Aeolian Piano

Like the music box and the barrel organ, the player piano was one of the most popular forms of home entertainment in the pre-radio, pre-phonograph era. This particular example, the so-called “push-up pianola,” is unique in that it features no sound-producing components at all—instead, a player uses his or her feet to pump pedals that control a series of levers or “fingers,” which then “play” an external piano.