What's the gadget that automatically plays all kinds of music from different instruments in one package? Today that would be an iPod, or 50 years ago, it would be a jukebox. But before electronics, you'd be talking about an orchestrion, which could be up to twelve feet tall -or wide- and weigh up to two tons! Orchestrions were player pianos with other instruments added on, like bells, drums, pipes, and horns. They were fairly common a hundred years ago, but relatively few survive today. At Collectors Weekly, you can read about the heyday of orchestrions and see quite a few different models -and also hear them play in a few videos. Link
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