Lovebirds Musical Snow Globe on an Antique Ivory Commode

A music box can be interpreted in various ways. One in which its place as an automatic musical instrument. It produces sound from a finely tuned comb, struck by a set of pins that protrude from a rotating cylinder. The term used for the mechanism that produces the melody in a music box is referred to as a “mechanical movement” or “musical movement”. They can vary in physical size and playing time. Depending how many teeth are on the comb (music notes) a single tune (1 full revolution) can play anywhere from 12 seconds up to 50 seconds with a running play time of a few minutes up to half an hour!

Here at Sckoba, we offer a range of musical movements. Beginning at the standard 18 note movement up to a 144 note masterpiece. The exact range of musical movements are 18, 23, 30, 36, 3.36, 50, 72, 144 notes.

As you begin to trek through the world of music boxes, you will notice a more profound auditory experience when scaling upwards towards the larger size musical movements. The differences in sound and structure will become apparent. A good analogy for comparison is similar to a piano performance of a novice enthusiast versus a classical virtuoso! Think of the standard 18 note movement as an outline of a tune. It’s just the right amount of notes to be recognizable. Move over to a 72 note movement and you’ll find yourself engulfed in precise arrangement perfectly laid out to reproduce the feel of concertos and operas.