Michael Atherton

Before electricity brought us the gramophone, the radio, and eventually the TV, the piano was central to family and community life. With its iron frame, polished surfaces, and ivory keys, an upright piano in the home was a modern industrial machine, a musical instrument, and a treasured member of the household, conveying powerful messages about class, education, leisure, national identity, and intergenerational history.

‘Michael Atherton cleverly weaves visual, sensual and sonic elements into the piano’s sociocultural history, adding a rich layer to our knowledge of the piano in Australia.’ —Professor Julia Horne, historian