Whether you are fascinated by the mechanisms, intrigued by the ingenuity of their invention, or simply enjoy listening to their unique sounds, you can find out more about them on this website and how the Society can enhance your experience of them.
We meet regularly to socialise with friends new and old, visit collections, and learn about this fascinating topic.
The home for mechanical music enthusiasts since 1962
An international organisation with members in Europe, North America, Asia and Australasia who all share an interest in mechanical musical instruments.
Some of the society’s founding members were internationally well known in their field: e.g. Arthur Ord-Hume and Cyril de Vere Green. Its first president, John T Clarke, wrote the very first general book about musical boxes; others (Graham Webb, David Tallis, H A V Bulleid to name a few) along with Arthur Ord-Hume producing guides to collecting, identifying and repairing or restoring them.
Formed in 1962 initially for lovers of musical boxes its scope now embraces all forms of self-playing instruments, from minute singing bird automata, musical snuff boxes, cylinder and disc musical boxes, through to organettes, barrel organs and pianos, self-playing pianos and ‘pianolas’, fair organs and orchestrions.
Glide through the fascinating world of mechanical music with us
Check out the Society’s upcoming events and see what our members have recently enjoyed on our Events pages.
Meet the Committee
Officers of the Society volunteer for a term of nn years with elections held at the AGM. Our current committee members include:
- President Robert Hough
- Vice President Nicholas Simons
- Business secretary & Data protection Officer Ken McEwan
- Treasurer & Subscription Secretary Clare Lillington
- Editor Alison Biden
- Membership secretary Kevin McElhone
- Correspondence Secretary Nicholas Simons
- Archivist Alison Biden
- Committee member Edward Hollingworth
- IT consultant Russ Lewis
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My Favourite Polyphon
I have lots of musical instruments recorded and uploaded to my Youtube channel. Here’s one of My Favourites
