player piano

A mechanically operated piano, especially a pedal-operated or motor-driven piano using pneumatic suction to move the keys in correspondence to the perforations on a turning piano roll.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

player piano

(Instruments) a mechanical piano; Pianola

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

play′er pian′o

a piano using a mechanical player.

[1900–05]

Player piano

In addition to behaving as a regular piano, player pianos could use a long strip of paper with carefully positioned holes in it to control the hammers used to strike the piano strings. Air pressure to operate the hammers came from a foot-pedal-operated bellows built into the base of the piano.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

player piano - a mechanically operated piano that uses a roll of perforated paper to activate the keys

mechanical piano, Pianola

forte-piano, piano, pianoforte - a keyboard instrument that is played by depressing keys that cause hammers to strike tuned strings and produce sounds

Translations

player piano

n → automatisches Klavier

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

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References in periodicals archive

19853, proposing that copyright should include the exclusive right, "to make, sell, distribute, or let for hire any device, contrivance, or appliance especially adapted in any manner whatsoever to reproduce to the ear the whole or any material part of any work published and copyrighted after this Act shall have gone into effect, or by means of any such device or appliance publicly to reproduce to the ear the whole or any part of such work." (39) Hearings were held and testimony was given by a representative of several player piano manufacturers that the proposed language would give "a monopoly of the music-roll business to one company," while composers John Philip Sousa and Victor Herbert testified that their "genius" was being reproduced without any remuneration to them.

The origins of mechanical licensing of musical compositions

We bridged that response with the environment by maximizing natural light, integrating preserved trees, and providing a player piano. Music was incorporated with the same sound frequency as the body's organs/cells, which proves to be an effective healing modality.

Montanio Design Group, Inc. The Center for Cancer Prevention and Treatment at St. Joseph Hospital

We played the pneumatic piano, or "player piano," with its roll of sheet music and magically moving keys, always a fascination for us children, and generally meddled in Mama Jeff's things.

The peddler

He describes the boom and bust of the industry that developed around the player piano, the most successful mechanical playback device (many variations on the music box were experimented with) to emerge before and compete with the phonograph.

Changing tunes

This reference by Farrell (English, College of Charleston) provides information on the life and works of Kurt Vonnegut (1922-2007), famed author of Player Piano, Cat's Cradle, Slaughterhouse- Five, and Breakfast of Champions, who was known for blending social satire, black comedy, and science fiction.

Critical companion to Kurt Vonnegut; a literary reference to his life and work

The Player Piano Mouse is a wonderful picture book for young fans of mice and music.

The Player Piano Mouse

Like any player piano, the Disklavier has a certain creepy quality when it plays by itself - those keys and pedals going up and down all on their own, creating real piano music on real strings.

A player piano for the digital age

VONNEGUT DEVELOPED THIS THEME TO near-perfection in one of his finest books and his first novel, Player Piano, a chillingly prescient account of the rise of a meritocratic, automated America in which advancement up the economic ladder becomes the main measure of human success.

Folk tales

His other novels include "Player Piano," a satire on corporate life; sci-fi novel "The Sirens of Titan," "Mother Night," which became a film starring Nick Nolte; and "Cat's Cradle." After "Slaughterhouse-Five," he suffered a severe depression, and then tried writing for the stage.

Vonnegut created wry worlds

"The upright had scarcely been put in place," George's older brother Ira recalled, "when George twirled the stool down to size, sat, lifted the keyboard cover, and played an accomplished version of a then-popular song." The astonished parents learned that he had taught himself to play on a player piano at a friend's house and that also he had been jotting down musical ideas in a notebook.

Fascinating rhythms: a new biography unravels the myths surrounding one of America's most celebrated composers

Starting off with a computer-controlled player piano, Raes quickly developed an entire orchestra of organs, xylophones, bells, musical saws, and, most recently, a tuba and an accordion.

Experimental music in 2005

Friday's programme, in addition to Vigeland and Ligeti, also features works for piano duo by Kurtag (excerpts from Games, Book 4) and Nancarrow (the notoriously difficult Studies for Player Piano, where it takes four hands to encompass the complications only a performing machine can otherwise handle).

Culture: Four gifted hands make light work; Christopher Morley meets two musicians who share a piano to astounding effect