I have taught music in inner city schools in Milwaukee for the past 30
years.  The key to stimulating interest is how do you sell the product.

No wonder there is no interest!  My kids in class could care less about
this stuff -- in fact they tear up many things -- unless an appreciation
is stimulated!  When I show them a Regina disc, noting that this is a
"lethal throwing death device," _boy,_ do they perk up and listen.
Thrown at a distance of 30 feet the disc could do some serious damage,
as it is razor sharp.

Now that I have their attention, I explain that it is the first floppy
disc (ugh), binary encoded logic (computer), and the very first example
of heavy metal music!  Who would not get the point?!

Granted, the stuff is expensive; my parents were so poor that when I
was seven I started lessons on a paper keyboard placed on the kitchen
table because we could not afford a piano.  After several lessons my
parents scraped enough money together to buy a used player piano,
because in 1957 no one wanted one for $250 (it still played).
Incidentally, the first roll I ever heard was "Heading for the Last
Roundup"

I built things out of old church organ pipes because I did not have
money.  Lawn mowing jobs at a dollar a job could buy rolls at 25 cents.
It is all a matter of priorities -- fix something up, sell it, get more
money and upgrade.  This is how it is done!

Most importantly, _share._  The world has forgotten that and we are in
deep trouble.  Everyone is into greed.  By sharing, wonderful things
happen: you meet people, you learn things and who knows -- your
next-door neighbor could be Dan Barton who built the Barton theatre
organs in the 'teens and 'twenties.  (That happened when I was in
college studying music in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.)

Gregory Filardo