The word "ivory" conjures images of exotic scrimshaw and intricately carved jewelry, figurines and pipes. Often, only 1 in 4 slaves survived the journey, according to British explorer Dr. David Livingstone, who observed and wrote about them. He says he'd tell ivory buyers now to stop, even though Americans once were just as guilty. Moore spent years in the trade, and it made him wealthy, but he grew to hate it. "You could get 45 keyboards out of one tusk." And then into making billiard balls, cutlery handles, shirt buttons — all manner of ivory knickknacks. Definition of the piano key material Ebony is a black hardwood, dense in composition with a high-quality, even gloss finish when polished. As with many construction processes, the method for building a piano has changed over time. If not, you can: Using needle; Using a tiny needle. However, they don’t feel any different from other plastic key tops and worse yet, they look fake! He claims to have achieved a long-held ambition as he sat behind his piano, just a few meters away for the graceful giants, calmly playing his instrument. Eventually, the ivory trade was outlawed in the U.S. Curator Rhonda Forristall shows me around. Years ago virtually all piano key tops were made out of ivory. It is a plastic key top that has a closer look and feel to ivory than traditional plastic key tops. Most of the ivory is sold in China and Vietnam, and these days the U.S. government and international conservation groups urge those countries to arrest the traffickers. Buttons for corsets. What wood is used to make pianos? (Date unknown.) For piano keys, the ivory was sliced thin, into laminates that were secured to wooden keys. Eventually, the ivory trade was outlawed in the U.S. It has been estimated that 30,000 elephants were killed between 1905 and 1912 to supply these factories. Fish and Wildlife Service to talk about the U.S. ivory trade. 5 people found this helpful. Most of that ivory went to a tiny town in Connecticut — a town that's now grappling with this dark part of its past. Two New England towns dominated the world's ivory market from 1840 to 1940 — transforming imported tusks from African elephants into piano keys and combs. One of the Connecticut buyers who sailed to Zanzibar was Ernst Moore, who worked for Pratt, Read. Stephen Beale drives a wagonload of ivory tusks to town from Deep River Landing. Stone barns from the 18th century, riverside mills and newly painted Victorian mansions line the highways. But it was ivory that made Deep River rich. E.D. "It wasn't right. ", E.D. These men ... who ran this industry, were upstanding, moral, high-minded people who didn't think they were doing anything wrong. Stream songs including "Flesh and the Devil", "Elephant Made the Piano" and more. So, you might be wondering, where fake ivory key tops fall into this story. The pianos were very well made and had a … "So we have a special responsibility and we have a unique opportunity to say, 'We are sorry we have done this, but we want in some way to help stop the slaughter now.' So they captured Africans and enslaved them to transport the tusks to the ships. Moving it over the small fire until it turns red. Piano keys required extra labor, and soon the business sprawled all over town. Soon, a rival company, Comstock, Cheney & Co., emerged and built a whole new town nearby for its workers, called Ivoryton. During the Art Deco era from 1912 to 1940, dozens (if not hundreds) of European artists used ivory in the production of chryselephantine statues. This company was in New York CIty and produced upright pianos and player pianos. "Three pieces go into making a key," she explains. The illegal trade in ivory from African elephants has tripled in the past 15 years, to the extent that biologists fear for the creatures' future existence. But Peter Howard, trustee of the historical society and a Tusk Force founder, says at least Deep River residents are now confronting the town's past. Elephant tusks evolved from teeth, giving the species an evolutionary advantage. Mills and factories and timber made the town well-to-do. Water still cascades through a nearby sluice that ran the factory's machines. See original listing. Louis E. Pratt, master ivory cutter for Pratt, Read & Co., shows off eight ivory tusks, April 1, 1955. Those efforts aren't likely to resonate in China and Vietnam. Ended: 08 … ", Conniff, sitting in a gazebo on the Deep River landing where the ships once arrived with ivory from Africa, says that's likely the attitude of people who are buying illegal ivory now. "Pianists liked white," Hostetler says of the piano keys. While you can’t get a new piano with ivory key tops, many pianists still want the feel of ivory keys. But for the better part of a century, from 