Comments on: If you can breathe, you can PlaRola

If you can breathe, you can PlaRola

katillathehun — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 10:40:16 -0800

If you were around between the 1870s and the early 1900s, you were rocking out to the sweet tunes of the organette. Some were ornate wooden boxes played by turning a crank. Cool kids had tiny organette/harmonica hybrids called Rolmonicas that were played by mouth. Other variations included the Celestina, the Musical Casket, the Playasax, the PlaRola, and the Triola mechanical zither among others. Happen to have one? Pull it out of that yard sale! You can still find music for it.

By: Wolfdog

Wolfdog — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 10:50:45 -0800

I love ads of that era. There are so many words, arranged into complete sentences! It is as if people were intelligent and unafraid of reading. These days the ad campaign would be "Blow. Music. Rolmonica."

By: ob

ob — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 10:51:24 -0800

This is great, I love things like this. I'd love to get my hands on some of these things and work out how to write for them.

By: Spacelegoman

Spacelegoman — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 12:07:47 -0800

Reminds me of Nancarrow composing for player pianos... great tones from Organettes in the post

By: Karlos the Jackal

Karlos the Jackal — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 12:58:21 -0800

I've been looking for a Triola for a while but have never been able to track one down. Those others, I've never heard of; cool stuff. If you want a more modern alternative, you can get a Otokibako.

By: dhammond

dhammond — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 23:11:51 -0800

I like this stuff. Get me my monkey!

By: Karlos the Jackal

Karlos the Jackal — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 01:54:50 -0800

"Triola" can also refer to a toy wind instrument, by the way. I don't know how you might go about "preparing" that one, though.