Inventing Entertainment: The Player Piano and the Origins of an American Musical Industry

by Brian Dolan

Brian Dolan's social and cultural history of the music business in relation to the history of the player piano is a critical chapter in the story of contemporary life. The player piano made the American music industry-and American music itself-modern. For years, Tin Pan Alley composers and performers labored over scores for quick ditties destined for the vaudeville circuit or librettos destined for the Broadway stage. But, the introduction of the player piano in the early 1900s, transformed Tin Pan Alley's guild of composers, performers, and theater owners into a music industry. The player piano, with its perforated music rolls that told the pianos what key to strike, changed musical performance because it made a musical piece standard, repeatable, and easy rather than something laboriously learned. It also created a national audience because the music that was played in New Orleans or Kansas City could also be played in New York or Missoula, as new music (ragtime) and dance (fox-trot) styles crisscrossed the continent along with the player piano's music rolls. By the 1920s, only automobile sales exceeded the amount generated by player pianos and their music rolls. Consigned today to the realm of collectors and technological arcane, the player piano was a moving force in American music and American life.

232 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2008

Reviews

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I so wish I had read this book years ago when it first was published. It was around that time or shortly after that my aunt was trying to find a home for her player piano. She was unsuccessful in giving it away and it ended up being scrapped. Had I read this then, we might have been able to contact AMICA and find it a home. As a child this piano had been in my grandmother's house and I have fond memories of "playing" it. The bellows were leaking so it was quite a workout to get it pumping enough to play. My grandparents' collection of rolls weren't very exciting. I remember only a few, which were the ones we usually played over and over again: "Listen to the Mockingbird" with its many glissandos, "In the Little Red Schoolhouse" (we thought the lyrics were funny), and "Hiawatha's Melody of Love", which my mother and aunt liked.

This book not only brought back many memories, it also was enlightening. It covers the history of piano automation from the very first player pianos that had mechanisms that played the keys externally to the traditional players of the early 1900's to modern players that use electronics to work the keyboard. It discusses the role of player pianos in the entertainment industry, as the title implies. But perhaps the most fascinating part was the discussion of how the rolls were made and the musician and composers who created them. There is also a philosophical discussion of whether player pianos capture the essence of a musician's performance or not. Ultimately, I had to go dig out the 3 CD's I have of recordings of player piano music. I've been listening to ragtime and stride for the last week and a half. The perfect accompaniment to this book.