Hello MMD readers,

Shortly after returning to Wiscasset, from our two weeks of camping by
the sea, I had the opportunity to "play" the new roll - cut on the
Maine coastline without a piano nearby - and the results not only
exceeded my expectations, but, a visitor from New Jersey was here for
the 3rd audition, and the 'audience-of-one' clapped with enthusiasm
upon hearing a new, major work for the player piano medium.

I'm happy to report that all the graduated staccato striking came out
"in actual play" just has it did in my "mind's eye" when perforating
the 80-foot-long roll over the crashing waves, along the rocky coast.
(Refer to my 2 earlier MMD postings on this subject for more details
about the arranging process.)

The composition is American Bolero (1935) - by Nacio Herb Brown, about
20 pages long in perforated form, the composer being more known for
Doll Dance, Pagan Love Song and Singin' in the Rain than for 'serious'
music - this being his first entry in that field.  Will it replace
Ravel?  Who knows, but it will definitely give the listener a run for
the money - especially when the Pianola finale closes this same kind
of 'crescendo' composition, using the entire sweep of the pneumatic
player action, including many bottom key (A) notes during the
concluding passages.

We wish to thank Robin Pratt, the AMICA club publisher, for rushing
this music to us, just in time for the camping experience.  A 'bolero'
doesn't involve tempo phrasing -- or rubato -- but the listener will
have to drop the roll speed by "5" every couple of minutes, due to the
build-up of paper on the lower spool.  (This is true of all long music
rolls, due to the lack of a capstan in the spoolbox designs.)

Composer Brown combined the infectious 'bolero' rhythm with the melodic
elements one expects with Spanish music and pieces like Wedding of the
Painted Doll. However, it also contains Art Deco (moderne) chord
patterns in places as well as Oriental and Tin Pan Alley elements, no
doubt the reason he called this an "American" bolero, a melting-pot of
rhythmic passages.

This majestic composition is being edited in our studio now and it
should be available soon as a Themodist 88-Note roll, with automatic
soft pedal for the Duo-Art, Artrio-Angelus and certain models of the
Pianola Piano and Angelus Melodant pedal players - as the Metro-Art
and Voltem rolls often were for instruments so equipped. Adding the
touch of a "hammer rail lift" for the first portion of the roll insures
a super-pianissimo for those inclined to get the most out of the
performance.

Pianolists without the automatic pneumatic soft pedal, in the Aeolian
or Wilcox & White location on the right of the tracker bar, can use
their hand levers or buttons and achieve the same effect, while
"reading" the extended slot on the right margin of the music sheet.

Stay tuned for the release of American Bolero by Nacio Herb Brown!

Regards from the Wiscasset Studio,

(signed) Douglas Henderson | Artcraft Music Rolls
http://www.wiscasset.net/artcraft/