Hi All,  I just had to put my two cents in.  Perhaps we are hearing
the wrong answer because we are asking the wrong question, beside
the fact that modern music seems to be something of an oxymoron.

It's "modern" for an exponentially shorter time as time goes on, and
it's music to us only under the broadest of definitions.  I could
punch rolls of techno-pop onto paper with my Leabarjan, I could also
enter my motorcycle into a demolition derby.  The end result of either
would be undesirable.

I believe the key is exposure to a wide spectrum of music.  My ten
year old nephew asked if we could listen to his newest CD on the way
to Mt. Vernon, an hour each way across two islands to the mainland and
back.  My mouth said okay, while my brain was saying "Are you crazy?"
To my surprise it was the sound track to the movie "Ray", the life
story of Ray Charles.  It's his new favorite CD.  My grandparents
thought Elvis Presley was going to lead my parents straight to hell;
I am sure my parents thought Queen was going to do the same for me,
not yet.

I probably have nearly two hundred rolls, I actually play about fifty.
Of my collection some I like, some I really like, others I cannot stand
and if I did have so much respect for them I'd have chucked them a long
time ago.  Times change, tastes change; I keep buying rolls, but many
of the rolls are newer ones.  There are several Disney rolls (QRS rolls
of Disney songs) that all ages seem to enjoy.  There are also modern
pianists (Jim Brickman for example, who is doing some great work) and
some young artists "Five for Fighting" who is also doing some great
work like "100 Years".

One of the biggest challenges I see for mechanical music is staying
alive in a world overflowing with choices, interests and products
competing for our time/dime, you choose.  Let's face it: when
mechanical music was in its hay day there were not so many choices,
and there were, in all likelihood, music teachers lamenting that no one
would ever learn how to play a piano again and that we were on the road
to ruin.  It is up to us to keep mechanical music alive by sharing it
in every way we can, and exposing as many people young and old to it
as possible.  Some folks just won't be interested and that's okay; some
folks don't like tomatoes, but they keep growing them.

Share the Music!
Doug Anderson