Our story stars during WW II when Rhodes joins the Army Air Corps. In his spare time, Harold was busy teaching piano among his fellow soliders. The base surgeon learns about Harold’s music abilities and asks him to design a music therapy program for wounded soldiers, many of them bed ridden, unable to move. But first Harold had ot overcome a major obstacle. In those days pianos were big, heavy and didn’t move easily.

Harold’s solution is to create a piano that was lightweight, portable and could be played on a soldier’s lap.

Hydraulic aluminum pipes from the wings of the B-17 bombers seemed to have a good tone when cut to xylophone length. Picture yourself a toy piano, sized like a small suitcase, with 2.5 octaves of regular size keys. It is a big success, and thousands are made. Rhodes is even awarded a medal of special commendation for his therapeutic achievements after the war.