FolkLib Index - House on the Rock Music Machines

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          This page lists all the animated, automated Music Machines that can be seen and/or heard in the House on the Rock Attraction located on Highway 23 between Dodgeville and Spring Green, WI. They are listed in the order they are found in the Tour of the House and other buildings on the grounds. So you can tell where you are in the Tour, included are all musical instruments of any kind (#1-42), and all non-musical machines (#A-I) which require tokens. Tokens can be purchased at numerous locations along the Tour at four for $1.00. Quarters cannot be used to play the machines, only tokens. Unused tokens can be redeemed or spent in the Gift Shop at the end of the Tour.

House on the Rock Discography (with other off-site links for House on the Rock)
      Circus = 1997, The Circus Room And Other Selections From "The House on the Rock"
      Gladiator = 1997, The Gladiator Calliope And Other Selections From "The House on the Rock"
      Mikado = 1997, The Mikado And Other Selections From "The House on the Rock"
      Carousel = 1997, World's Largest Carousel And Other Selections From "The House on the Rock"
House on the Rock Timeline / Admission Price History / Attendance

          Name in bold print does not appear on any House on the Rock recording.

          "1. Entrance" - "28. Exits" match the Numbering shown on the 17" x 11" Tour Map given to every paid visitor. The "TOUR #" note on each room below applies only when the complete Tours #1-3 are open, May-November. Otherwise, what is included in each "Tour" varies with each season. See the Official Tour Details page for current hours, admission prices, and a list of which rooms are open.
          In the list below, only those rooms with at least one musical instrument are italicized.

  1. Entrance
  2. Orientation
  3. Uniquely Ours (gift shop)
  4. Ticket Office
  5. The Hub
  6. Gate House - TOUR 1
    1. The Gate House Ensemble
            Ravel's "Bolero" Circus, Track 8 (free, plays continuously)
      Recorded but never? played at the House
            Grieg "Concerto" Circus, Track 6
            Tchaikovsky "Concerto" Circus, Track 7
  7. Infinity Room - TOUR 1
    1. unknown, "The Godfather" (free, plays continuously)
  1. House on the Rock - TOUR 1
    1. The Gallery of the Bells, does not play
    2. The Moon of Manakoora (2 tokens)
            "Harbor Lights" Mikado, Track 10
            "Hello Young Lovers" Mikado, Track 11
    3. baby grand piano #1, does not play
    4. baby grand piano #2, 1921 A.B. Chase [by the Bauer-Coble Mushroom Lamp] (2 tokens)
            "Alfie"
            others?
    5. The House Grand Piano, location ?
            "Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2" Circus, Track 10
  2. Mill House - TOUR 2
    1. 1893 The Regina Sublima Grand Music Box with 27-1/4" disc, "music title?" (1 token)
    2. unknown, small organ pipes, does not play
    3. The Seeburg, "music title?" (2 tokens)
    4. unknown, Regina disc labeled "Old Black Joe Song", does not play
    5. The Hupfeld Phonoliszt-Violina, 1912 or 1913 [3 violins & piano] (2 tokens)
            Invented by Ludwig Hupfeld of Leipzig, Germany in 1907
            "Shimmy Vamp" Mikado, Track 12
            "Flight of the Bumblebee" [not recorded]
    1. [non-musical] The Dying Drunkard (1 token)
  3. Streets of Yesterday - TOUR 2
    1. instrument not shown, The Magician, "music title?" (1 token)
    1. [non-musical] Sultan and Necromancer (1 token)
    2. [non-musical] The Blacksmith (1 token)
    3. [non-musical] Ms. Esmeralda (1 token)
    4. [non-musical] The Hillbilly (1 token)
    1. The Gladiator Calliope [designed by Alex Jordan] (2 tokens)
            "Lights Out" Gladiator, Track 1
            "Buckeye State" Gladiator, Track 2
            "Entree Des Gladiateurs" Gladiator, Track 3
            "National Progress" Gladiator, Track 4
            "The Thunderer" Gladiator, Track 5
            "National Honor" Gladiator, Track 6
            "Boy Scouts of America" Gladiator, Track 7
            "Paul Revere's Ride" Gladiator, Track 8
            "High School Cadets" Gladiator, Track 9
            "Midnight Fire Alarm" Gladiator, Track 10
  4. Heritage of the Sea - TOUR 2
    1. "Octopus's Garden", [designed by Alex Jordan, music composed by the Beatles' Ringo Starr] (2 tokens)
  5. Pizza Atrium - TOUR 2
    1. The Nickelodeon Piano Company, untitled, "music title?" (2 tokens)
    1. [non-musical] Esmeralda #2 (1 token)
  6. A Tribute to Nostalgia - TOUR 2
  7. Rozino's Pizza Restaurant - TOUR 2
    1. Wurlitzer CD Juke Box (25 cents)
  8. Music of Yesterday - TOUR 2
    1. unknown, untitled, does not play
    2. unknown, untitled pedal harp, does not play
    3. Absinth House Piano, "music title?" (2 tokens)
    1. [non-musical] Grave Yard Scene (1 token)
    1. Pontalba Hearse (2 tokens)
            "When the Saints Go Marching In" Circus, Track 9
    2. Miss Kitty's Boudoir (2 tokens)
            "Tuff" Gladiator, Track 11
            "Yakety Sax" Gladiator, Track 12
    3. The Peacock, 92 Key Mortier organ, (2 tokens)
            "Tico Tico" Mikado, Track 13
            "Flight Of The Bumble Bee" Mikado, Track 14
    4. The Blue Room (2 tokens)
            "Anvil Chorus" Mikado, Track 8
            "Poet & Peasant Overture" Mikado, Track 9
    5. The Franz Josef (2 tokens)
            Offenbach's "Can-Can Medley" Mikado, Track 17
    6. unknown, untitled, does not play [same room as The Franz Josef]
    7. The Mikado, 118 Key Mortier organ (2 tokens)
            "Dance Macabre" Mikado, Track 1
            "Harem Bells" Mikado, Track 2
            "Ritual Fire Dance" Mikado, Track 3
    1. [non-musical] The Monkey and the Bear, France 1820 (1 token)
    1. The Blue Danube [designed by Alex Jordan], "The Blue Danube" (2 tokens)
    2. The Cremona player piano, 1914, "music title?" (2 tokens)
    3. The Eldorado, "music title?" (1 token)
    4. unknown, untitled, does not play [same room as The Eldorado]
    5. The Aida, "music title?" (2 tokens)
    6. unknown, disc titled The Washington Post Marsch (March), does not play [same room as The Aida]
    7. Puppet Piano, "music title?" (1 token)
            "Yip-I-Addy-I-Ay" Mikado, Track 16
    8. The Red Room [designed by Alex Jordan] (2 tokens)
            "Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairy" [Nutcracker; Tchaikovsky] Mikado, Track 15
      14A. Spirit of Aviation - TOUR 2,3
  1. Carousel Room - TOUR 2,3
    1. The World's Largest Carousel (free, plays continuously)
            "Estudiantina" Carousel, Track 1
            "Voices of Spring" Carousel, Track 2
            "Skaters' Waltz" Carousel, Track 3
            "Artist's Life Waltzes" Carousel, Track 4
            " Polka: Thunder & Lightning" Carousel, Track 5
            "Emperor Waltz?" Carousel, Track 6
  2. Organ Room - TOUR 3
    1. 3 organ consoles, never been played in a House on the Rock concert?
            It is unknown whether any of the consoles are actually connected to any playable pipes in the room.
    2. unidentified organ (free, plays continuously)
    1. [non-musical] 2 men by train station (1 token)
  3. Inspiration Point - TOUR 3
  4. Doll Houses - TOUR 3
    room? [between Doll Houses and The Circus Room] - TOUR 3
    1. The Lincoln Welte, "music title?" (2 tokens)
  5. Circus Room - TOUR 3
    1. orchestra and 3 level Circus Band Wagon
            40 piece band and 80 piece orchestra. Only the percussion instruments are actually played. Unlike most other music machines in the House on the Rock Attraction, all other instrument sounds here are from a recording and not from the actual instruments. **
            "Entree Des Gladiateurs" Circus, Track 1
            "Among the Roses" Circus, Track 2
            Beethoven's "Fifth Symphony" Circus, Track 3
            "Valse Bleue" Circus, Track 4
            "International Vaudeville" Circus, Track 5
  6. Weapons Gallery - TOUR 3
  7. Oriental Gallery - TOUR 3
  8. Armor Gallery - TOUR 3
  9. Crown Jewel Gallery - TOUR 3
  10. The Doll Carousels - TOUR 3
  11. Alex Jordan Historical Center - TOUR 1
  12. Gift Shop
  13. Village Shops
  14. Exits

