Hello Tim,  In recent years, I have scored some of my Artcraft Duo-Art
Rolls with a "play it yourself" (marked) line for the A, B-Flat and/or
low C.  (Haven't had to utilize the low B to this date!)  My New Castle
House Medley has a low c at the end of the 3rd selection ... and Blue
Monday by Gershwin has a low C at the opening, plus a "tremolo" B-Flat
in the Coda and a crash B-Flat for the final chord.

I have rubber stamps which say: "Optional: Play C" - etc. and then draw
a purple line with a straightedge (on the editing table) to signify the
note length.

For my Paris representative, Douglas Heffer, I created a one-of-a-kind
music roll for his pending Chat Noir (shadow puppet show) presentation -
a revival of the 1890's cabaret productions in Montmartre.  The original
zinc articulated puppets exist in the Louvre, and he intends to use 35mm
slides of them ... substituting a Pianola (and my roll) for keyboard
piano accompaniment - by Satie, Debussy and others in the hey-day of the
shows.  The roll contains music composed for the Christmas Story -
called "L'Etoile" - and sounds like French composer Adam crossed with
something commissioned by Cecil B. DeMille.  Each segment is just long
enough to get the puppets across the screen: Manger scene, Lepers, Wise
Men, etc. - and my arrangement really conveyed the visual parts.  I
worked from original lead sheets printed by the Chat Noir cabaret, and
then cut a roll which used the "sweeping orchestral nature" of the
Player-Piano.

Naturally, the bottom 4 notes were a problem here.  The roll was
arranged for an 88-Note Duo-Art player, but with all the DUO-ART
attributes save the accordion pneumatic perforations.  Thus, I had the
full-scale at my disposal, but added the hammer rail effect and pedal
shadings ... plus my variable length striking for an interpretive
arrangement and the Themodist system.  If one followed the dynamic
suggests exactly (using the Accomp. and Theme graduation levers), the
solo accents, Soft Pedal and sustaining features gave the impression of
a Duo-Art roll playing "full-scale".

Geoff Kaiser in Penna. knew someone - or maybe it was his piano,
modified - who worked out a way to get the bottom 4 notes to operate,
something based on duplexing patterns that kicked-in the A, B-Flat, B
and/or C (and the top treble notes are rarely needed!).

The typical Artcraft Duo-Art roll stays within the 80-key range
anyway.  I "duplex" octaves so that the 88-Note edition will play the
low A as in Cinderella Soot Cakewalk (1899) or The Darkey Todalo by Joe
Jordan or The Back Bay Polka by Gershwin - which is low C in the latter
case.  A Duo-Art can be "thin" at this point while the 88-Note player
can hit the lower note at the same time.

Yes, you can turn the Duo-Art on/off during the performance.  I have
scored some rolls for this during my almost 25 years of performing at
The Musical Wonder House.  It was just a matter of reaching into the
spoolbox and quickly manipulating the lever.

I have also made some Duo-Art rolls during the museum days which ran
the Accompaniment only ... with the Theme being manually graduated for
live performance.  For decades I thought this was an "original idea",
but then Richard Dearborn visited - from NJ - and brought a blue label
Wilcox & White roll of Bugle Call Rag "played by Berge'" called a
Voltem-Artrio release.  (Voltem was the 88-Note line and Artrio-Angelus
was the 'reproducing' roll series which usually shared the same master.)

Guess what?

The Voltem-Artrio roll was the same idea ... with the Angelus setting
the Accompaniment and the Pianolist manipulating the Theme (Melodant)
control!

Unfortunately, Bugle Call Rag was a 'dog' of a roll, being a patched-up
arrangement made from hand-playing.  When compared to Araby Fox Trot
also "played by Berger" (I'm using his alternative spelling here!) it
was a total nothing.  Arcady was an arranged roll, viz. arranged from a
source which was hand-played, so the meter was precise.  By contrast,
Bugle Call Rag and others like A Perfect Day (Waltz) came across like
someone with muscular afflictions, which is why the industry gravitated
back to total arranging as time went on.  The patch-up route was labour
intensive and the musical results always unsatisfying.  (Berger's
Ampico/Rythmodik rolls appear to be "arranged from" as in the case of
Araby Fox Trot, so that have typical 'Rythmodik' sound and adhere to the
correct rhythm, at least on the rolls I've played.)

A project which involves Glenn Jenk's lyric Ragtime composition Sosua -
for which he taped the music on my Studio "AR" to simplify the
phrasing/arranging process - requires the extensive use of the bottom 4
notes.  I wanted to introduce heavy chords above the 4, but he wanted
the exact notes.  The solution here, when the expression roll gets
perforated soon, is to stamp the letters (A, B-Flat, etc.) on the roll
... and cut the music an octave up for lazy Duo-Art owners.  Sosua has a
pattern - in some places - of a chromatic use of these 4 keys, and the
'action' is slow enough for anyone to add the necessary notes.  If
broken a bit - due to poor timing by the Pianolist - it just gives a
voluminous sound to the Duo-Art player, and a sense of human realism.

Of course, I always promote interacting with the roll, so playing a few
notes here and there is no big thing with me ... or the dedicated
Artcraft customers.  Those who are trying to 'reproduce' an artist and
who have bought into the record/playback myth usually don't play our
Interpretive Arrangements.  The MUSIC is the important thing here, and
the Pianolist is part of the equation - needed to correct tempo after 2
minutes' time anyway, due to spoolbox designs.

Hope the above helps you through your "bottom note" problems for
expression rolls.

Will be anxious to hear how you end up arranging your Duo-Art music,
and what musical solution(s) you try.  Keep me (us) informed of your
progress!

Regards from Maine,

Douglas Henderson
PO Box 295, Wiscasset, ME 04578
(207) 882-7420
http://www.wiscasset.net/artcraft/