The Music Box (paper tape music clock) does not have a fixed melody, as it is usual with baby music clocks, which are equipped with a melody drum and are rewound with a spring mechanism over and over again. She is "fed" with punched paper tapes, which let her play the desired melody like a simple form of a computer program. This makes it possible to play many different melodies. The Music Box is related to the perhaps better known self-playing piano (Piano Rolls), which George Gershwin, for example, used for some of his works.
But there are (or were) many other mechanical musical instruments. Some of these inventions can be seen in the Speelklok Museum in Utrecht. If you're interested but don't want to come this far, check out these instruments in the videos on YouTube (for example, the Wintergatan2000 channel is very interesting, also because Martin Molin himself is working on a large programmable "Music Box" - the Marble Machine X).
For my own compositions I can use a music box with 20 tones and another semi-chromatic one with 30 tones. A big disadvantage is that the small gears are made of plastic so that they are quickly worn or even broken. That's why I bought a music box with copper gears that works really well, but at the same time makes very loud noises.
I am proud of my own experience in "programming" a music box, because I started with small (folk&children's) songs long before watching a video about it (yet "Wintergatan" surely was a source of new inspiration!).

The title is a fusion of the German word "leicht" and the English word "light". It is also used in English as a short version for "light". In this piece it means "light from a candle, a fire, from morning sunlight, or northern lights". It's a kind of pun for "the light light".

"Floating" was written for the music box itself. But when I tried the piece on the piano, I couldn't decide what sounded better - so I chose both! Each instrument brings different effects to the whole. So I don't want to drop either of them. The piano version is available on my piano album (coming soon). Thank you for listening to my music - please support me!

This composition was created in three steps: starting with experiments on the piano, through the transfer to MuseScore with marimba sound to the adaptation to musicboxmaniacs with the "real" sound of the music box.

The piece was intended for music box but it sounds also good on the marimbaphone. Please look for it at my "classic" pieces in case that you are not a great fan of the music box.

"MarimBoxMusic" for Piano (coming soon)

"My New Image" is one of my first real compositions for Music Box. It was created on "musicboxmaniacs". Okay, it was just an experiment at first. But then I made a composition out of it.

This piece was the beginning of my new composition activity ... that's why it's called "My New Image". I had never really seen or felt myself as a composer before, and with this title I wanted to create a kind of affirmation for myself to finally be able to do it.

 I guess the rhythm in this piece is particularly well done. Listen and see if you feel like headbanging. Are you ready for rhythm?

This piece is perhaps the best of mine for music box ... the number one.

This track isn't particularly impressive and yet interesting, because it sounds like a good track to meditate on, because it has more of a minimalistic ambience. You are not forced by the music to feel strong emotions, so I called it well tempered (or balanced).

Here are some arrangements of folk and children's songs for the music box, below and here: