The musical instruments of the concert stage are products of thousands of years of experimentation in sound; the often taken-for-granted results of a long process of tinkering. Keyboard instruments are just one example: From early string instruments to the harpsichord, the pianoforte, and the modern concert grand, the piano has been a long-term, collaborative project. The result is as much a complex machine as it is a tool of human expression.
Does such a mechanically impressive instrument really need a human player? Before the rise of the phonograph in the early 20th century, live music was simulated by water-powered clocks, whistling mechanical birds, player pianos, music boxes, and a myriad of other mechanical instruments: barrel organs, carillons, serinettes, and more. Far from being an impossibility, self-playing musical instruments have been a human preoccupation for centuries, resulting in fascinating, convoluted machines both real and imagined.
What happens when you remove the human player from a piece of music? Most automatic instruments are literally robotic, with none of the expressiveness given by a human touch. Yet they have their own charm, a plodding whimsy that creates performances that, if not human, are at least fun to watch and listen to. This playlist collects some of the most outlandish examples of mechanical instruments.
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