I am very fortunate to live near the National Music Museum on the campus of the University of South Dakota located in Vermilion, SD

National Music Museum Homepage

I visited there yesterday and took pictures of many of the acoustic keyboard instruments. It was very difficult to resist the urge not to touch!

My apologies for my photography skills and slow web hosting.

There aren't many reasons to come to southeastern South Dakota, but this museum is surely one of them.

Enjoy!

Fascinating! Thanks so much!!

wow! thank you so much!

my favorite was the miniature! never saw anything like that...

if i ever realize my dream of driving cross-country i'll definitely make a stop there!

thank you again. that's a lot of work posting those pics.

Wow. Who would've thunk it?

A museum with pieces as unusual as some that you photographed... in South Dakota!! I have spent time in the Historical Musical Instrument Museum in Vienna and some of your photos rival pieces I saw there.

Now I have a reason to visit South Dakota. Thank you for sharing.

Thank you for sharing and spending time posting the pictures, Feeble. It was very enjoyable to read the descriptions!

Yet I cannot help but to notice, but why some of the instruments displayed seem not very well cared for?

The poor 1864 Chickering seems so dusty..

Man south Dakota! Thats not that far away from me!

I really really want to play one of those beautiful organs!


I presume though that you cant play any of these instruments?

I wonder what the condition of the internals of some of them are... :?:

Thats pretty neat stuff

Thank you for sharing and posting all those beautiful photos. I guess now I have a reason to visit South Dakota. Many of your photos rival the pictures at this website: http://www.get-piano-lessons.com/renaissance-time-period.html

The harpsichords and early pianofortes that I find the most fascinating and I don't know why, are the ones with the black and white keys reversed from what we see today.

Looking at the evolution of the piano makes me glad that I live in a time where we can afford to live in homes big enough to have pianos and can afford such beautiful instruments and that we don't have to re-tune our pianos each time we want to play in a different key or every time we want to practice!

Okay. I will have to go to S. Dakota sometime. Can someone shed more light on the piano with the completely different keyboard? I think it was the Decker Bros upright.

Don't think I have ever seen a keyboard like that for a keyboard. Reminds me of an old typewriter.

Maybe a link to that style keyboard.

Wow feeble, thanks so much, great pictures!

Lots of wonderful shots. That's the best picture I've seen of a Janko keyboard, love it.

I'd love to see these in person, but I think I'll wait until summer :-)

If you don't mind, I might grab a copy of the pictures and host them on the Piano World server so they will load faster.

That is the Jenko keyboard system.

Its a chromatic keyboard. Its like the button accordions.

I hear they are very easy to play. Much easier than a standard piano.

Japan has been making this keyboard called a chromatone or something. It looks like a cheap $100 but with the chromatic button system. its like $2,000!!!!!!

Very cool idea. Too bad it wasn't more popular.

They made Grand Janko pianos!

http://squeezehead.com/uniform-keyboard/

And that grand is a Steinway!!!!!!!!

Glad everyone likes them. Having the museum located in such a rural area as South Dakota means that not as many people get to enjoy it. Hopefully I've brought some of the museum out to the world.

It really is an unbelievable place if you like musical instruments, they have much, much more than keyboard instruments on display.


They have an audio tour of the museum as you walk though, you can hear some of the instruments being played. I think the audio tour does cost some $$. Admission itself is free but you can donate if you wish.






If you want to host the pictures so that they load faster, help yourself, or let me know the location and I can change the posts. I have higher resolution pictures if you want those as well, just let me know.

Thanks feeble,

Great shots, very interesting it's a shame SD is so far from OH. Does anyone know of a museum with player pianos?

ewaite

Thank you so much for the photos! I have actually been to this museum, and it is truly amazing. It was particularly great to see so many photos of the keyboard instruments posted here--when I was there I have to admit I was distracted by the string instruments, although of course I looked at the keyboard instruments as well. For anyone with any interest in strings, the collection there will blow you away. For example: a Stradivarius guitar (who knew he made them?), Stradivarius instruments of every kind, all the famous makers represented, some by instruments in their original conditions. . . .Truly staggering. Dozens of string instruments by all the great names--and some of the instruments themselves have names.

Well worth a visit!

did they have any double basses? In particular any Abraham Prescott instruments? If so I am totally going up there!

I am sure you could find out on the museum's website or by calling them. One of the aspects of the museum that I found fascinating was that many of their string instruments were unchanged since made. I had not known that most string instruments made by Stradivarius, etc., had had their necks lengthened over the years.

At least when I was there, you basically walked into the museum and wandered around among millions upon millions of dollars worth of glorious instruments. They sometimes get them out of their glass cases and play them--if you are a musician, as your post suggests you are, you might want to see if they are planning any concerts. (They have a string quartet of instruments made by one of the household name makers, unchanged since made, that they use sometimes to keep them happy.) There is probably no hurry about this--South Dakota winters are gruesome, and I cannot imagine anyone planning a concert for the dead of winter!

BTW, if you are interested in woodwinds, there is a huge collection of those, too. Something for everyone.

Of course, I am sitting in a blizzard as I write this, on the East Coast--might as well be in South Dakota today! And no, I don't work for the South Dakota tourist board, if there is one. . . .

feeble - Thanks so much for taking the time to post your excellent pictures and the descriptions. It made for a very entertaining read!

I received a nice email today from Dr. Margaret Downie Banks, Sr. Curator of musical instruments at the NMM.

I'm enclosing it here:
============================================================================
I was delighted to see all the interest recently expressed in the NMM’s keyboard collection, as well as the numerous photographs of some of our keyboards posted on the piano world’s website forum at http://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubbthrea...-%20Vermil.html .



Would you please inform your forum readers that there is a checklist of all of our keyboard instruments (with the exception of our reed organs and our electric organs) available on our extensive website at http://orgs.usd.edu/nmm/KEYBOARD.HTM .



Our most recent keyboard acquisitions can be found on “A Sampling of Recent Acquisitions at the NMM” at http://orgs.usd.edu/nmm/News/acquisitions.html.



Many other instruments from our global, encyclopedic collections of more than 14,800 musical instruments can be found in various checklists on our website (http://orgs.usd.edu/nmm/collect.html), as well as on our many virtual tours (http://orgs.usd.edu/nmm/galleries.html).



I’d also recommend that your readers visit our new introductory slide show, “Take A Walk Thru the NMM” (http://orgs.usd.edu/nmm/Tours/WalkThruNMM/TourDirections.html).



I hope that these online resources will both inspire and entice many more of your readers to visit South Dakota in order to see the NMM’s extraordinary treasures in person!



Best wishes,



Dr. Margaret Downie Banks

Senior Curator of Musical Instruments

Professor of Music

Webmaster

National Music Museum

University of South Dakota

414 East Clark Street

Vermillion SD 57069



E-mail: Margaret.Banks@usd.edu

NMM Website: www.nmmusd.org
==============================================================================

Very interesting.

Gorgeous Knabe Square, and I loved the Broadwood as well.

Skyblanche.

Those are some awesome pianos. I like the one that looks like an elaborate computer keyboard

The paintings on the underside of the covers of some of those are really beautiful.

feeble,

Thanks for posting all those wonderful pictures - it would be interesting to hear them played - which raises another question, are any of the playable?

Thanks.

WOW! That was a beautiful introduction to this museum. Thank you for sharing feeble!

I do think I remember seeing a broadcast of the place a couple of years ago on TV. Anyone remember that? It impressed me back then, but I had forgotten about it since.

I also just enjoyed the intro slide show from the museum. Must go see that again.

Hmmmmmm, any direct flights to SD?