VALLEY CITY, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – The Barnes County Historical Society Lecture Series Season 22 Presents: Wes Anderson (BCHS): “A History and Demonstration of the Pianola” 7 PM Thursday, October 20th, at the Barnes County Museum.

A “Pianola” (player piano) is a self-playing piano, containing a pneumatic (vacuum) mechanism, that operates the piano action via programmed music recorded on perforated paper. The rise of the player piano grew with the rise of the mass-produced piano for the home, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Sales peaked in 1924, then declined, as the improvement in phonograph recordings due to electrical recording methods developed in the mid-1920s. The advent of electrical amplification in home music reproduction via radio in the same period helped cause their eventual decline in popularity, and the stock market crash of 1929 virtually wiped out production. (Wikipedia)

While not a musician, Wes will give a demonstration of the Player Piano and its varied music over time.

Wes Anderson’s interest in Player Pianos (AKA Pianolas) began in 2015 and has been something he’s cultivated for many years having apprenticed to learn the restoration of these instruments and amassing an eclectic personal collection of piano rolls that are shared with the visitors of the museum. Wes has had many other presentations for the Lecture Series: Theaters of Valley City, The 1918 Flu, Barnes County in WWII, The Year 1936, Valley City 125 years, Early Autos of Barnes County, and A Live Night Sky Planetarium Demonstration. Now in his 25th year with the Society, Wes is also the Director of the VCSU Planetarium since Fall 2002.

All Lectures are at the Barnes County Historical Society Museum and held in conjunction with Valley City State University. They are free and open to the public. For more information contact Wes Anderson at 701-845-0966.