[ Andrew Barrett wrote in 110504 MMDigest:

> Do you like the music because it speaks to "your generation"
> (whatever that may be), or because it is or was the music your
> parents or grandparents love and you grew to love it through them?

Most of the music that I love, I came to know because of my parents and
grandparents.  My grandfather was a self-taught ragtime piano player,
and he also used to baby-sit my brother and myself when we were small.
My mother loved grand opera and also light opera/operetta, and I
remember many Saturdays when she'd put on a stack of 78 RPM classical
discs on her changer while she did her ironing.

By the middle 1950s my brother and I would listen to the radio, and
absorbed rock and roll, but I was never really taken by it.  Elton John
and Billy Joel are about the only "rock-style" composers that I'd care
to hear on a player (or any other) instrument.   My maternal grandmother
had introduced me to theatre organ in 1956 at a movie premier she took
us to, and the theatre (Orpheum, San Francisco, 4/21 Robert Morton)
used its organ for premiers and first-run shows back then, so I can
accurately tag 1956 as the beginning of my theatre organ "career."

> Or, did you discover this music (whatever it might be) on your
> own, and it attracted you for no particular reason, or for a very
> specific reason?

I was attracted to musical boxes because my mother used to have a
Regina disc box that played discs of about 11" or 12" diameter.  Don't
remember exactly, but I used to love the sound, and was sad when she
sold it, but I was only four or five years old at the time and had
little to say about it.  Player pianos reminded me of the way Opa played.

From there, I was attracted by the mechanisms of the various instruments
at the Seal Rocks Pavilion in San Francisco, where I used to go often.
Exposure was, for me, the key to my interest, from my earliest
recollections.  My grandfather, my mother's records, the Orpheum
Morton, and the Seal Rocks Pavilion were the beginning of my musical
passion.

> Are there any composers and/or performers you like in particular
> (including pop songwriters)?  What instruments do you prefer to hear?

Grand opera is a favourite whether performed on the organ or on a player
piano.  I do love most 19th century piano composers and performers.
Some of the earlier works played on a mechanical organ (I have an
Orchestrelle) are good, but many of the baroque composers leave a lot
to be desired on a mechanical instrument (they sound, after all, so
"mechanical"), while when played by an orchestra (symphony or chamber)
are beautiful.

I very much prefer theatre organ as a first-choice instrument, and
I love (but do not compare) player piano or reproducing piano a really
close second.  Both organ and piano are wonderful instruments, and
I love most classical music, and all of the music of the early 20th
century, particularly the musical theatre, and songs of the likes of
Sigmund Romberg, Jerome Kern, and Richard Rodgers.

> Finally, are any of you folks musicians yourselves (amateur or
> professional)?  What instruments do you play?  What kind of music
> do you play?  Do you compose and/or arrange music?

I have played church organ since getting my first job in 1960.  I have
played theatre organ since the early 1960s, having played in a theatre
(Oakland Paramount, 1963-64), FM public-access radio (1963-66), and in
a pizza parlor (Marin Pizza Pub, San Rafael, Calif., 1971-73).  I also
played in a blue-grass band for a while in the late '60s and early '70s,
playing guitar and was learning 5-string banjo.  I still have the banjo
but haven't touched it in years.

I do not compose, but as a theatre organist, I very much prefer to
play my own arrangements, otherwise I would just be a copycat, which
I wouldn't like.  If I didn't arrange my own music, I would be like a
co-worker-organist at a pizza place, who played out of a "fake book"
and didn't use any embellishments.  We used to refer to him as the
"Vanilla Organist" because his playing was so plain.

> If this topic gets any replies at all I will be happy to put in my
> 2 cents, but not until a few other people do!

Alright, more than you ever wanted to know about me!  Come on, Andrew
-- don't be a coward!  Here's my 3-1/2 cents worth.  ";-)

Bob Loesch
Northern California