In response to Jo Ann Schulte's question:

>> 3) Is playing a player different from regular pianos?  I'm guessing,
>> but on players is it just put in a roll of music and pump?  Correct?
>> No musical expertise needed?

John Tuttle said:

> Yes: no musical ability is required.  Put the roll in and pump.

I wouldn't like the MMD archive to show that this was the only possible
answer.  It would be the right answer if Jo Ann had said: "on players,
to get music, is it just put in a roll of music and pump ?"

There is more to that in player music, or it would get boring pretty
quickly.  The latter-day Aeolian-American Corp. found with their little
console players of the 1960s that most buyers, left uninstructed as to
how to get more out of the instrument, lost interest and after a year
or two, rolls were only played on rare occasions when friends expressed
interest.  Instruction rolls were issued (I have one - it's not bad at
all) but the instruments did not have the finesse and controls of the
old players and basically they were marketed as a five-minute wonder.

In contrast, the old generation players had a fair number of controls,
in response to a demand from their early public that they should enable
at least some of the feats of genuine piano-playing to be emulated when
playing a roll - in particular, changing the paper speed sharply to
produce phrasing effects, emphasising the tune or chosen notes in the
accompaniment, giving a general lift to the treble or bass, controlling
the sustaining and soft pedals, and so on.

Highly detailed instruction booklets were produced with matching rolls,
in enough number for them to be fairly commonly found still in England.
The business of playing a "pumper" to produce a really musical result
is taken very seriously here, although most beginners comment that
books and special rolls don't help anything like as much as witnessing
rolls being played by people who know how.  Of course, the player is a
fun thing and this strand of interest in it needs to be kept in
proportion - but it is astonishing what can be done even with jazz
rolls with just a lissome and responsive tempo lever.

Without a sound track, I can't say much more on this: but "put the roll
in and pump" is just Lesson 1 of a good few dozen - if you want to take
the trouble.  If you don't, then that's okay too.

Dan Wilson, London