Transposing Upright Piano

Grade Range: K-12
Resource Type(s): Artifacts, Primary Sources
Date Posted: 3/12/2012

This upright transposing piano was made in 1940 by Weser Brothers, New York, for Irving Berlin (1888–1989). Like many Tin Pan Alley pianists, Berlin was self-taught, preferring to play on the black keys. “The key of C,” he once said, “is for people who study music”. The transposing mechanism shifted the keyboard to allow him to stay on the black keys but produce music in other keys.


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