As I decorate my house for Christmas, I have been playing my many
musical Christmas ornaments and decorations.  And remembered our
discussion about the little Mr. Christmas "Phonograph, roll playing,
music box" last year on MMD.  (I finally got one this year, thanks to
one of my friends on MMD.) I want to know just how dedicated to mech-
anical music this group really is.  Did anyone take one of these apart
to make new, non-Christmas music for it?  If so, how many teeth are on
the comb?

This seems like it would be a great starting point to introduce a child
to mechanical music.  Although this decoration is a little confused as
to it's origin - whether phonograph of music box - it seems like it
would be reasonable to lay out the comb scale on a piece of heavy paper
that could be used as a roll, sketch in the musical staff, trying to
account for any accidentals or duplicate notes on the comb, and arrange
some simple tunes.

I'm sure that is a bit simplistic, but it seems like an interesting
project.  I'll let you know if I can find another one (perhaps not
working or one of the over-worked displays) to experiment with.  I
really need another project!!

Beatrice Robertson