Hello All,  I realize that in the original posting a suggestion was
made that a list of composers and tunes played on musical boxes would
be very handy in dating a box.  I agree, but point out that to do this
implies you have the tune sheet, which usually shows the composer and
helps a lot in the research.

Composers of popular or even classical music are not always listed
correctly on tune sheets nor are the titles at all consistent or
complete.  For example, an operatic aria may simply have the title of
the opera which contains many others, or you may have a title such as
"Meditation."  Lord knows how many Meditations are around!

Many of the pops composers were one-tune wonders and we may never find
out much, if anything, about them or their music.  Antique sheet music
is often undated.  It, of course, gets more difficult for a cylinder
box without a tune sheet.

Here, I shall repeat myself from past episodes of MMD.

Many have tried to assemble tune lists from scratch but the project
is simply overwhelming.  Back in the dinosaur days of the Apple II+
(1981 or so), Olin Tillotson and I spent a _great_ deal of effort
trying to do just what has been suggested by Bill Wineburgh.  Got out
all three of the books mentioned along with tons of antique sheet music
and whatever we could find at hand and were upping and downing till we
could hardly see.  The end result was many pages of DUDDD UDUDD.

We were so proud of our system we even gave a demo at an MBSI
Convention, computer and all, using an admittedly short list and a
little "reverse engineering."  (By the way, the database program we
were using was manufactured by an outfit called "Stoneware."  Is there
some kind of a message here?)

A couple of conventions later Angelo Rulli looked at me very seriously
and said, "It doesn't work, does it?" and I had to admit he was right.
It's not that it couldn't work, it's just that it was just too darned
hard to set up the database in the first place.  Getting school
children to do it as a project was suggested but that didn't pan out.

Outside of the size of the database, other serious problems emerged.
A tired eye and mind can very easily cause a U to be replaced by a
D, etc., as can a tired or distracted typist.  Believe me it's boring
and one tires easily.  This immediately makes the whole entry invalid.
Transferring the music of B&M's books to the U&D format can even be a
problem.  Just how important is that grace note to the basic tune?
What to do with trills and triplets, on ad infinitum.

Further, when it comes to musical box arrangements, there is so much
ornamentation of the music that often it can be very difficult to
separate melody from ornament or if the music has an introduction not
really considered part of the tune.  This is particularly true if you
do not already know the tune.  Catch 22?

Someone is bound to suggest a computer could do it from a scan of the
music, U&Ds or from sampling the sounds.  My response to them would be,
I hope you have a lot of fun and a lot of free time but I'm not holding
my breath.

So here I am, bucket just emptied of cold water in hand, hoping someone
can work out a solution.

On a philosophical note, my impression is that it is always interesting
to know as much as possible about the objects in our custody but, more
often than not, approximations should be adequate and can be deduced
within a decade or so from the general structure of the instrument as
described in many texts.  After a certain amount of research, a lot
depends on serendipity which will come your way faster if you don't try
too hard.

Do the basics and even more if you feel compelled, but please don't
agonize over whether that delightful little Freres de Fischer Prix box
is from 1845 or 1846.  I do get weary of hearing just exactly how many
gallons of water are in Lake Superior or how high or even where the
tallest building is....

I ramble.

Best to all,

Jim Heyworth,
Sechelt, B.C., Canada