1840 to around 1940, the U.S. was the world's biggest buyer of ivory. People called Deep River "the queen of the valley" 150 years ago. Barton has dozens of videos of the sanctuary's elderly and blind elephants appearing to enjoy his music, each racking up thousands of views online. ", Deep River's John Guy LaPlante is more sympathetic to the town's forebears. Redirecting to //music.apple.com/us/album/elephant-made-the-piano/1452386371 the elephants ecosystem is made out of dirt,water,and differents types of wood. "They would seize slaves, seize ivory, and then use the slaves to carry the ivory back to the coast," says Conniff. A thin layer on top and in front of a piano key used to be made out of ivory up into the 1940’s. So, is there really a benefit to this? Moore, ivory buyer for Pratt, Read, reclines atop Zanzibar's largest shipment of tusks — 355 tusks weighing 22,000 pounds, circa 1890-1910. Jeff Hostetler, president of the Deep River Historical Society, says it was one machine in particular that brought ivory to this town and this factory. But there was another ugly fact about this trade that many Americans either didn't know about or simply chose not to see — ivory slavery. However, if your question means are piano keys made out of ivory, then no, not anymore, and haven’t been for years and years. I would recommend avoiding cheap ivory imitations. "So the way to get a good, uniform white color is to take these thin wafers of ivory and just bleach them in the sun. Listen to Elephant Made The Piano – EP by Matti Bye on Apple Music. This is something you should be aware of. If you like the touch and feel of ivory and want a new piano, then this might be a possible solution for you. Listen to Elephants made the piano from Matti Bye's Elephants made the piano EP for free, and see the artwork, lyrics and similar artists. Americans arrived with cloth, gunpowder and weapons to trade. View Gallery They never were. “He was having his breakfast of bana grass, but when he heard the music for the first time, he suddenly stopped eating with the grass protruding from his mouth and stayed motionless all through the music.” Since the 1940’s, piano keys are made of wood, plastic, ebony, and sometimes resin. Richard Conniff has investigated the African end of the trade. Something to keep in mind though is that if you are performing on other instruments, they are very likely to have plastic keys. They raised money to buy an elephant statue that sits in front of the town hall. There are a lot of cheap imitations that add a textured look to the keys. They organized a conference last year with speakers from the U.S. Paul Barton is known to have dragged a piano up a mountain in Thailand so he could play Beethoven for blind elephants. They are not included in the purchase of this Learning toy, but they are secured in a battery compartment by a Philips screw giving you peace of mind. "And, of course, all of Phineas' relatives bought one of Phineas' machines and went into the comb business.". Unfortunately, most of these attempts to simulate ivory keys are not very good. Early pianos created by Bartolomeo Cristofori, the creator of the piano, owe much to the harpsichord with thin strings giving a similar sound. Handles for straight razors. She's a freelance writer by trade, a historian by avocation. "And the descriptions that missionaries gave of those caravans were particularly brutal ... slaves bound by a log, basically, around the neck to the person behind them, and then carrying a tusk on one shoulder." I travel up a road that winds from a landing on the Connecticut River into town, with Marta Daniels at the wheel. Citizens have formed the Deep River Elephant Tusk Force to publicize the ivory history here, both its good and bad sides. The two towns dominated the piano key business for decades. "What they need to realize is what this town has discovered," he says, "that our involvement in that kind of thing is ultimately a source of shame, and that the grandchildren of those people who are buying that ivory are going to look at them with the kind of horror with which we now regard the ivory trade that happened here. All Steinway piano keys are made from white plastic. Tusks are used to produce ivory, which is used in artifacts and jewelry, billiards balls, identification chops and formerly in other items such as piano keys. If your piano was produced in the 1930s, 75% its keys are made of ivory. It can also be seen that the piano retains its original soundboard, and it has been professionally repaired in places. Steinway New York grand piano. Yamaha has used an imitation ivory key trademarked as, “Ivorite” that is an attempt at creating a synthetic ivory. Yet, says Conniff, quoting Moore's book, "He is the one who