May 11, 2008

Be the “Tom Brown” of Your Town (Oct, 1923)

Filed under: Advertisements, Music — @ 12:10 am
Source: Popular Mechanics ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Oct, 1923
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I think I’ll pass.

Be the “Tom Brown” of Your Town

You may have the talent to develop into a Saxophone wizard like Tom Brown, of the famous Tom Brown’s Clown Band, the highest priced musical act, and enjoy this most pleasant of vocations. Buescher Instruments have helped make famous Tom Brown, Paul Whiteman, Joseph C. Smith, Clyde C. Doerr, Bennie Krueger, Dan Russo, Paul Specht, Carl Fenton, Ross Gorman, Arnold Johnson, Nathan Glantz and thousands of others. $500 to $1,000 weekly for but two hours a day is not uncommon for musicians of such ability to earn.

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May 8, 2008

Englishman Invents Portable Player Piano Powered by Hand Pedals (Dec, 1930)

Filed under: Music — @ 9:25 pm
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Dec, 1930

Englishman Invents Portable Player Piano Powered by Hand Pedals

VACATIONISTS have never wanted for musical entertainment on their sojourns in out of the way places, for manufacturers have been quick to meet the demand with portable radios, phonographs, and the like. And now, along comes an English inventor, W. R. Wearham, and rigs up a portable player piano which can be folded up in two sections and carried in a harp-shaped case.

The chief feature of this piano is that the foot pedal which supplies the motive power is supplanted by a hand pedal, the pneumatic action operating directly on the keyboard, as shown in the photo at the left. The piano has as fine a tone quality as any other player piano and weighs less than most portable radio sets.

May 5, 2008

MEGAPHONE AMPLIFIES HARMONICA MUSIC (Aug, 1931)

Filed under: Music — @ 10:07 pm
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Aug, 1931

MEGAPHONE AMPLIFIES HARMONICA MUSIC

THE volume of a harmonica can be increased for playing in public, especially in large auditoriums or outdoors, by amplifying the sound with a medium-sized megaphone.

A slot is cut in the megaphone about 3 in. from the mouthpiece, and oyer this is riveted a metal holder made as illustrated below with two lips to grip the harmonica, which is of the “marine band” type.

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April 29, 2008

PHOTO AND MESSAGE ON PHONOGRAPH POST CARD (Aug, 1930)

Filed under: Music — @ 9:10 pm
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Aug, 1930

PHOTO AND MESSAGE ON PHONOGRAPH POST CARD

Here is a new way to send a greeting to a friend. Phonograph records on post cards have been made before, but now a German inventor has combined the record with a real photograph. The sender has his picture taken, records his voice on top of it, and the result is a personal record ready for the mail. A long message is recorded on several post cards, each one numbered.

April 20, 2008

Mickey Mouse Goes Classical (Jan, 1941)

Filed under: Movies, Music — @ 9:51 pm
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jan, 1941
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Mickey Mouse Goes Classical

By ANDREW R. BOONE

MOVING sound has been added to moving pictures to bring greater realism to the screen. Accompanying Walt Disney’s newest Technicolor creation, “Fantasia,” in which Mickey Mouse and a host of new companions perform to the rhythms of classical music, this latest Hollywood invention made its first public appearance a few weeks ago at the Broadway Theater in New York.

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March 31, 2008

ANTIQUE JUKE BOXES (Mar, 1956)

Filed under: Music — @ 10:15 pm
Source: Mechanix Illustrated ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Mar, 1956

ANTIQUE JUKE BOXES

A rare find in a dusty attic led to Louis Kernstein’s role as an expert on old music machines.

TWENTY-FIVE years ago, Louis Kernstein found an old, dusty victrola in the attic of his family home in Freehold, N. J. The machine was in sad need of repair and Louis scoured his neighborhood for parts. He didn’t find the parts but he did discover all kinds of music boxes and machines which formed the basis of his present remarkable collection.

