-- non-subscriber, please reply to sender and MMD --

I have read much discussion about player pianos, from Ampico and Duo-Art
to Disklavier on this forum.  There is much debate and disagreement about
how well these reproducing systems capture an artist's performance, or
if they even come close to doing so.

I think the better approach for appraising mechanical music reproduction
is to ask how musical does it sound.  Whether or not an artist's
intentions are "captured" or not, does it sound good?

I have spent the past twelve years sequencing for the Disklavier,
entering all the data on a sequencing computer program and playing it
back.  Oh, many amateurs enter all the notes at exact values and do
little else, then call it finished and post it on the Internet.

To create a real performing sequence with a lively feeling is no easy
task -- it involves establishing an understanding of the parameters of
velocity, articulation, chord voicing, phrasing, rubatos and tempos.
So in the end it is the musician who has made music, not the computer.

Using the Disklavier from the inside out actually works better than
trying to record a live performance, because I am working within the
confines of the player mechanism.  In other words, I only hear notes
that the solenoids have struck and tweak each note in each phrase to
sound musical.

The general rule of thumb is that as the notes move upward they get
louder and faster and when they move downward they get softer and
slower.  When the harmony is going to change, a bit of a pause is
usually in order.  Of course having an understanding of the music,
in the first place, is essential.

I had a pretty good idea what Beethoven and Mozart and Chopin were
about, but getting a great teacher to help me, who is a concert
pianist, helped me get the details brought up to a professional
standard and that really made a difference in the musicality of my
sequences.  It is amazing what one little pause or just a bit of
an accent on a top voice can do to a whole musical idea.

I only wish people would listen to the music and not just the machines.
Audiophiles just listen to their stereos, they don't listen to music.

Richard W. Carlson
http://richardcarlson.net/