[PDF] The Player Piano And Musical Labor eBook

Author : Allison Rebecca Wente
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
Page : 166 pages
File Size : 26,96 MB
Release : 2022-06-14
Category : Music
ISBN : 1000553140

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By the early 20th century the machine aesthetic was a well-established and dominant interest that fundamentally transformed musical performance and listening practices. While numerous scholars have examined this aesthetic in art and literature, musical compositions representing industrialized labor practices and the role of the machine in music remain largely unexplored. Moreover, in recounting the history of machines in musical recording and reproduction, scholars often tend to emphasize the phonograph, rather than player piano, despite the latter’s prominence within the newly established musical marketplace. Machines and their music influenced multiple areas of early 20th-century musical culture, from film scores to popular music and even the concert hall. But the opposite was also true: industrialized labor practices changed the musical marketplace and musical culture as a whole. As consumers accepted mechanical replacements for what previously required an active human laborer, ghostly, mechanical performers labored tirelessly in parlors, businesses, and even concert halls. Although the player piano failed to maintain a stronghold in the recorded music marketplace after 1930, the widespread acceptance of recording technologies as media for storing and enjoying music indicates a much more fundamental societal shift. This book explores that shift, examining the rise and fall of the player piano in early 20th-century society and connecting it to the digital technologies of today.

Author : Allison Rebecca Wente
Publisher :
Page : 548 pages
File Size : 25,13 MB
Release : 2016
Category :
ISBN :

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By the early twentieth century the machine aesthetic was a well-established and dominant interest that fundamentally transformed musical performance and listening practices. While numerous scholars have examined this aesthetic in art and literature, musical compositions representing industrialized labor practices and the role of the machine in music remain largely unexplored. Moreover, in recounting the history of machines in musical recording and reproduction, scholars often tend to emphasize the phonograph, rather than player piano, despite the latter’s prominence within the newly-established musical marketplace. Although the player piano failed to maintain a stronghold in the recorded music marketplace after 1930, the widespread acceptance of recording technologies as media for storing and enjoying music indicates a much more fundamental societal shift. This dissertation is an exploration into that shift, examining the rise and fall of the player piano in early twentieth-century society. As consumers accepted mechanical replacements for what previously required an active human laborer, ghostly, mechanical performers labored tirelessly in parlors, businesses, and even concert halls. Through eighteenth- and nineteenth-century examples of mechanical sounds in music, and of music imitating or scoring machines, along with a cultural historical overview of the player piano and its environment, Chapter 1 explores the background information necessary for an analysis of mechanical music. Chapter 2 organizes mechanical music into three categories: (1) music written to sound like or imitate the machine; (2) music written to record and reproduce the skills of virtuoso performers; and (3) music written specifically for machines. This chapter addresses a diverse variety of audiences and spaces to make clear the widespread influence of the machine on musical culture. Chapter 3 includes a sonic analysis of two 1919 recordings Rachmaninoff made of his C# Minor Prelude, one roll one record, framed within a broader theory of memory based on Henri Bergson’s Matter and Memory (1896). Chapter 4 steps away from the notes on the page and instead includes several examples of player piano advertisements from 1900-1930, organized into categories based on themes like labor, gender, and education. Finally, chapter 5 touches on the ways in which machine music converges with or diverges from theories of absolute music.

Author : Sydney Grew
Publisher : Forgotten Books
Page : 348 pages
File Size : 13,91 MB
Release : 2015-06-16
Category : Music
ISBN : 9781330125229

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Excerpt from The Art of the Player-Piano: A Text-Book for Student and Teacher The Art of the Player-piano lies in the pedalling and in the use of Tempo-control Lever or Buttons. Pedalling is as breathing in singing or fingering in pianoforte playing. Certain of the more subtle refinements of musical performance remain outside the Art of the Player; but in the main everything is possible that is necessary in an intelligent, personal, and complete performance. I say complete, because what cannot be produced in the normal way of musical effect may be produced in a way special to the new instrument - there is compromise in the executive art of any musical instrument. Rhythm, the foundational and constructional power in music, determines pedalling and tempo rubato, or free time. The player-pianist creates mentally the rhythmical form of the motive or phrase, and then creates it in the instrument by process of pedalling and tempo-control. It is a curious thought that, since the imaginative conception of rhythm is a highly intellectual act, the Art of the Player-piano is entirely volitional; the playerist has no mechanical work to do, even in the beginning, of the order inseparable from the piano, the organ, and the violin. My idea throughout this book has been the development of the rhythmical consciousness. I am not aware that any attempt has been previously made to formulate the principles of this new executive art. Cadenced metrical counting must take the place of fingering in the work of the player-pianist; after that, articulation of notes into motive on the one hand, and on the other hand the cadential phrasing of groups of motives into measures, clauses, and sentences. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Author : Sydney Grew
Publisher : Legare Street Press
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 39,67 MB
Release : 2023-07-18
Category :
ISBN : 9781021091314

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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.

Author : Arthur A. Reblitz
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
Page : 227 pages
File Size : 39,80 MB
Release : 1985
Category : Player-piano
ISBN : 0911572406

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For beginners and experienced technicians alike.

Author : Ms Cecilia Björkén-Nyberg
Publisher : Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
Page : 223 pages
File Size : 42,98 MB
Release : 2015-06-28
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 1472439988

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In her study of music-making in the Edwardian novel, Cecilia Björkén-Nyberg examines works by authors such as Dorothy Richardson, E.M. Forster, Henry Handel Richardson, and Compton Mackenzie to show that the invention and development of the player piano had a significant effect on the perception, performance and appreciation of music during the period. She draws on archival materials to place the player piano in the context of Edwardian commercial and technical discourse.

Author : Adam Dachman
Publisher :
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 25,64 MB
Release : 2008
Category : Chicago (Ill.)
ISBN : 9780979779404

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A talented mouse earns her fame by chewing holes and discovers her muscial gift.