Don Teach wrote:

> I have also thought about using the pianist in my area to make some
> new rolls.  What music would someone want to have if it were new?
> Would anyone be interested in buying new songs?

Don, I would absolutely love to get some new (within the last 50 years)
tunes to play on my A Roll player.  I do like the ragtime stuff but it
gets old after a while because I really don't know the tunes.  Okay,
I do learn the tunes after hearing them a number of times, but they
aren't the tunes I _know_.

As for what I would like to see and what I think might sound good on
a player, well, how about:

50's Do Wop; Maybe some Elvis (Jailhouse Rock comes to mind); Beatles;
Some of the Beach Boy songs like Sloop John B, Sail On Sailor and Fun,
Fun, Fun; Barry Manilow, Weekend In New England; America, Sister Golden
Hair; Al Stewart, Year Of The Cat; Billy Joel, Piano Man; Bon Jovi,
Please Come Home For Christmas;

Non-ragged (traditional sounding) Christmas tunes; Eddie Rabbit,
Drivin' my life away; Some older Country and Western, like Don't it
make my brown eyes blue; ... And others, you get the idea.

But what I really want is for my player to do more than ragtime.  As
such I'd like tunes that I know not to be "ragged" so that they are
still the tunes that I _know_.

Also, with this in mind, the mandolin attachment and second instrument
don't have to be used on _every_ song.  The original rolls where cut
for nickelodeons that would be in public places where people would pay
to hear them.  As such the player needed to "show off" for each song
even if the mandolin or second instrument wasn't appropriate for the
song.  This also limited what songs that would work well on a
nickelodeon.  Being that most of us play our players in our homes for
our own enjoyment these limitations need no longer apply.

I imagine some at least some of the newer tunes are already on 88-note
rolls that can be converted.  Most of the tunes I mentioned above I
have in MP3 format (plus about 1000 more).  If it would help in your
project I'd be happy to send you any MP3 files so that you and your
pianist could use these as a base line to develop new rolls.  If this
would be useful I can e-mail you a list of the files I have.  Or if
there is anything I can do help, let me know.

If you make 'em, I'll buy 'em!

Ray Finch