Re: Full Scale Piano Rolls
By Stephen Kent Goodman
Jim Canavan wrote, "Boy, when they said "88-note" they *meant* it!"
I think the "full orchestra" 88-note roll is the best kept secret among player piano roll collectors. After owning and playing to death many types of orchestrions and their rolls, the one roll that I continually find interest and satisfaction with is the 88-note piano roll.
Most were the products of drafting table arranging, with legendary arrangers like Herman Avery Wade, George Swift, et al. contributing their full band or orchestral thinking to the medium.
Critics will say that they are over-arranged, but I say "over what?" Most non-arranged 88-note rolls never utilize the upper 3 and bottom 3 notes and the holes are generally reserved for rewind in later 88 note issues. Some manufacturers used them for expression, shut-off, etc., like expression and reproducing piano rolls. 88-note rolls didn't become the standard for player rolls until 1911, and some really great and wild arrangements may be found on these rolls right up through W.W.I.
Cheers,
S. K. Goodman
P.S. There are modern roll arrangers like Eric Bernhoft, George Bogotko, L. Douglas Henderson that utilize the full compass of the piano as well.
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(Message sent Sun 26 Jan 1997, 17:04:33 GMT, from time zone GMT-0500.) |
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