I saw the recent postings from Spencer Chase and Bob Taylor
concerning their technical presentations at the AMICA convention.
I too am preparing my workshop material and thought I would share
my topic to avoid too much overlap.

As many of you are aware, I have been working on the Violano
rollscanning and rollography projects for the past several years.
The ultimate goal of these projects is to identify the contents of all
3121 rolls that were produced for the Violano and to obtain archival
optical scans of as many of them as possible.  During my workshop
I will scan one song from a Violano roll and then demonstrate real
time the process of converting it to a playable MIDI file.  Since not
everyone is interested in the Violano, I will be making the presentation
more generic about roll scanning to appeal to a broader audience and
will show how easy it is to convert the scanner to other roll formats.

I will also discuss in general why the rollscanning efforts that
are happening around the world are so important right now.  The most
obvious reason is the deteriorating condition of our rolls and the fact
that some of the worst condition rolls are the most popular ones due to
frequent use.  There are many other reasons, however.  I will show a
comparison of the music that was originally available for the Violano
versus what has been recut.

The recutting efforts of the past are a vital way to preserve some of
the music for our machines, but these efforts cannot possibly hope to
save the broad spectrum of music that was originally available.  For
example, how many of you have heard the Swedish music roll that was
made for the Violano, or the novelty song roll?  These will probably
pass into oblivion along with hundreds of more titles just like them,
since the people doing recutting projects need to appeal to enough
buyers to pay for their efforts and sell all the copies that need to
be run.  As I have been listening to the music I have been scanning,
I am amazed at just how much good music was made and how little of it
I was aware of before this project.

Using the rollography, I will show how to identify unknown rolls.  Time
permitting, I will demonstrate some roll repair techniques and discuss
some tips on shipping rolls.  This last topic will be based on roll
damage that I have witnessed on improperly packed rolls.  My goal is to
make the workshop a generic discussion of the need for and mechanics of
rollscanning.  I will be highlighting the work of dozens of people (and
trying to give each his due recognition).

I will also share some of the comments, both good and bad, that have
come from collectors about the rollscanning efforts.  While I will hide
the identity of the emailers for their own protection, it will be
interesting to the general community just how controversial this topic
is.  One collector in particular told me that rollscanning was unethical
and should be stopped immediately!  He has been systematically outbidding
me whenever Violano rolls come up on eBay to keep the rolls out of my
hands.  We certainly are an unusual group with a broad range of
opinions.

At the other extreme, I have many examples of collectors who have
generously opened their collections for scanning.  They instinctively
recognize the value of the efforts for the long term preservation of
our music.

Incidentally, the title of my workshop is "Saving our musical heritage".
I hope to see many of you at the convention.

Jack Breen
Southborough, Massachusetts