MBSI
Musical Box Society International
Kaoru Ishikawa offers the following piece of music she arranged. She hand-punched the music strip, something similar to the table favors that were provided at the MBSI annual meetingheld in Rockville, Maryland.
She says “From the second chorus, I’m turning the handle at a very high speed. It is the real thrill of a hand-cranked music box.”
Charles Wilson describes his restoration of a Lecoultre forte-piano music box (ca 1840) that he completed over a period 18 years! This complete restoration included repining the “fat” cylinder, re-tuning the comb, replacing the soundboard, and a unique reconstruction of brass inlay in the case, and more! An inspiring story to read with photos. Here is a link to the photos and sound file on the MBSI website. https://mbsi.org/photo_gal/lecoultre-piano-forte-cylinder-music-box/
Bill Wineburgh presents a detailed review of the Mermod Freres cylinder box tune change mechanisms, with close up photos of various snail cams and the change control levers. Bill has also included a full summary table that covers the various models and their salient properties. I had no idea there were so many Mermod varieties!
Hope Rider remembered Don Stinson, the organ restorer and new organ builder, over the period from 1966-2019. Many of us have heard Stinson organs at various rallies, even if we did not know they were Stinson’s. A fond remembrance, with color photos to enjoy.
David Worrall continues his series of sacred music on cylinder boxes. In this article he provides background on the rise in popularity of hymns.
Reaching back to the 13th century, Dr Robert Penna writes of a programmable automata orchestra that entertained guests on a royal boat. A four-meter long replica of al-Jazari’s Musical Boat, featuring a mechanical “robot band,” is on exhibit at the Ontario Science Centre. You will want to read about this ancient Arab technology.
Regrettably, it was announced that the joint MBSI / AMICA annual meeting scheduled for September has been cancelled due to COVID-19 concerns.
To receive this issue, you can join MBSI on our website, click https://mbsi.org/join-mbsi/. Select the new member discounted option.
Several interesting articles will appear in May/June 2020 MBSI Mechanical Music, delivered to subscribers right around May 1, 2020.
Many of us own a Regina music box, and an article in this issue, by Harold Wade, describes two Regina disc boxes with bells. He describes how they were purchased and then restored. The Porter Music Box Company performed the restoration and was able to supply reproduction discs, which are quite rare. Since original discs are usually not good to play in “as found” condition, reproduction discs are recommended. I enjoyed reading about these relatively rare music boxes and admiring the photos.
Other interesting articles include a chapter tour-visit to a fabulous collection in Southern California, an article about relief-carved music box cases, and another great”Nickel Notes” article by Matt Jaro – this one is about using relational databases to catalog your rolls and discs. I was also fascinated by how Jay Carsman coaxed his Regina Corona 12 disc changer back to smooth operation. There is more in this excellent issue, and as an MBSI member, you will receive your copy soon. If you are not a member, consider joining MBSI and receive a New Member Discount.
Interested in seeing who won awards at the MBSI Annual Meeting in Rockville, MD? Well, now you can find out by clicking the link above and viewing the PDF presentation for yourself.
MBSI is pleased to announce the availability of a new book you may wish to add to your mechanical music library. There are many volumes about the history of musical boxes made in Switzerland, Germany, and France, but that is not all of the story. There was also a thriving industry producing quality musical boxes in the nineteenth century in the Austrian Empire. Information about those instruments, particularly for English speakers, has been much harder to come by.
We are pleased to announce that an important work on this subject, previously only available in German, has been released in a revised and updated English language edition. It is Musical Boxes from Prague and Vienna by Dr. Helmut Kowar, issued by the Austrian Academy of Sciences Press. Several organizations financial contributions have made this possible. The Musical Box Society International and the Musical Box Society of Great Britain jointly funded the printing cost. Translation was funded by two foundations, the Franz-Josef Mayer-Gunthof Wissenschafts und Forschungsstiftung and the Stiftung Familie Philipp Politzer.
The volume is generously sized at approximately 8¼ x 11 ¾, runs 246 pages, is generously illustrated and includes an extensive catalog of known instrument examples. It is currently available from the Academy at https://verlag.oeaw.ac.at/musical-boxes-from-prague-and-vienna. (Note the icon at the upper right of the webpage that makes an English language version of the web page available.) Dr. Kowar has informed us that the Academy will be making the book available on Amazon as well.