Mechanical Music Gallery

Explore instruments that play themselves.

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Mechanical Marvels and
Self-Playing Instruments

MIM’s Mechanical Music Gallery features a selection of mechanical musical instruments, including barrel organs, mechanical zithers, cylinder music boxes, disc players, automatons, and more. These mechanical marvels play the same notes with the exact timing, nuance, and charm that their audiences enjoyed generations ago.

Featured Exhibits and Objects

Orchestrion, Belgium, 1926
Orchestrion, Belgium, 1926

Nearly 700 organ pipes, two accordions, a drum set, and other percussion implements make up this magnificent orchestrion, named “Apollonia” by the Gebroeders Decap organ company. It is the largest instrument in MIM’s collection. the largest instrument in MIM’s collection. MIM Collection

Mask seller mechanical doll, France, c. 1910
Mask seller mechanical doll, France, c. 1910

Driven by clockwork-like mechanisms, the mask seller is a musical mechanical doll that moves to a brisk tune. Loan courtesy of Musical Box Society International

Singing caged birds, Japan, mid-20th c.
Singing caged birds, Japan, mid-20th c.

Mechanical devices that mimic singing birds, like this mid-20th-century Japanese music box, have been made for centuries. Loan courtesy of the Musical Box Society International

QRS Arranging Piano, USA, 1931
QRS Arranging Piano, USA, 1931

The most immersive display in the Mechanical Music Gallery illustrates the equipment and process necessary to manufacture a piano roll and highlights the crucial human element involved in the production of this once-popular variety of automated musical entertainment. Loan courtesy of QRS Music Technologies, Inc.

Orchestral Regina, USA, 1896
Orchestral Regina, USA, 1896

The imposing Orchestral Regina deluxe music box in the Discs exhibit plays supersized discs measuring 27 inches in diameter, and its double comb of carefully tuned metal teeth has a seven-octave range. MIM Collection

Orchestrion Demonstration

Daily | Noon & 3 p.m.

No reservation required! Included with paid museum admission; free for members.

Stop by to hear lively tunes on the Decap orchestrion, the largest instrument in MIM’s collection.

Video Highlights

Violano Virtuoso
Violano Virtuoso | Instrument Demonstration
Interchangeable Disc
Interchangeable-Disc Music Box | Instrument Demonstration
Mechanical Mask Seller
Mechanical Mask Seller (Automaton) | Instrument Demonstration

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