Thank you to the MMD readers who answered my original post about how
high-end pianola rolls came into being.  I see better now why Douglas
Henderson disapproves of the term "reproducing" roll.  At best, these
rolls activate the right notes at the right moments.  And, under the
right circumstances, many of them can do more than that.  But I had
better not go to roll #6971 (even with an excellent Duo-Art player)
if I want to know how the young Rubinstein truly played the Brahms Op.
118, No. 2.  I'd still do better to listen to one of his electronic
recordings -- even if the 1940s-1950s recorded sound were not up to
today's standards.

Within the limitations of the recording and playback equipment,
electronic recording devices actually do reproduce most aspects of
an original performance.  "Keyboard Immortals Play Again (in Stereo)"
not withstanding, rediscovered piano rolls do not.  Even on the best
of rolls, the "personal" aspects of the playing (pedaling, attack,
dynamic levels (particularly the relative weighting of the thematic
vs. accompanying material and the like) only approximate the genius
of the original artist.  Some other person, maybe a kind of artist
in his own right, overlaid subtleties such as these onto what was,
essentially, an 88-note roll.

Knowing all of this, by the way, does not make me any happier with
those who would refuse to allow rolls in their possession, or under
their care, to be scanned to preserve the collaborative artistries of
great performers and gifted arrangers.  But that's another matter.

I don't know that the truth has set me free, but I feel better now
about what I've tended to do at my own piano.  Playing Themodist
Metrostyle rolls got me started.  Besides the dynamics line, accents,
and written indications of macroscopic tempo changes found on many
88-note roles, Metrostyle rolls overtly show the pianolist how to
achieve microscopic effects.  Once I got the hang of what these
adjustments could do, I began to overlay my own musical effects on
rolls that lacked Metrostyle markings.

I used to feel guilty for taking this license, but now I see I was
instinctively doing much the same thing as the veteran roll arrangers
did.  The fact is, when my "arrangements" work, they can be much more
satisfying than cranking tunes out in plain vanilla.  (Oh, and I still
contend that goes for the use of the pedals too.  I do my own pedal
stunts and feel good about it.)

Paul Murphy
Sarasota, Florida