also said, 'Our lives were so crammed with our business and adventure that we were perfectly content to take what we had and make the best of it.' One of them is now headquarters of the Deep River Historical Society and home to a startling assortment of the artifacts that made Deep River rich. Play Elephant Made The Piano – EP album songs MP3 by Matti Bye and download Elephant Made The Piano – EP songs on Gaana.com. In the mid-1800s, a piano in the parlor became a symbol of middle-class cultivation. In the 1970’s in the United States, and into the 1980’s in Europe, the use of ivories on piano keys ceased. The ivory came from central Africa, brought to Zanzibar by Arab slavers. The visible, ivory part of the tusk is made of dentine with an outer layer of enamel. Years ago virtually all piano key tops were made out of ivory. hide caption. "There's a lot of debt that's owed the elephant here," he says, "and a lot of awareness. Ivory, as many of you already know, is made from elephant tusks. But there is a truly dark side to the many videos circulating in social media, showing how the British pianist Paul Barton plays well-known classical pieces for elephants. No. Today's residents grapple with a dark past. Elephant ivory has been used in huge amounts to make billiards balls, piano keys, identification chops and many other items for human enjoyment. A classically trained UK pianist has become an internet hit after he made videos of a personal mission to play to older and abused Thai elephants on the hills of an elephant sanctuary in Kachinaburi province in western Thailand with his upright piano. International trade in elephant ivory was banned in 1975, with grandfathering allowed for ivory acquired before that date. hide caption. Philip Crowther, Beckfield Road, Bingley 43 comments 50+ videos Play all Mix - Matti Bye - Elephant made the piano YouTube; Cave In The Sky - Lumali - Duration: 4:58. I would happily recommend as there is lots of multiple interactive sounds and learning skills with this babies and toddlers elephant. Then came the piano. The learning toy can be powered on or off by a switch which is located next to the elephants ear. ", Courtesy of Deep River Historical Society. He wrote a book called Ivory: Scourge of Africa. "What happened is Phineas Pratt, a very good mechanic and inventor, developed an ivory lathe to cut the teeth in ivory combs," he explains. Ultimately, the decision is up to you–you may consider that the recycling of a now questionable animal by-product is a small ethical price to pay to reduce ongoing demand, and be happy to maintain … The white elephant cycleways are an underused abject failure and a grossly negligent way of spending taxpayers' hard earned income. Most of the white key is made of wood and then a thin layer of plastic covers the top and sometimes the front of the key. So, it’s important to be comfortable playing pianos with plastic key tops since that is what you are most likely to encounter playing instruments outside of your home. Fortunes were made and spent on grand houses that still stand. Original ‘elephant leg’ style legs with hidden castors. ". (Right) A Pratt, Read worker uses a five-bladed circular saw to cut ivory for a piano keyboard in the 1920s. He's a writer who bought a house in Deep River and then discovered its past. This is a model A grand piano from Steinway in New York USA. Acres of bleaching houses sprang up — huge greenhouses containing blocks of ivory instead of plants. Condition: Used. Between 1840 and 1940, the wagons of Pratt, Read & Co. traveled this same route, carrying hundreds of thousands of elephant tusks from ships up to the company's factories and workshops. The Universal Piano Company made pianos from 1910 until 1929. "You know, we deplore what happened to the elephant. “The first time I played piano at Elephants World, a blind elephant called Plara was closest to the piano by coincidence,” shared Barton. You’re better off with standard plastic key tops because they are perfectly functional. If you have any questions about this topic or any others, please contact us at: Info@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729. Driving into town, I pass a fife and drum corps practicing for a performance on the village green. Then, gently point the needle on the piano keys. Elephant Made The Piano – EP Songs Download- Listen Elephant Made The Piano – EP MP3 songs online free. Today, almost all piano keys are made out of composite plastic. Ivoryton Library Association The idea of elephants enjoying classical music somehow appeals to us. 4:58. In the 1970’s in the United States, and into the 1980’s in Europe, the use of ivories on piano keys ceased. Today, almost all piano keys are made out of composite plastic. "We learn