ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts of key concepts discussed in preceding chapter of this book. The famous epigraph in Howards End encouraged the Edwardian reader to escape a confining outlook on life by discerning new perspectives. In the thin slice of time defined as Edwardian, the player piano brought about a change in pianistic behaviour. The early rolls with sparse performance indications offered an opportunity for a unique exploration as well as a threat to established notions as regards performance culture and musical form. The music produced by the pianistic machine was defined by some as a vulgar expression of mass culture and was, as such, constructed as the other of traditional pianism. The archaeological endeavour of uncovering the player piano discourse resulted in findings of various kinds: engineering details, marketing strategies and an advertising jargon, to name but a few. Such sources contributed to a redefinition of conventional roles in music and new intricate interrelations were discerned.
