Regarding Joyce Brite's essay on piano benches, I too have found what
a difference a bench can make.  Some years ago when I bought a reed
organ it came with a bench that had a slightly tilted top, leaning at
about a 15-degree angle towards the instrument.  I've used this bench
with several foot-pumped reed organs and player pianos, and it makes
a tremendous reduction in effort and fatigue.

I've also had a 1920s piano bench that had small supports hidden in the
music compartment, which could be tilted up to hold the bench top at an
angle, and I'm sure this was made to be used with foot-pumped player
pianos.

I'm always on the lookout for these tilt-top benches, but they're quite
rare (I suppose because they took a beating from all the pumping, and
fell apart).  I like them so much that I made a copy of the organ bench,
using plans found in Robert Gellerman's 'The American Reed Organ and
Harmonium' book.

Those guys knew what they were doing in the old days!

Larry Lobel
Virtuoso Piano Service
Petaluma, CA