Hello MMD readers,  Danilo Konvalinka and I were the 'first' to
interest the Smithsonian Institution in rebuilding and/or restoring
some of their mechanical musical instruments, back in the early 1960s.
Since then we have had many dealings with colleges, universities and
other institutions, which had a 'reproducing' piano and/or rolls in
their possession, in addition to antique musical boxes.

If the gift to Cornell University, in the current discussion, were a
series of pristine audio 'piano solo' recordings and/or some historic
equipment, upon which to play them, I'm certain that the gift would be
accepted.  Granted, 78s, cylinder records, music rolls, console
gramophones and, especially, player-pianos all require precious space,
so this will always be a factor whenever a library or archive is
contacted.

In the middle 1950s I purchased some roll libraries from universities,
most notably an AudioGraphic Duo-Art collection from the University of
Michigan at Ann Arbor.  These rolls had been 'in use' in some capacity,
since there were catalogue number stickers on the front of each,
well-kept music roll box.  (Rolls can be studied and 'read' without be
played on a piano, and as proof of this, we once bought some Rythmodik
rolls of the late 'Teens, formerly at The Library of Congress, which
had the complete music scales printed on the back of each roll so one
could read the 'brown box' arrangements as if they were linear sheet
music!)

The Aeolian Co., like Victor Records, maintained large libraries of
titles, many of which wouldn't sell very well, but would "fill in" the
gaps for a particular composer, also giving a higher status over some
[competing] product which only did the 'big hits' in the field of
classical music.  Ampico was the embodiment of a company which produced
the "popular" classical rolls, rarely delving into titles that would be
esoteric, but essential, for musical appreciation classes.

(If you check the preface of the 1925 Ampico catalogue, you'll see that
it was written for the customer who didn't have any real experience
with serious music, so they stressed the fact that interludes, on many
of their popular rolls, introduced classical themes for the Ampico
listener.  Clearly, this was aimed at the musically-inclined novice,
and not the music instruction market!)

My recent Newsletter goes into the Educational Department at Aeolian
to some degree: http://www.wiscasset.net/artcraft/issue11.htm
If one reads the old advertising, there was a schism between the
commercial promotion of expression players and the school/college
market of the past.  The universities stressed the musical structure
and history of musical development, while the commercial retail puffery
emphasized, to quote Ampico, "How would the Composer [Rachmaninoff]
play this on your piano?"

(Answer: not like the Ampico roll of "Prelude in C# Minor", with
limited dynamics, excessive sustaining pedal and sostenuto note
perforations, which are impossible for any pianist to achieve.) (Note:
pleasant music is not authentic music, and, indeed, many 'reproducing'
rolls are enjoyable to hear, even if not representative of the artist,
whose name is stamped on the box label.)

I can see no value in the "teaching aspect" of old classical Ampico
rolls, if one surveys a large library of them.  The phrasing, during
the Rhythmodik days, bordered on the 'hammy' while the emphasis in the
1920s was for 'popular music', often some forgotten Fox Trots that were
in a Broadway show for a couple of weeks, before the revue closed.

Lhevinne, Rosenthal, Friml, Rachmaninoff and Levitski all made
excellent 78 rpm discs, many in the days of early electric recording,
so they remain a "source" for any serious musical studies.  Audio is
where the musical information lies, which explains why I've worked from
tapes, for the past Half Century, for my perforating projects.

This is not to defend the Duo-Art or Welte-Licensee, at the expense
of Ampico, but these two instruments were equipped with Pianola levers
for personal interpretation activities, the realm of many school
programs involving player instruments, before the 1930s stopped the
industry.  Ignace J. Paderewski, when visiting The White House during
the Hoover administration, turned off the expression controls on their
A. B. Chase Welte-Licensee grand, and enjoyed participating in the
roll's performance, which is like "conducting an orchestra" more than
keyboard playing.  (This manual use of the Welte has been documented,
by the way, in letters from the Hoover family, about this particular
instrument.)

'Reproducing' players were for the home, and the rolls did a lot in
teaching amateurs the essence of musical structure, phrasing, dynamics
and form.  The old libraries, with the exception of Aeolian, weren't
up to the instructional level, but even the bulk of Duo-Art classical
rolls require that the automatic sustaining pedal be turned off (or
taped over, on the tracker bar), to please an astute musical person.

That electrically-pumped players can do so well in performance is a
minor miracle in itself, to me.  That they had to 'reproduce' artists,
whose names were used to market pianos, just doesn't hold up, in our
age.  The steppings on the rolls and the paper travel speeds came from
the player organ industry, so these compromises held back the Pianola
roll, considerably.  Also, the human fingers are far more flexibile
than the pneumatics, so, "creative arranging" is/was the only way to
go.

Typically, a library or college would accept an upscale Ampico grand,
remove the drawer (leaving the rest of the player intact), and use the
instrument for hand-playing purposes.  There, the Ampico was ahead of
the Duo-Art, being a stock piano, without modifications, after that
troublesome music roll drawer was taken away, for those pianists who
wanted to use the sustaining pedal or action shift -- an impossibility
for anyone without abnormally long legs!

These are only my views, of course.  However, I certainly wouldn't
want to teach a class with Wagner "by Brockway", "On the Wings of Song"
by Mendelssohn "played by Lhevinne" (with #2 intensities alternating
with #7 cancel holes, repeatedly, while operating under a nonstop
hammer rail lift) or inflict the students with some of those Ampico
rolls of Bach's music, with organ-like connected notes which sound
odd, in every sense of the word.  Arranged rolls by Aeolian would be
my choice, if given one, in the old days.

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