In response to Philippe Rouille's last comments:
> But I have not heard for those places a name like "The Musical Box."
> (Could it be possible in San Francisco's Chinatown, according to Stephen
> Goodman's definition ?)
I attempted to be humorous in order to demonstrate how broadly the term
"Music Box" is used- for example, years ago, my wife & I put up a Computer
Bulletin Board System (commonly known as a BBS in those pre-web page days)
for ragtime devotees which was called "The Music Box". There is a record
store in my town called "The Music Box". The term seems to apply to ANYTHING
that is both structural and relates to music in some manner. The little
wooden boxes found in Chinatown are sold as inexpensive souvenirs; they make
a series of "mysterious" if not musical sounds when the drawers are opened
or closed.
I would imagine that the term "Musical Box" was developed to differentiate
between the general and the specific; the latter being the valuable and
highly-collectible boxes made by Polyphon, Regina, Thorens, Rouge, et
al., all of which are very "musical".
S.K.Goodman
|