Nickelodeon/Orchestrion
By Jack M. Conway
Hi Pete,
Really enjoyed Toy Story and waiting for it to come out in October.
From Bowers Encyclopedia page 965: Nickelodeon. 2. Term used to describe a coin-operated piano, orchestrion, or similar instrument. [Strictly modern post-1940 usage; never used earlier in this context. Such instruments were called electric pianos, coin pianos, etc. Term generally used by collectors and the public in Anerica today.]
From Bowers Encyclopedia page 967: Orchestrion. Self-contained automatic musical instrument, esp. a large one, equipped with several different instruments in imitation of an orchestra. ... Keyboard-type piano orchestrion: built around and upright piano; with one or more chromatically-scaled extra instruments (eg., a rank of violin or flute pipes, a xylophone, a set of bells) and with percussion effects.
I understand the current usage to mean:
nickelodeon - piano (usually with mandolin) and up to one additional chromatic instrument and or percussions.
orchestrion - piano (usually with mandolin) and two or more chromatic instruments and or percussions.
Jack M. Conway |
(Message sent Sun 29 Sep 1996, 17:13:19 GMT, from time zone GMT+0100.) |
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