March 27, 2008

Beam of Light Carries Music (Apr, 1933)

Filed under: Music — @ 9:57 pm
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Apr, 1933

Beam of Light Carries Music

Powerful Ray Speeds Radio Program Across Half-Mile of City Buildings RADIO fans witnessed a twentieth-century marvel, the other night, when they listened to a radio program transmitted over a ray of light.

High in the tower of the Chrysler Building, in New York City, an orchestra played before a microphone. No land wire linked it to the broadcasting studio half a mile away. Instead, the blue beam of a 50.000-candlepower searchlight sped the music across intervening rooftops.

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TESTS NOW SHOW IF CHILD IS TONE DEAF OR MUSICAL (Aug, 1931)

Filed under: Just Weird, Music — @ 9:56 pm
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Aug, 1931

TESTS NOW SHOW IF CHILD IS TONE DEAF OR MUSICAL

Has Junior a natural ear for music? Or are his piano lessons wasted effort? It’s easy to find out at once, according to Prof. Harold M. Williams, of the University of Iowa Child Welfare Research Station. Tests he has devised show whether a child has a real sense of rhythm and whether he can keep a tune in singing.

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March 25, 2008

There’s Music in Everything (Jun, 1936)

Filed under: Music — @ 9:51 pm
Source: Popular Mechanics ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jun, 1936

There’s Music in Everything

HAVE you ever been lulled to sleep by the musical click of the wheels as your train sped over steel rails? Have your fighting instincts been aroused by staccato drum beats or have you listened to tunes played on such improvised instruments as a musical saw, a length of pipe with a funnel in one end, a comb and piece of tissue paper, or a deflating automobile tube whose valve was fingered by the performer?

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March 6, 2008

This Instrument Will Register Body Reactions of Student Piano Player (Nov, 1929)

Filed under: Just Weird, Music — @ 1:55 am
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Nov, 1929

I can’t imagine how this would help teach the piano. I think Dr. Johnen just got his kicks by strapping women into weird equipment.

This Instrument Will Register Body Reactions of Student Piano Player

A NEW device has been patented by Dr. Kurt Johnen, Berlin piano pedagogue, which records the motions and bodily reactions of a piano player to determine if the selection is being properly interpreted. A lady is pictured being examined by the device. A pneumatic belt records the change of the circumference of the chest, pneumatic cuffs about the upper arms control the changes of muscle tension, through a hose is recorded the rhythms of respiration and another hose transfers the strength of touch. Dr. Johnen expects this device will aid him in instructing his pupils in interpretation.

March 3, 2008

HIDDEN LIGHTS ILLUMINE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS (Aug, 1933)

Filed under: Music — @ 1:51 am
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Aug, 1933

HIDDEN LIGHTS ILLUMINE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS

Musical instruments glowing in the dark with diffused light have been introduced to provide a novelty for theatergoers. As the musicians play, the moving light on their instruments offers a striking spectacle. This is enhanced by changing colors in the illumination, which is controlled from apparatus offstage. The photograph above shows how the scheme is applied to a violin, which is studded with concealed electric lights. The bow is also illuminated; a long tubular lamp serves as the frame. Trailing wires lead from the performers’ instruments to the switchboards where lights are managed.ac

March 2, 2008

GIANT SAXOPHONE IS SO LARGE PLAYER STANDS ON LADDER (Jun, 1924)

Filed under: Music — @ 2:52 am
Source: Popular Mechanics ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jun, 1924

GIANT SAXOPHONE IS SO LARGE PLAYER STANDS ON LADDER

Weighing 500 pounds and modeled accurately after smaller instruments, a huge saxophone was displayed not long ago in California. Securely bracketed to the outside of the manufacturer’s shop, the giant instrument formed an impressive advertising display, and to emphasize its tremendous proportions, a young woman who attempted to play it was compelled to mount a ladder to reach the mouthpiece.

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