THE PIANOLA.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9158, 4 August 1908, Page 6

THE PIANOLA.

The inventive j faculty of the musician has been developing over the piano until*to-day it has produced the pianola piano, an instrument which may be played by a person who doe 3 not know C from E on the keyboard. Some years ago the musical world was startled with the introduction of the pianola, a pneumatic contrivance provided with perforated rolls of music, which, attached to the piann, provided a perfect technique. Sceptics declared that the music was too mechanical, and that the pianola would never come into prominence. They were wrortg. Improvement after improvement was gradually applied tbjthe instrument, until to-day the piano is nearly as subservient to the pianola as it is to a Corenno or a Paderewski. There are adjuncts for emphasising the melody of a composition when necessary, of sustaining a " note—in fact, for making almost every subtle variation of time, touch, and tone. The pianola piano is a perfect conjunction of a piano and a pianola all in the same case. The combination dispenses with the moving of the pianola to and from the instrument. The pianola part is contained within the case of the piano, and there is little or nothing to indicate that it differs in appearance from the ordinary piano. When it is' desired to play the instrument by hand, the pianola pedals and thejjmusic roll device are shut out of sight. Exhibitions of the merits of these instruments are now being given by Mr Geo. Hill, representative of the British and Continental Piano Company, in L the premises of Mr Lowndes, the company's local agent, Exchange Buildings.