... better a tardy reply than never ...

> From: johns@gh1.sims.nrc.ca (John Johns)
> To: rolls@foxtail.com (Mechanical Music Digest)
> Date: Mon, 27 Oct 1997 12:13:31 -0500 (EST)
> Subject: Introduction, Roll Cutting and Gottschalk

        [snipola]

> One of the player pianos is being restored at this time.  It was
> manufactured by the Martin-Orme company of Ottawa in 1918.  This company
> operated from about 1904 to 1925 and is the only one to have made pianos
> in our home town so the instrument has some historical interest for me.
> The piano was in very bad shape when I acquired it.  One side had come
> loose and was held in place, rather precariously, with a large nail and
> there were failed glue joints throughout the frame, but the sound board
> seemed to be in good shape!  At present the frame has been reglued, the
> plate re-installed and restrung.

Last fall I visited Harold Hodgkins in Welland, and one of the many
pianos in his shop was a Martin-Orme.  He recalled that it was one of
the heaviest pianos he's worked on.  If it had a Higel Metalnola action,
it's no wonder.

        [description of the piano removed]

> I am a beginner as far as pianos and player actions are concerned so that
> it took me some time to figure out how the expression boxes were supposed
> to work and I ended up making new valves and pressure regulators from
> scratch (with the help of a photo of a similar restored instrument.  I
> estimate that another six months of work is still needed (bearing in mind
> my current relaxed operating procedures).

My old Karn was intact when I got it, with the exception of some broken
tubing lines plugged with small bits of wood, and the bleed holes in
the Themodist expression boxes were covered in white "medicine kit"
adhesive tape! (someone must have figured that holes aren't supposed to
exist in the player works, therefore, the bleed holes were a sign of
something 'broken')

Your working pace is speedy compared to mine. If I'm lucky I'll have
the Karn up and running in time for 2000. But since I'm either very
busy at work, or else not very busy and not very 'flush', plus I've got
other interests competing for my time, it all explains why I'm working
at a snail's pace.

> This long (perhaps too long) introduction brings me to a couple of
> questions that I would like to post on MMD.  I have become interested in
> the early development of jazz and of course in the music of Scott Joplin.
> However even before Joplin's birth one has to consider the music of
> Louis-Moreau Gottschalk (1829-1869) which clearly, it seems to me,
> provides a link between Joplin and the romantics such as Liszt and
> Chopin.  I continue to be amazed at the number of knowledgeable musicians
> that I have met who have never even heard of Gottschalk.

Last month I bought a book of Gottschalk sheet music. The stuff looks
amazing!  I confess my playing abilities have stagnated to the point
where it would be very difficult for me to learn this stuff today.

> This music was still popular in the early 20th century and several pieces
> can be found on piano rolls.  They were mainly the sentimental salon
> pieces such as "The Dying poet" and "The Last Hope".  Up to the present I
> have been able to find, in addition to the two mentioned above, copies of
> Ricordati, Printemps d'Amour, Fantasy on the Theme of the Brazillian
> National Anthem and Pasquinade.

> I would be interested in learning of the existence and acquiring other
> rolls.  I have the feeling that some of his best music has never been
> seen in the roll format.  Particular favourites of mine are Le Bananier,
> Bamboula, Souvenir de Porto Rico, Danza, La Gallina Ojos Criollos.  Some
> of these pieces I have transcribed to MIDI (I certainly do not play well
> enough to record these directly so each note had to be entered by hand).
> Souvenir de Porto Rico, La Gallina and Ojos are complete and Danza and
> Pasquinade are in progress.

I'd also be interested in knowing about Gottschalk rolls.  Good luck
with your MIDIfication project ... I know it's a lot of work.

> So my second request is to ask is there anyone out there who can cut a
> roll from a MIDI file?

I imagine you've heard of (or from) the Tonnesen's by now.

> Regards, John Johns
>
> Dr. John W. C. Johns
> 149 St. Laurent Blvd.
> Ottawa, Ontario
> Canada K1K 2Y6
> E-Mail johns@gh1.sims.nrc.ca
> Tel: (613)749-0614


Colin Hinz * ASFi Music Works * asfi@interlog.com * (416) 516-8686 *