Video of the Museum Speelklok in the Netherlands

The Museum Speelklok in the Netherlands describes itself as "the most cheerful museum in the Netherlands". This video, featuring their astounding collection of mechanical wonders, makes their claim seem quite plausible to me.

From the site description:

Carillon clocks, musical boxes, Flötenuhren, pianolas, the singing nightingale, orchestrions including the famous Violina, street, fairground and dance organs; Museum Speelklok (before: the National Museum ‘From Musical Clock to Street Organ’) has it all. Guided tours of the museum take place every hour, when the instruments will be playing their repertoire varying from Viennese waltzes and tangos to tear-jerkers and the very latest hits. Besides presenting its collection, the museum takes great pleasure in organising special projects with well-known artists.

Learn more about the Museum Speelklok on their web site.

[ Thanks Vanessa! ]

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Man and Machines: Pat Metheny's Orchestrion

National Public Radio recently broadcast a segment on NPR's Weekend Edition, entitled "Man and Machines: Pat Metheny's Orchestrion"

From expert Steve Ryder:

In it Ashley Kahn interviews jazz artist Metheny, and they also pay
a respectful nod to traditional orchestrions of the past with a visit
to Popper's "Rex" orchestrion in the M.D. Guinness collection at the
Morris Museum in Morristown, New Jersey.

Metheny's "Orchestrion" tour has circulated Europe and some of the
U.S.A. and it hits Manhattan this weekend. In June the tour goes to
South Korea and Japan, and there are some return dates in the New York and New Jersey area in October. More can be found on http://www.patmetheny.com/

Meanwhile, the CBS Sunday Morning News TV segment on Metheny's "Orchestrion" has been rescheduled for a date to be announced.

Here's a link to Man And Machines: Pat Metheny's Orchestrion

[ Thanks Steve! ]

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Pat Metheny's Orchestrion album and tour

From the YouTube description:

LEMUR: League of Electronic Musical Urban Robots is proud to announce that over 40 of its robotic musical instruments are featured on Pat Metheny's Orchestrion album and tour. This is the culmination of a collaboration between LEMUR, a group of artists who create robotic musical instruments, and the 17-time Grammy winning guitarist.

LEMUR produced an orchestra of instruments for Metheny, including GuitarBots (LEMUR's specially-invented robotic slide guitars), mallet instruments (marimba, vibes and bells comprising over 100 beaters) and a large array of drums and percussion.

Like LEMUR's previously created instruments, these are computer-controlled mechanized acoustic musical instruments which can perform music by and with human musicians. LEMUR's instruments, augmented with instruments by other roboticists, comprise the Orchestrion, a robotic orchestra entirely under Metheny's compositional and improvisational control.

[ Thanks Art! ]

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