Photo by Lenny Gonzalez
Sidney Chen handcrafts music for 30-note mechanical music boxes, punching each paper scroll one hole at a time. What began as a quiet creative practice blossomed during the pandemic into a deeper investigation of memory and transformation.
These hand-cranked instruments—limited in range yet expressive in character—require creative adaptation and invite experimentation. Resonance is found in the unexpected, as found objects become amplifiers. The result is a disarmingly intimate, focused, and strangely nostalgic sound, rich with emotional depth. A simple mechanical device becomes a poetic and quietly powerful instrument for musical storytelling.
Each scroll holds a visual and sonic record of time, care, and curiosity. As the San Francisco Chronicle put it, it’s “like creating player piano music for a doll’s house.” This is handmade music—an ongoing exploration of constraint, tactility, and sonic delight.
The project was the feature of a cover story in the Datebook section of the San Francisco Chronicle. Videos are on YouTube and Vimeo, and on Instagram with the hashtag #tsrmusicbox.