Deane Wiley inquired about the nuances of piano roll labels.  We
agreed that the topic should be discussed in MMDigest, so here is
our dialogue to start with.  Deane wrote to me:

> Piano rolls that say "played by" appear straightforward, however,
> what does "as played by" mean in relation to "played by"?

"Played by" implies that the artist sat at a recording piano, which
is generally true with classical pieces, but is not guaranteed with
pop tunes.

"As played by" means that the name following did _not_ record the
piano roll!  Most of the time the pop songs were arranged ("played")
by a talented staff artist whose name or pseudonym is given.
See the letter from J. Lawrence Cook dated 6 July 1953 at
http://www.mmdigest.com/Gallery/MMMedia/fatswaller1.html 


> I am now puzzling over the following Hot Piano Classics rolls:
>
> 1. HPC-5 Blue Black Bottom -- "As played by FATS WALLER
> (Feb. 16, 1927) Transcribed from the record by Robbie Rhodes"
>
> What does "transcribed" mean?  Are you playing or is Fats Waller?

To create the piano roll I listened closely to the phono record of 1927
and wrote down all the notes as best I could hear them.  Then, sitting
at the piano keyboard, I played the notes of the manuscript and edited
them to better match the sound of the phono record.  After that I put
a blank roll of paper in the spool frame and started cutting the holes
and slots with an X-Acto knife.  It took several evenings to complete.

So the end result is a transcription -- meaning the data is transferred
from one medium to another -- of the music from the phono record to
a piano roll.  If you make a low-fidelity audio recording of my piano
roll performance it should sound very much like Fats Waller's recorded
performance.


> Are you playing or is Fats Waller?  Or who?

Take your pick.  Neither Rhodes nor Waller sat at a roll marking piano
or roll recording piano to create the piano roll.  I created the piano
roll using my ears, the same method as used by J. Lawrence Cook in
later years when Waller was too busy to visit the QRS studio.


> 2. HPC-24 Occident Express 8-25-85
>    "Arranged and played by ROBBIE RHODES"
>
> Is "arranged" different than "transcribed"?

For this tune my source was the original sheet music manuscript
hand-written by the composer, Robin Frost.  I modified his notes
some in order to convey the expression on a non-expression piano,
which means I occasionally added a note or two to a chord so it would
be louder.  Other than that I followed the notes by the composer,
but the note values (durations) are as I like to perform the tune.
In other words, when you compare audio recordings by Robin Frost with
recording of my live performances, you can tell that the music roll
sounds more like me playing than the composer playing (I hope!).


> 3. HPC-23  Nothin' (by Charles Luckeyeth Roberts)
>    As played by THE COMPOSER, transcribed by John Farrell, Spring 1985
>
> The same questions arise here as in No. 1, above.

I'm pretty sure John listened to the phono record to make the piano
roll, in the same fashion as I do and so does J. Lawrence Cook.  If you
listen to the phono record by Roberts, and then the performance by John
Farrell, you probably hear a difference even though they're the same
notes.  What you're hearing is the way John Farrell plays piano compared
to Luckey Roberts playing the piano.  John's playing is typically a bit
more legato, e.g., the durations are a bit longer than Luckey Roberts'.


> Any clarification would be very helpful as I play these for
> other people and they ask me questions I cannot really answer
> (with any authority).

You can assure your audience that their questions are the same as
were asked in the 1920s.  The answers I give above are perhaps more
truthful.  The answers given by a player piano salesman might not be
as forthright.

After all, fantasy is much more entertaining than the truth, and so the
player piano marketing strategy emphasized that performances were "hand
played" and "accurate to the most minute detail", and implied that the
artist could hear an instant playback.

That's the romantic fiction that the public wanted to hear, so that's
what they were told.

Cheers,
Robbie Rhodes
Mechanical Music Digest