Introduction: Mactammany organette
By Miho Matsuo
Hello. My name is Miho Matsuo, living in Tokyo. I found this group in Mark Fontana's page while searching about "Superscope", just like Shin, whom I never met before. I sent a mail to Jody last month, and enjoy reading the mail everyday.
I am not good at computer nor building an instrument, though I like reading about it. If I knew anything, it's about Japanese history. During 19c, Japanese people imported pianos, organs, violins and automatic musical instruments from curiosity to western culture, but unfortunately, nobody understood its music. So, some people became enthsiastic in learning western music, while others were absorbed in analysing the mechanism of the instruments. In 1880's, there was a first national best-seller in this field, which was a small organette called SHI-KO-KIN (perforated paper organ). This SHI-KO-KIN played both western music (mostly hymns) and domestic popular songs, and was not too expensive. It seems like a copy of Mactammany organette made in Massachusettes, probably brought by a christian priest, but I only presume it from the assemblance of its shape which I saw in Ordhume's "Encyclopedia of automatic musical instruments". I'm so delighted if I could receive any information regarding this simple organette or its manufacturer.
Aside from Mactammany, I'm interested in automatic instruments also becuse my grandma had an old player piano in her house. It was given from her father while he was in South America, and seemed very unusual among Japanese furnitures, but was my favorite thing in her house.
Sorry if there were any weird sentence. Unlike Shin Ohkura, I don't usually use English in a daily life.
------------------------------------- Miho Matsuo<RXP03264@niftyserve.or.jp> Tokyo, Japan -------------------------------------
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(Message sent Thu 18 Jul 1996, 07:03:00 GMT, from time zone GMT+0900.) |
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