The Music Box Continues My Bond with the Pianola (Player Piano)
(Netherlands)
The Music Box Continues My Bond with the Pianola (Player Piano)
Joeri van Rhijn
(Netherlands)
▲ This is the video I used to record the arrival, unpacking, and use of the Muro Box-N40 in the Netherlands on Monday 03-06-2024.
Finding the article too long to read? Don’t worry—we’ve prepared a Podcast version so you can easily enjoy the story by listening.
Our Dutch customer Joeri has been supporting Muro Box since 2020 as an international crowdfunding backer, following and encouraging our growth for years. Today, he proudly brings the Muro Box-N20 and N40 music boxes to public performances and talks, sharing our entrepreneurial journey and showing how the music box crosses borders to unite passion and dreams.
I’m Joeri from the Netherlands. I was one of the earliest backers of the Muro Box-N20 on the Indiegogo crowdfunding platform. As a member of the Dutch Pianola* Association (https://www.pianolavereniging.nl/), I discovered a report about Muro Box in a bulletin of the association (see the pictures below).
The Dutch Pianola Association's Monthly Magazine
The N20 Music Box was reported by the Dutch Pianola Association in their publication for members.
Being an interested person of inventions that use technology and innovative energy to make the world better, I was deeply moved after reading the report and decided to buy one on Indiegogo, becoming one of the earliest customers of the N20.
A few years later, when the N40 crowdfunding campaign was launched in October 2023, I immediately decided to support it. The following is my story that I shared with the Muro Box Team about why I love music boxes and why I picked those songs to let the music arranger help me create their Muro Box versions.
▲ I made this video to record the sound of the Muro Box-N20 playing my customized melody, “Te Deum of Charpentier ,” and my words to thank the Muro Box team in 2021.
My Experience of using N20 and N40
● Sound Quality:
The sound now is subtle and more grown up. Please, keep on going ☺.
● Resonance Box:
The Resonance Box is a great added value; more than I expected. It’s more “complete”.
● Performance with Various Types of Songs:
There is one piece of music what’s really impressing me and it is at the same time a very good demonstration for the N40:
Le Carnival des Animaux arranged by Hanneke Debie.
The Story Behind the Selected Arrangement of Scott Joplin
In the street of my parents’ home where I grew up, there was a big villa, built in the 30s and very strong like a bunker, because the people of that house were smart; they knew that WWII was coming. See the pictures.
BUT, and now starts the real answer; in the cellar there was an old pianola.
My brother and a friend (he’s like me, a member of the Dutch Pianola Association) asked the home lord if they could take care of the pianola, because it was getting worse due to vandalism. And later they broke off the building. That was heartbreaking to see.
In the 70’s and 80’s the old owners died and the villa became vacant.
They became green light and restored and rebuilt the pianola.
Even they found a WWII German bullet in the frame.
They bought a lot of different pianola rolls; like the music of Scott Joplin.
We could play it in 2 ways; with a vacuum cleaner (a pianola works with vacuum) or to play it by ourselves with our feet like on a bicycle with the possibility to make it musical.
When I came from school my favorite relaxing moment was to play the pianola. One of my favorites was Scott Joplin. Simple and complex at the same time. We lost the pianola in the flood in Venlo in 1993.
Recreating Scott Joplin with the Music Box
When I heard about the Muro Box I thought directly about the connection between Scott Joplin and your instrument. But I had to wait for the N40 ;-).
So with the N20 it started for me with “Te Deum” by Charpentier.
Note 1:
When Joeri initially purchased the N20 music box, he selected Charpentier’s Te Deum because its major key melody suited the N20’s performance capabilities. However, due to the abundance of chromatic notes in Scott Joplin’s Original Rags, Joeri waited for the release of the N40 music box before opting to customize this piece.
Note 2:
Scott Joplin (1868-1917) was an American composer and pianist, known as the “King of Ragtime.” His works primarily focused on the Ragtime genre, which combined the formal structure of European classical music with the rhythms of African American music. This style became incredibly popular in the U.S. from the late 19th to early 20th century. His famous pieces include The Entertainer, Maple Leaf Rag, and others.
The Franciscus choir in the 90's in Venlo in the town hall (you can find me on the top right).
My brass instruments collection in the 90"s.
The Roermonds Chambre orchestra in the 90's.
The moment before singing the Nocturna of A. Mozart in the 90’s in Venlo.
Playing hunting horn (corno da caccia) with organ in a church in Eindhoven (1995).
As city trumpeter playing at the platform of the town hall in Venlo (2003).
Studying conducting in Thorn (2003-2006).
Playing as city trumpeter in combination with the carillion in the church tower of Venlo at about 45 m high. This picture was a moment of a solo piece for the carillion (2004).
The Beginning of My Passion for Music
As a child I listened to a lot of music (that never changed).
My favorite was/is baroque music and the most in the time of Ludwig the XIV, played by the trumpet player Adolf Scherbaum.
