Technicon / Piano Gymnasium: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This technicon or piano gymnasium was made by James Brotherhood, in New York, New York, about 1885. It is an apparatus on a wood base with a series of exercises designed to develop strength and pliability in various muscles and ligaments of the forearm, fingers, muscles, and wrist, especially those used in playing the piano and other musical instruments. The technicon features U. S. Patent #327918 dated October 6, 1885, by James Brotherhood, for an exercising device for musicians.

John Howard Foote (1833-1896) was a musical instrument dealer with shops in New York City and Chicago. The technicon was listed in an 1885 catalog as “The Brotherhood Technicon or Pianists’ Hand Gymnasium.” As advertised in the Foote catalog, the technicon was “Indespensable [sic] to pianos players of every grade” and “The only invention which developes [sic] perfect technique.” There were three models for teachers that ranged from $22.50 to $35.00. A student model was available for $15.00

Materials, dates and provenance

• date made: ca 1885
• maker: Brotherhood, James
• maker: Brotherhood, James
• Object Name: technicon / piano gymnasium
• Object Name: technicon
• Physical Description: wood (overall material)
• Physical Description: metal (overall material)
• Physical Description: fabric (overall material)
• Measurements: overall: 16 in x 23 9/16 in x 17 in; 40.64 cm x 59.84875 cm x 43.18 cm
• place made: United States: New York, New York City
• ID Number: MI.66.144
• catalog number: 66.144
• accession number: 261929
• Credit Line: Gift of Gertrude G. Laing
• Data Source: National Museum of American History

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.