Hello MMD readers,  Our July 11th concert, here at Searsport Shores,
started out with an anticipated low turnout, due to the fact that this
particular musicale was scheduled for a weekday and not a Saturday
evening presentation.

We were wrong, however, since the empty seats began to fill as the
first number on the "Classical/Music For Pianola" program began.  We
opened with our 2-piano transcription of the "Figaro" (Factotum) aria
from Rossini's "Barber of Seville," which resounded throughout the
recreation hall.  By the time the whirlwind finale tripped all the
piano hammers (including the top C and the bottom A!) all the vacant
chairs were taken, and applause filled the air as the custom-made roll
was rewinding.

The emphasis for this program was on our rolls of music "written for
Pianola" and also spectacular classical compositions.  These included
Liszt's "Mephisto Waltz," Bach's "Chorale" from the 'Cantata 147', "Six
Variations on a Theme by Salieri" (composed by Mozart) and other gems
in our roll library, all Interpretive Arrangements.  These rolls feature
graduated staccato and the other elements which reflect keyboard
performance, instead of formula layouts of notation standards (the old
graph paper sound) from the past.

What we didn't expect at this "classical" concert, were the number of
highly interested young people, from age eight through the teenage
spectrum.  While the music was playing, many, without any parental
assistance, left the hall, returning with some of their friends.  For
many the whole idea of an acoustic piano was a new experience, while
others were fascinated with the mechanical nature of the instrument.

For decades I have made it a point to "take the player to the public",
for this very reason.  Be it a public fair, a festival (like the Moxie
Day in Maine), a concert hall or something like Boston's "First Night",
the player, when featuring challenging roll arrangements, acts like a
magnet for the young group, who will, eventually, constitute the
Player-Piano owners of the future.

(The "First Night" experience, where I shared a player upright with
keyboard pianist Mark Lutton, was interesting in that groups of
teenagers, often wearing the "rock music du jour" T-shirts with the
requisite skull and lightning motifs, would sit down, listening
intently to three or four selections in a row, before going on to the
other myriad exhibits.  One teenager would often whisper into my ear,
saying that the music sounded better than Twisted Sister, or whatever
MTV group was popular for that fortnight.)

Whether it was Mark at the keyboard, or me performing an Artcraft
arrangement, it didn't matter to the young people who were enjoying
the "First Night" festivities.  The piano, something mechanical and
'live', was what held their collective attention.

My young audience of July 11th, however, was universally focused on the
aspect of the player action.  They even skipped the cookie reception,
which was held after my performance, to come forward and ask questions
about the mechanical piano.  I took off the upper panel and gave a
thumbnail tour of the pneumatic action, demonstrating some of its
attributes in the process.  Who knows?  One of those youngsters might
remember their Searsport Shores concert, years later, and carry on the
tradition of enjoying a player piano in their future home.

Our audience also included some professional musicians among the
equally-interested adults.  One had worked for Pratt-Read, the old
piano action and player supply company in Connecticut, which closed
down about a decade ago.

Lois Konvalinka (who ran out of "Pianola information" sheets that
evening) deemed the July 11th concert as the best ever, regarding my
audiences, and she was probably right.

For years, so many potential player owners were driven away by the arty
"legacy" set in this field -- those who have been milking the
once-famous names on the 'reproducing' roll box labels, and who, still,
today, love to publish lists of serial numbers for rolls which are
usually musical disappointments when located.  The other spectrum was
what I call the "cracker barrel" types, who love to pump away, never
bothering to be involved with the musical production and usually
playing everything at a fortissimo, monotone volume.

Happily, most of these two extremes of roll collecting are over the
hill (or no longer with us, as the insurance people say), so the field
in the 21st Century is wide open for being a local pioneer in the
artistic presentation of good music rolls.  That "rediscovery" or
"phantom" of an artist has been run into the ground, while those
note-bashers using half-baked pedal players have been replaced by those
who invest in new hammers, action work and player restoration.  The
"hang-on-and-pump" generation of the 'Fifties is just about gone from
the scene, thank goodness!

Since my recent audience responded to the player so well, I added
"Chester the Cat" One-Step (by Ian Whitcomb) and "The Great Crush
Collision March" (by Scott Joplin) to the program, and the rolls were
received with the ultimate of enthusiasm.

The next Searsport Shores concert takes place on July 22 (Monday), only
a day after the Boston Chapter of AMICA meets in Kennebunk.  I've sent
some promotional flyers to the host, who rebuilt my Brewster Marque
Ampico, and it will be interesting to see if any of the members travel
North to witness this "renaissance" in player roll presentations.

Regards from Maine,
Douglas Henderson - Artcraft Music Rolls
http://www.wiscasset.net/artcraft/