Art Blog Events Community What we do Programs About Us Membership . Search . Login ☰ Art Blog Events Community What we do Programs About Us Membership Login . blog — sep 23, 2013 – Save Share Twitter Facebook By Michael Connor The machine on which Conlon Nancarrow created his player piano rolls. Photo by Carol Law, 1977. Collection: C Amirkhanian. In 1947, the composer Conlon Nancarrow—frustrated with human pianists and their limited ability to play his rhythmically complex music—purchased a device which allowed him to punch holes in player piano rolls. This technology allowed him to create incredibly complex musical compositions, unplayable by human hands, which later came to be widely recognized by electronic musicians as an important precursor to their work. A simil...