Hello MMD readers,  Our '81 air-cooled Volkswagen Vanagon Camper pulled
our Haulmark piano trailer up the Maine Coast, about 100 miles, and the
1929 Story & Clark 'Reprotone' player was installed in the recreation
hall for the July-August performance season.  My first Saturday night
presentation took place, and the size, along with the intelligence, of
the RV audience here was really amazing.  The instrument didn't get
tuned until today, Sunday, but that didn't seem to matter to the
listeners, which ranged from senior citizens to a baby in a stroller,
pushed up to the player (and who remained quiet yet transfixed for
about 3 or 4 music rolls).

I was amazed at the level of interesting questions which the group
asked, at various times during my hour long performance, excluding
"Merengue" by Frank French, the encore which the group requested.  They
wanted to know what the foot pedals and the levers did, how rolls were
created, and frequently asked why my arrangements sounded better than
what they used to have on their family's player, before it was hauled
away.

"We just couldn't get good rolls," said one lady who had probably
overdosed on J. Lawrence Cook formulae, "so the piano had to go."  Many
came right out and said that they would have kept their player if rolls
sounded like what they had heard on our instrument, here, last night.

Among the titles performed were: "A Breeze From Alabama", "Pickles &
Peppers Rag" (based on audio recordings by Masanobu Ikemiya) and "Lion
Tamer Rag".  Ragtime and toe-tapping music definitely attracted a good
audience, especially since the owners of Searsport Shores opened the
large windows, which faced the campsites leading up to the cliffs of
Penobscot Bay, and the music brought more people in to see what the
performances were all about.

Among the non-Ragtime numbers were "On The Trail", Grofe's "Miss
Mischief", Gershwin's "Three Preludes" and the not-yet-released
arrangement of "The Carioca" (perforated from an analysis of the RKO
soundtrack from "Flying Down To Rio").  One of the major facets of my
first recital was the "Ellington Medley", featuring "Mood Indigo",
played in a muted yet crisp style via the responsive Story & Clark
action along with careful pedaling and use of the two soft pedal
graduation levers.

What makes these weekly Pianola concerts so different from my prior
experiences is that one runs into the same people who comment, the
next day, about this or that feature of the evening's program.  This
is a level of feedback which transcends that of a typical audience,
dispersing into the darkness, even on a successful presentation.
I'm also elated that so many young people were attracted to the piano,
a sign that electronic "beep" styles of music might have droned
themselves into oblivion, in some family circles.

Next Saturday, there will be a new audience for the most part, and
Ragtime rolls will definitely dominate the performance, even more
than they did for this initial concert.  If the audience's reaction
is any indication of the general public -- that is, those with the
intelligence to gravitate to the sphere of acoustic pianos -- then
the fact that old commercial rolls played a role in player "phase
out" can't be underestimated.  Rolls which were boring, repetitive
and lackluster must have been the reason for the demise of the player,
while the standard pianos rebounded in the 1930s.  A typical comment
was, "Each of your rolls sound so different, but when we had a player
ours all sounded the same."  They sure did, considering the factory
formulae of those days!

Lois Konvalinka was in attendance, and added a few comments here and
there about our experiences with one night stands when appearing with
the Arcady Music Festivals (on Ragtime shows) and other public
occasions where we "arrived with our own piano".

Special credit goes to Robin Pratt, who "discovered" this elusive Story
& Clark late-model player, and then rebuilt it, originally for the
Moxie Festivals in Lisbon Falls, Maine.  That the 'Reprotone' can
transpose 'reproducing' rolls in three keys and full-scale 88-note
rolls in five keys makes it the ideal instrument to be in a traveling
situation.  I can take any title from the Studio shelf and not worry
about it being an Ampico or Duo-Art roll, nor do I have to tape up the
tracker bar.  The piano has a rich, full bass, experienced primarily
by the audience, but I usually have Lois roam about the hall or
auditorium, earlier, in order to get a bearing on the dynamics and the
projection of them.  For those who have not heard this diminutive piano
(4' 2" high without the special piano tray fitted with rubber wheels
and brakes) the sonority is similar to a Baldwin Hamilton or Howard
upright of the 1930s, especially in the richness of tone.

Regards,
Douglas Henderson - at Searsport Shores
http://www.wiscasset.net/artcraft/