Musical Tours Calendar of Events Purchase Tickets The Museum Store Memberships & Donations Weddings & Events Educational Activities Volunteers & Members Sponsors Find Us Museum Hours: May 1 - Oct. 31 M-S 10-4 Sunday 12-4 Last guided tour begins at 2:30 November Saturday 10-4 Fri (25th) 10-4 Last guided tour begins at 2:30 December Saturday 10-4 26th-31st 10-4 Last guided tour begins at 2:30 Admission: Adult: $11 Children (6-15): $4 A family: $25 Visit us on Facebook Sign up for our mailing list

Instruments in Time There is something magical about the instruments on display at the Music House Museum. With the period-inspired settings and the historically accurate restoration of each machine, guests have the opportunity to experience moments in time. Original machines still play the exact same music and style that they were designed for nearly a century ago, and in so doing recreate the experience shared by those who heard them so many years ago. Electrically driven player pianos, known originally as nickelodeons, started appearing around Chicago and New York in the late 1890’s. Playing out the new American style of music called ragtime, these pianos introduced this new sound to people from all walks of life and in nearly every town. Instruments like the museum’s Cremona nickelodeon and Seeburg KT evolved with the music of the day. As music shifted from ragtime to stride then the early forms of jazz, additional sounds and instrumentation were added to give just the right musical effects. And many of the great technologies rose from mechanical music. A fine example is the Violano-Virtuoso made by the Mills Novelty Company of Chicago. First introduced at the great 1908 World’s Fair as one of the United States Patent Offices “Eight Greatest Inventions of the Decade,” this musical marvel played both piano and violin from an entirely electrical system of intricate switches and contacts controlled by a thin paper roll. With the lyrical sounds of the violin, this instrument waxed out the strains of the popular tunes through the first thirty years of the last century, amazing and entertaining all who had the privilege of hearing one of these fascinating machines. Throughout Europe at the turn of the twentieth century, great public dance halls entertained millions with both live musicians and the great mechanical organs of the day. The company of Theofiel Mortier of Antwerp, Belgium created some of the grandest and most complex mechanical organs of his time. Huge instruments like the “Amaryllis” that once graced the Victoria Palace Ballroom of Ypres roared out the liveliest dance tunes from the classic waltzes to the lively new rumbas, teaching a whole generation the newest styles of dance. Played alone or with a house orchestra, these machines were constantly supplied with the newest and most exiting new tunes from around the world, allowing many Europeans the chance to hear music from other countries that they may not have heard otherwise. Organ pipes, percussion and rhythm instruments play automatically from punched cardboard sheets in a similar fashion to the technology that would give rise to the punched card computers at the end of the Second World War. The Music House Museum is an educational institution whose mission is to collect, restore and preserve and demonstrate automated musical machines and related Americana of their era; and to educate all age groups of their significance to music, culture, technology and regional history. MHM is a non-profit organization serving the public since 1983

Music House Museum 7377 U.S. 31 North P.O. Box 297 Acme, Michigan 49610

Copyrighted © 2011 and Designed By Boldt Web Studio, LLC of Traverse City ~ All Rights Reserved