Hello MMD readers,  There have been a string of postings about rolls
"not matching the music scores", and some of the explanations were that
pianists, as well as arrangers, have their own individual approaches
to the music.

This is true for the keyboard artists.  Their finger flexibility, which
is well beyond that of the pianola, and their wider range of dynamics
(since fingers can _descend_ to the keys, unlike the pneumatic player
actions), make each performance distinctive.  This statement is
applicable for virtuosi as well as amateurs at the keyboard.

However, I think that too much credit is going to the old factory roll
arrangers, for the variables in one roll release over another.

Frank C. Milne at The Aeolian Co. had "fox trotty" arrangements, which
also served as 'Edythe Baker', 'Eddie Duchin', 'George Gershwin' and
'Pauline Alpert', as well as his roster of pseudonyms, such as 'Ralph
Addison'.  There was a "tea time" staccato to the keys, striking, on
these Aeolian releases, 88-note and 'reproducing'.

Milne at Aeolian-American, starting in 1932, was something else,
musically.  There, he had that "mushy, dreamy" sound, characteristic
of Ampico releases, and which, for the note scores, carried over to
the tandem Duo-Art rolls, as well.

Milne at Imperial Industrial Co., in the Bronx, making some QRS rolls
for the Max Kortlander management, was yet another arranger.  Here, you
had that tied-triplet sound of the Melville Clark 'recording' piano and
perforator setup, which pretty much locked a musician into a fixed
tempo and with 'connected' (organ-like) notes.  His QRS rolls had much
in common with those of J. Lawrence Cook, who used the same machinery
extensively, for decades.

Did Milne change his "style"?  No.  He changed companies, each of which
had a 'formula stepping' setup, and was geared for making Master Rolls
that fit into the latitudes of their own duplicating perforators.

In the 'Fifties, shortly before he died, I had the chance to hear
a live recording by Mr. Milne, on an open reel tape; I believe he was
playing "Sioux City Sue" and other songs of that kind.  This was
another Milne, who sounded nothing like his player rolls for Aeolian,
Aeolian-American and QRS (in the Bronx).

As I said, above, there's "too much credit" for what various arrangers
did, musically, during their era of piecework employment.

I refused to 'learn' the Imperial Industrial Co.'s piano/perforator
contraption, due to its being highly limited, musically.  The 'jazz
rhythm' steppings, paper travel norm and/or the staccato effects,
I could cut at will on my Leabarjan perforator.  After complaining
that at 6 punches per beat, swing/jazz was _not_ 4 punches plus
2 punches -- as dictated by QRS then -- but 4-1/2 plus 1-1/2 punches,
as I could perforate on my equipment, I was told "That's what the
public likes," by Cook and also Herman Kortlander.

Strange, Capitol/Supertone and Aeolian, before 1932, had true dotted-
8th/16th rhythms in their arrangements.  I suspect that the _cost_ of
having duple and triple meter scales made graph paper work and other
formula methods a bit too costly for them.

If you study a lot of rolls by one company, in a narrow time frame
and in the same spectrum of serial numbers, you'll discover that most
commercial rolls are "the same", save some details in the riffs, breaks
and the melody line.  The texture and structure will be identical, in
most cases.

Thus, I don't think that one can say that J. Milton Delcamp "did this,
here" on a roll, when other Ampico releases featured a similar striking
pattern, note elongation and a basic tempo standard.

It's best to approach old rolls as a 'product', and then enjoy the
music (by title and composer) or become interactive and participate in
the musical performance.  This is necessary, not only on pedal players,
but for 'reproducing' pianos, if only to correct the tempo, periodically,
after 2 minutes of playing; if you are at the bench, you might as well
use the controls and foot pedals, to fine-tune the expression roll to
your own specific instrument.

Arrangers for rolls had very little room, in which to exercise their
own creativity, especially in the striking effects (created by the
perforation lengths).

Hope the above has been of some help, in separating a keyboard artist
from an artisan arranger, in the so-called 'Good Old Days'.

Regards,

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