After I heard recordings of the trumpet player Ludwig Güttler from Dresden in 1985, I decided to start to play trumpet. I played trumpet, corno da caccia, cornet (not in the pictures), I sang (deep bass) and directed some small music groups (see the pictures). That ended in 2014.
The Charm of Automatic Musical Instruments
This has to do with interest in technic; specially with (mechanical) automic technic. At the same time, I have to protect myself from too many interests.
In Belgium I visited some friends:
For the transport of the N40 to Belgium I used a special shock absorbent and waterproof suitcase.
Their reaction:
“Even though I didn’t know the Muro Box (yet), I thought it was a great experience, not only does it look beautiful to the eye, but I also thought the sound of your Box in particular was extremely musical, melodic, but also especially angelically beautiful. I am therefore open to hearing the sound of the Box with the double combs live”.
The people of the Dutch Pianola Association are restoring and building pianolas and reproducing player pianos.
The following pictures are from a rare Duca Philipps Feurich reproducing player piano restored by Mark Stikkelbroek from Venlo.
Note:
“Feurich” is a German piano brand, and “Duca Philipps” is a brand name associated with player piano technology originating from Germany. Pianos equipped with their technology are called reproducing pianos because the system distinguishes between the recording piano and the reproducing piano. Therefore, a Duca Philipps Feurich reproducing piano refers to a rare Feurich piano that has been specially modified using Duca Philipps’ player piano technology.
And events: like visiting ‘The AgraGames CoinopMuseum’ in Venlo, showing the coinop history between 1870 and the present:
When Muro Box Joins My Collection...
The N20 enriched me to play with an automatic music box in which you can play more different pieces of music with a beauty of sound. At the same time, it wasn’t chromatic. So, I had to wait for an even more beautiful technique.
I like to help with interesting developments. And with the N40 you get a larger range of (chromatic) tones.
My expectations (and they are even more than that I hoped for) of the N40: a more complete beauty of instrument with a lot of possibilities. I like, for example, Scarlatti and Debussy. It’s a pleasure to listen to this sort of music.
My Expectations for the Muro Box Team
The Muro Box N20 was for me a sort of ‘restart’ to play with automatic instruments.
The N40 completed the technical possibility with chromatic tones, also for music of Scott Joplin 🙂 .
To work with a phone, the Muro Box app, is still not easy for me and I hope that in the near future there will be possibilities to work also with an app for a computer/mac or iPad.
I’m very proud of you for what you achieved in the last years. I’m very proud of you for what you achieved in the last years. As a N40 music box backer, I wrote the following comment for the Muro Box Team on the Kickstarter:
Bring My Music Boxes to Perform Live in Front of a Group for the First Time
The reason I chose to perform live for the residents of the nursing home is that this month marks one year since my mother passed away in this very place. She had lived there for almost four years, and during that time the caregivers did far more than just their job. They gave, and continue to give, an abundance of care, respect, and love to the residents.
With this performance, my brother Bas and I wanted to express our gratitude and respect to the De Fabriek nursing home in Maasbree. It was also my first time performing for a group, and perhaps it can be repeated in the future.
To begin, I asked the audience if they remembered the old-fashioned music box. They did. Then, I shared the story of Dr. Tsai and Dr. Feng, the husband-and-wife founders of Muro Box. Their journey began in Austria, where they bought a small music box that could only repeat a short segment of Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik.
Years later, while cleaning their storage room, they found this little music box again. Inspired by its limitation of playing only a fragment of music, Dr. Tsai and Dr. Feng embarked on an adventure to create the Muro Box—a programmable music box capable of playing a wide variety of rich and diverse music. The residents listened with curiosity and were eager to learn more about this innovation.
In the above video, the N40 music box performed Saint-Saëns’ The Carnival of the Animals <Aquarium>.
(The full version can be freely searched and listened to by entering the song title in the Muro Box APP or the online music library webpage: Le Carnival des Animaux – Aquarium )
The music I performed included Charpentier’s Te Deum, Scott Joplin’s Original Rags, works by Händel, and some well-known children’s songs.
Note from Muro Box Team:
- “Pianola” and “Player Piano” both refer to pianos that can play music automatically, but there are some subtle differences between the two terms.
- Pianola: Originally, this was the brand name of a piano player manufactured by the American company “Aeolian”. Over time, however, the term became more widely used in certain regions (especially in Europe) to refer to any piano that uses paper rolls to play automatically. Therefore, “Pianola” often specifically refers to pianos equipped with external mechanical devices that can be attached to a regular piano, enabling it to play automatically.
- Player Piano: This is a more general term for any piano with a built-in mechanical system that can automatically play music using pre-programmed paper rolls. Both “Pianola” and other brands of player pianos fall under the category of “Player Piano.”
- The definition of Player Piano is broader and includes Pianola. Therefore, while all Pianolas are Player Pianos, not all Player Pianos are Pianolas.