A barrel piano (also known as a "roller piano") is a forerunner of the modern
player piano
A player piano (also known as a pianola) is a self-playing piano containing a pneumatic or electro-mechanical mechanism, that operates the piano action via programmed music recorded on perforated paper or metallic rolls, with more modern i ...
. Unlike the pneumatic player piano, a barrel piano is usually powered by turning a hand crank, though coin-operated models powered by clockwork were used to provide music in establishments such as
pubs
A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...
and
café
A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non-ca ...
s. Barrel pianos were popular with street musicians, who sought novel instruments that were also highly portable. They are frequently confused with
barrel organ
A barrel organ (also called roller organ or crank organ) is a French mechanical musical instrument consisting of bellows and one or more ranks of pipes housed in a case, usually of wood, and often highly decorated. The basic principle is the sa ...
s, but are quite different instruments.
Operation
The central element of the barrel piano is a wooden barrel covered in strategically placed pins that play the piano when the barrel is turned. The operator uses a hand crank for this purpose, and can control the speed of the music by turning the crank slower or faster. Barrels typically contain a small number of short tunes; therefore, the musical repertoire is limited by the number of barrels one can afford and easily transport.
Barrel pianos typically have a range of 40-48 (Non-Chromatic scale) notes, in contrast to standard pianos that normally have 85 or 88 chromatic keys. More elaborate barrel pianos may also include one or more percussion instruments such as bells, wood blocks, a triangle or two, small
cymbals
A cymbal is a common percussion instrument. Often used in pairs, cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various alloys. The majority of cymbals are of indefinite pitch, although small disc-shaped cymbals based on ancient designs soun ...
,
tambourines
The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called " zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though ...
and drums, much like their larger cousin the Piano
Orchestrion
Orchestrion is a generic name for a machine that plays music and is designed to sound like an orchestra or band. Orchestrions may be operated by means of a large pinned cylinder or by a music roll and less commonly book music. The sound is us ...
.
History
Barrel pianos were first developed in the early 19th century as an attempt to mechanically automate piano music. They never found their way into homes in any significant quantity, instead being favored by street musicians and other entertainers and as background music in commercial premises. It is believed that in circa 1805 the famous cabinet making family of Hicks in Bristol, England turned their attention to the building of musical instruments and are credited with inventing and building the very first street barrel piano in Bristol around this date. So by 1816 the firm of Joseph Hicks was well established as a leading supplier of barrel street pianos and organs. The Hicks pattern of street piano was so popular that other firms copied the design. One of the Hicks family, John had a workshop in London and this may be why sometimes it is believed that the production of barrel pianos originated in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, One of the first prominent German manufacturers was
Welte, originally from
Vöhrenbach
Vöhrenbach is a town in the district of Schwarzwald-Baar, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated on the river Breg (river), Breg, 12 km west of Villingen-Schwenningen.
Geography
The town of Vöhrenbach lies in the Breg valley in th ...
in the
Black Forest
The Black Forest (german: Schwarzwald ) is a large forested mountain range in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It is t ...
.
Laterna
A variant of the barrel piano became very popular in
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...
in the late 19th and early 20th century. It was named laterna or rhombia. It was in the shape of an oversized trunk that could be carried on the player's back with straps and would be propped up on foldable wooden legs. The first laternas were crafted in
Constantinople
la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه
, alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...
by the Italian Giuseppe Turconi and the Greek Joseph Armaos. Piano parts were mainly used in its assembly and the mechanism included a barrel with nails, which plucked steel pegs which released spring-loaded levers that struck the piano strings and an included bell. The instrument's range was three and a half
octave
In music, an octave ( la, octavus: eighth) or perfect octave (sometimes called the diapason) is the interval between one musical pitch and another with double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been refer ...
s. The barrel was turned by a hand crank and was usually big enough to contain nine songs.
Variations
Some manufacturers, such as Favienta of
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
,
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
, produced barrel pianos with advanced accessories, such as:
* A model that could play the standard six-tune barrels as well as a barrel of three tunes. The three tune barrel had a threaded addition on it and the cylinder moved slowly on its horizontal axis as you cranked. At the end of the third tune, the keyframe moved out of the way of the barrel pins, the barrel shifted to the start position, and the first song started over.
* A model that added an electric motor for continuous unassisted playing.
* The mandolin piano, which used mechanically driven repeated action.
References
External links
History Of The Laterna
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barrel Piano
Piano
Mechanical musical instruments