Piano player [cabinet player, push-up player].

An automatic piano-playing attachment consisting of a self-contained cabinet pushed in front of an ordinary piano and having a row of felt-covered wooden ‘fingers’ projecting over the keyboard. The cabinet contains a pinned barrel, perforated paper roll or other medium containing the musical programme, which, when set in motion by means of a foot pedal or other mechanism, causes the wooden fingers to depress the keys of the piano keyboard. The piano player developed from the Barrel piano, and was the forerunner of the self-contained Player piano. See also Mechanical instruments.