Piano Mill

General information

Address| Harringans Lane
Town or city| Willsons Downfall, NSW
Country| Australia
Website
Piano Mill
External view of the Piano Mill View of the Piano Mill in context at night, illuminated from within. Internal view of the Piano Mill The Pianists

A Piano Mill is a hybrid building and musical instrument located at Willsons Downfall in Northern New South Wales, Australia. It was designed and purpose-built to house sixteen reclaimed pianos in a tower structure. The instrument is designed to have the sixteen pianos played simultaneously.[1]

## History

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The first Piano Mill, constructed in Willsons Downfall, Northern New South Wales, Australia, was designed by architect Bruce Wolfe specifically for composer Erik Griswold.[2] This structure is a copper clad tower approximately 9m tall with a footprint of 4.5m X 4.5m and its lowest floor is 1.6m above the ground allowing the pianos to be installed post-construction.[3] The mill is equipped with tuned grader blades as chimes and two sonic periscopes. To launch The Piano Mill, Griswold composed a new work, All’s grist that comes to the mill, that responds to various influences such as architecture, the natural environment and Australia's colonial history.[4][5] It was performed in the Piano Mill on Sunday March 27, 2016, and since that time there have been two subsequent pieces written for the instrument.[6]

The first Piano Mill has won awards including a World Architecture Festival 2018 Award for the Culture category, a National Commendation at the Australian Institute of Architects 2017 Awards and a National Award for Experimental Music at the 2017 APRA AMCOS Art Music Awards.

[7][8][9]

## References

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1. ^ "The Piano Mill". Resonate Magazine. Australia: Australian Music Centre.
2. ^ Wolfe, Bruce (2018). The Piano Mill. Melbourne, Australia: Uro Publications. p. 96\. ISBN 9780994396600.
3. ^ Li, Rosa. "Piano". Australia Highlife Downs Living. Queensland Magazines.
4. ^ Griswold, Erik (December 2017). "The Piano Mill: Nostalgic Music and Architecture in the Australian Bush". Leonardo Music Journal. - (27): 53–54.
5. ^ May, Melissa. "The Road to The Piano Mill". ABC Classic FM. Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
6. ^ Ward, Donna. "'Instrumental' building at Wilsons Downfall wins music award". Fairfax Media. Tenterfield Star.
7. ^ "World Architecture Festival 2018 Category Winners". World Architecture Festival. England: EMAP Publishing Limited.
8. ^ "2017 National Architecture Awards: Small Project Architecture Commendation". ArchitectureAU. Australia: Architecture Media.
9. ^ "Building powered by 16 pianos wins national gong". News Corp Australia. Stanthope Border Post.

## External links

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* https://architectureau.com/articles/the-piano-mill/
* http://www.thepianomill.org/
* https://uropublications.com/products/the-piano-mill

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