    Location unknown, somehow I missed these on 10-01-2006 when I last visited the House on the Rock.

    1. The Coinola
            "Tennessee Waltz" Mikado, Track 4
            "Seventy Six Trombones" Mikado, Track 5
            "Alley Cat" Mikado, Track 6
            "Beer Barrel Polka" Mikado, Track 7
    2. Link Player Piano
            "Jealous" Gladiator, Track 13
            "Nightingale Waltz" Gladiator, Track 14
            "The Hoodoo Man" Gladiator, Track 15
            "Drifting to You" Gladiator, Track 16
            "On a Windy Day Way Down in Waikiki" Gladiator, Track 17
            "Any Old Time at All" Gladiator, Track 18
            "Get the Blues When It Rains" Gladiator, Track 19
            "National Elks March" Gladiator, Track 20
            "Button Up Your Overcoat" Gladiator, Track 21
            "I'd Love You All Over Again" Gladiator, Track 22
            "Worried" Gladiator, Track 23
            "Give Me An Old Fashioned Girlie" Gladiator, Track 24
            "It Had to Be You" Gladiator, Track 25
            "Mandalay" Gladiator, Track 26
            "Don't Mind the Rain" Gladiator, Track 27
          ** = It is unknown exactly which instruments throughout the House are actually being played while you are there, and which have been recorded and are only played through hidden speakers. These music machines are primarily show pieces. They are not carefully maintained in any way on an ongoing basis in order to retain their original fully in tune playable condition. For example, note especially the pedal harp (#19). It looks like it was pulled out a land fill, just dusted off, and put on display.

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