The Music to my Piano

What is up, internet?

Ever wanted to listen to someone play the piano, but without having to find someone to play the piano? Well, if you have a player piano (one that plays by itself based on a roll of paper music), then you might have a use for what I’m about to show you. These music “scrolls” went in certain mechanical instruments back in the early days of automation in music. The paper alone won’t do much, but if you were to put them in the kind of piano I mentioned before (I’ll attach a picture), it would play the notes as they came along. Each roll is has a specific temp which you would set the piano to read the paper at; the holes are all the same size in terms of width, but the longer each hole stretches the longer the note that is played.

The rolls of music aren’t worth very much on their own (about $20 a roll), but just finding some that are as old as these was pretty cool. And not to sound melodramatic, but working at a place like Goodwill has definitely brought a new meaning to the phrase “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.”

Until next time, dudes.