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sexta-feira, 23 de junho de 2023
quinta-feira, 22 de junho de 2023
111 years later Titanic makes five more victims!
Let us rest in peace what in peace is!
sábado, 11 de março de 2023
School trip to Museu da Música Mecânica
During
the visit to the museum, we had the opportunity to see the evolution of
mechanical music throughout the centuries. It was interesting to learn
how people used to listen to music since nowadays we can listen to
whatever we want with just one click.
Above
all the mechanical instruments, the Aeolian Orchestrelle was the one that stood
out the most for me. It was built in England in 1900 and it was described to us
as “a home orchestra” which is a very fascinating concept since an orchestra
brings you a diversity of feelings that transport you to a different world
where you just want to enjoy what you are listening to, whether it is
the most peaceful waltz or the most powerful symphony. Everyone could hear
the music by pedalling, it didn’t matter if they were music experts or pure
enthusiasts.
by Margarida Nunes, 11º B
Seeing the Museu da Música Mecânica was
such a pleasant experience. A variety of different instruments caught my eye, but
for my text, I chose to talk about the Pathé
Jour Et Nuit.
This big, beautiful, and elegant
instrument is the junction of two gramophones to try to control, for the first
time, the volume of the music emitted. It consists of the same record playing
in the two gramophones at the same time - of course, with a delay which caused
an echo - and when people wanted to hear the music lower, they would put the record
playing only in one of the gramophones.
The Pathé
Jour Et Nuit was manufactured in France in 1918.
While this piece was presented to us, I was fascinated by the thought of humans inventing this kind of mechanism, which made me wish to experience hearing this instrument playing in the past.
by Ásia Galante, 11ºB
The Regina Hexaphone (1910) was the first fully automated coin-operated jukebox, and it could play six-cylinder records instead of flat discs.
I chose this instrument because I thought, first, that it was an exceptionally beautiful and aesthetic piece, so it immediately caught my attention, and second, I also thought it marked the beginning of a new era in the history of mechanical music because it was the first machine that was powered by coins and not a lever or a different mechanism.
by Jacira Costa, 11ºB
The instrument
I chose from the museum was the Polyphon.
The
polyphon was invented in 1870 and it is a large disc-operated music box.
I chose
this instrument because I am fond of vinyl discs and have always loved the
sound that they produced so it was remarkably interesting to see this older version
of them. The discs really impressed me, with how large they were and all the
mechanisms of the little metallic parts that form such a piece of complex music. One
other thing that made me choose the polyphon was the sound. I have studied
music since I was little so the sound of things is important to me
and has a profound impact. The greatness of the tone and how it was extraordinarily little off-key really impressed me. It's amazing how such an old instrument can still
have that capacity to resound in the room.
by Ana Lima Pita, 11ºB
I choose the Organette Amorette, a mechanical
instrument that is exhibited in the Mechanical Music Museum. This specific
instrument was manufactured in Germany in about 1900, but the first Organettes
started to be produced around 1870 and were discontinued around
1920. Organettes Amorette used metal
discs. They were hand-cranked and designed for tabletop use in the
home. Organettes were popular and had a wide selection of music produced for
them, but as the phonograph became more affordable, they were replaced.
The reason I choose the Organette was that during the visit it
caught my attention to the structure, the details behind it, the way it works, and the sound was very peculiar, and I really thought it was interesting the
whole story behind it.
by Raquel Antunes, 11ºB
One of the instruments I liked the most when visiting the museum was the “Phrynis” Gramophone, one of the most recent pieces at the exhibition. It dates to 1920, and it is an example of beautiful vintage art. The reason this specific piece caught my eye was due to its vibrant pink and red colour and the shape of its horn, resembling many flowers we frequently spot in nature. Despite being a simple instrument, it was extremely aesthetically pleasing and displayed an enormous number of delicate details, such as the eagle at its base, which indicated the brand and country of manufacture (Switzerland). Whoever was the previous owner of this astonishing piece would proudly boast it on every occasion to delight all his guests.
by Maria Margarida Santos, 11ºB
sábado, 25 de fevereiro de 2023
School trip to Museu da Música Mecânica
Some texts that were written by the students
I chose to talk about the "Aeolian Orchestrelle – Model W".
It was made in 1908 in England by "The Orchestrelle Company". This piece is a self-playing organ that was designed to sound like an orchestra. This was achieved by including a wide variety of registers that go from Trombone to Aeolian Harp and Viola that can be activated by pushing buttons on top of the keyboard. It also has the functionality to be played as a normal organ making it enjoyable for people with and without musical background. This "Orchestrelle" can produce more interesting sounds from a musical standpoint than most of the other pieces in the museum, making it the most impressive piece in Museu da Música Mecânica.
by Francisco
Sousa, 11º B
In Museu da Música Mecânica we could see various
instruments. The instrument that caught my attention most was the Violano
Virtuoso, manufactured in 1992 in the USA.
This piece, one of the most important of this collection, combines
the sound of a violin and a piano, which I found fascinating. It already used
electric current for its movement, and it was considered one of the wonders of
modern technology.
Another reason for me to have chosen this
instrument was the fact that a similar MODEL destined for the dance Hall of
Titanic was waiting for the ship’s arrival in New York.
I really enjoyed this visit and I hope to return there soon!
by Madalena Bernardes, 11º B