from our experiences," he says. "We were the largest importer of tusks anywhere in the world," she says passionately. They also look better than most imitation ivory key tops. Steinway Grand Piano Model A Original Ebony Case Elephant Legs. In the first half of the 20th century, Kenyan elephant herds were devastated because of demand for ivory, to be used for piano keys. Evaluators at Pacific City Antiques Gallery say the sources of ivory, both tusk and tooth, are many: walrus, whale, hippopotamus, boar, elephant, mammoth and mastodon. Is piano made of elephant? He found historical accounts from Africa and from Deep River's ivory barons. Hunters killed hundreds of thousands of elephants, and uncounted numbers of Africans were enslaved to carry the tusks to ships bound for America. Attitudes were different 150 years ago. Historically, piano keys have been made with ivory. Ivory traders needed ivory bearers. Courtesy of Deep River Historical Society These pianos produced a soft tone because the inclusion of a metal frame was not yet practiced. They speak in schools, and they're lobbying for a law banning the import of existing ivory into the state. hide caption. In attempt to satisfy this crowd, some companies have developed “fake” or “imitation” ivory keys that are made to look and feel like ivory. Ivory, as many of you already know, is made from elephant tusks. Thanks again for joining us here at Living Pianos. People fertilized gardens with ivory dust. Pratt's efficient, mechanized cutting lathes were modified to make ivory piano keys. "You've got needles; you've got crochet hooks, toothpicks, buttonhooks," she says. If there is an small hole one the surface of piano keys, they are made of plastic. Ivory comes from the tusks of elephants, and is now illegal to purchase. Kids swimming in local ponds came out of the water coated in it. Pianists liked the feel of ivory, and it wasn't until the 1950s that cheaper plastic keys completely replaced those made of ivory. The Earsoon piano learning elephant is well made and everything that can be pushed, flipped, pulled, turned or twisted can be done with ease. ", Dick Smith — as first selectman of the town, he's essentially the mayor — says he knew about Deep River's ivory history, but not about the current trade in Asia. Deep River is old New England, and its residents take their history seriously. Photos not available for this variation. Pratt, Read was the biggest importer of ivory in the world at the time. Moore, ivory buyer for Pratt, Read, reclines atop Zanzibar's largest shipment of tusks — 355 tusks weighing 22,000 pounds, circa 1890-1910. Not all Yamaha pianos come with these key tops. Courtesy of Deep River Historical Society They tell of ships from Connecticut that sailed to Zanzibar, an island off the east coast of Africa. Courtesy of Deep River Historical Society Why do elephants have ivory tusks? Some pianists feel that ivory keys are superior to plastic key tops. It was brutal, there's no doubt about it. In Deep River, these artifacts are a source of civic pride, but pride that's also tinged with shame, especially as the world condemns the current slaughter of elephants to make trinkets. hide caption. Traditionally prepared from elephant’s tusks or animal teeth, that are large enough to carve or scrimshaw, ivory is a tough bone tissue. The big brick factory at the top of the road — it's longer than a city block — is now a condominium called Piano Works. A 70-pound tusk would supply ivory for about 45 keyboards. Less starry, but equally ethical is Baldwin , maker of affordable yet highly-responsive and desirable uprights. ", (Left) Ivory tusks at Pratt, Read, imported from Portuguese East Africa, now Mozambique, 1950. But it was kind of in the back of peoples' minds. Later in the 18th century, the German keyboard instrument builder, Gottfried Silbermann, introduced the sustaining pedal which allowe… Do they succeed? The gentle giants are famous for their sensitivity and sophistication, after all. Pianos are typically made from some type of hardwood. 1631 Recordings 2,937 views. UK pianist plays for Thai Elephants. Much of the tusk is made up of dentine, a hard, dense, bony tissue. But we have to put it in context. "I have always thought of this road as the road of tears," she says. Although hunting for ivory has been much more severe in Africa, there is no doubt that hunting and poaching has had an effect on the elephant numbers in Asia. Daniels, for one, says if Americans are going to condemn others for trading in ivory, they should at least know their own history. And the whole tusk is wrapped in enamel, the hardest animal tissue and the part of the tusk that manages the most wear and tear. 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