Hello MMD readers,  Once again we are camping for several weeks, on
a site overlooking Penobscot Bay, called "Searsport Shores Resort",
facing Sears Island and high above the lobster boats, aquatic birds
and ever-changing Atlantic coast panorama.  This time, however, we've
brought along an hexagonal Victorian-style screened gazebo tent, and
this is where, with an electric night for nocturnal operations, I've
installed one of the Artcraft studio's antique Leabarjan perforators.
Rain or shine, wind or calm ocean breezes, I find that Mother Nature
has given me a boost and that the arranging and perforating work
progresses at a rate comparable to my studio speed, some 2-1/2 hours
south on U.S. 1.

The first roll being arranged is an unusual and infectious piece in
5/4 meter, which presents a minor challenge for the old Leabarjan
equipment.  It's necessary to break each measure into double ones,
perforating for 3/4 and then 2/4 alternatively.  I'm cutting a bolero
style number discovered by AMICA publisher Robin Pratt, circa 1935,
and rushed to Wiscasset just before we left for Searsport, Maine.
Prior to the departure, I ran a test strip on one of the player
Steinway grands in the Studio -- giving Robin a mini-audition on the
telephone, since it was my intent to avoid _all_ homogeneous staccato
effects, which would mar virtuoso music of this particular kind.

The Maelzel metronome was set at quarter note = 120, but this original
notation speed is a tad too fast for my taste, another reason for
consulting the musician who located the rare music for this project.
I found that Tempo 95-100, for the start of the roll, was more to my
liking, and this meant that the roll speeds of Tempo 60-80 could be
avoided, which would have imposed the same kind of formula arranging on
the performance which mars many an historic player roll.  (Given the
choice, I'll always choose racing music roll paper to a safe air motor
speed which imposes "note cluster" striking effects!)

After determining that Tempo 95-100 was ideal for the music, that was
the end of a piano for my work.  Everything else, from the graduated
staccato, to the air space between chords, to the refinements in strik-
ing are done in my head, no doubt the result of nearly five decades of
work in this field.  In spite of the natural grandeur on all sides,
out in the open, I have no difficulty "feeling" the music as it inches
through the perforator, controlling every single chord and note, right
down to the smallest staccato accompaniment effect.

By the time we return to Wiscasset at the start of the next month, we
hope to have 2 note scores ready for the Duo-Art/88-Note roll arrange-
ments, leaving only the minor details before sending the material to
Turlock, California, now that the Malones are resuming work for
Artcraft following a 2-1/2 year hiatus, due to their plant fire.

If anyone reading has a Leabarjan or some mechanical "moving punch"
arranging equipment, I highly recommend trying to arrange music away
from a piano and outside, with the elements, as we are doing now.
It's a unique experience and, for me, in no way slows down the speed
of musical analysis and arranging which takes place in the Wiscasset,
Maine studio.

Regards from our coastal roll-making spot,

Douglas Henderson - transmitted with our cellular phone + laptop setup
Artcraft Music Rolls
http://www.wiscasset.net/artcraft/