpt of 3rd movement. Duo-Art recording 5973-4

A player piano, also known as a pianola, is a self-playing piano with a pneumatic or electro-mechanical mechanism that operates the piano action using perforated paper or metallic rolls. Modern versions use MIDI. The player piano gained popularity as mass-produced home pianos increased in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.[1] Sales peaked in 1924 and subsequently declined with improvements in electrical phonograph recordings in the mid-1920s. The advent of electrical amplification in home music reproduction, brought by radios, contributed to a decline in popularity, and the stock market crash of 1929 virtually wiped out production.[2]

  1. ^ Roehl, Harvey (1973). Player Piano Treasury. Vestal Press. p. 316. ISBN 0-911572-00-7.
  2. ^ Wills, Matthew (2017-12-26). "Player Pianos and the Commodification of Music". JSTOR Daily. Retrieved 2022-12-31.