Here are some thoughts from me about collecting automatic musical
instruments, enjoying them, and various societies.  I have had quite
a bit of experience in this, including being co-owner of the Mekanisk
Musik Museum in Denmark in the 1970s, co-owner of Hathaway & Bowers
and American International Galleries circa 1967-1981, and hosting AMICA
and MBSI meetings at my showrooms and also in my home when I lived in
California.  I have also dealt with many collectors, dealers, museums,
and others.

SOCIETIES I: Regarding clubs and societies these are beneficial.
Probably most members of MBSI and AMICA "participate" only by reading
the journal.  I don't know about the German society, but perhaps that
is true there as well.  Ditto for the Musical Box Society of Great
Britain and the society in France.  Because of this, the journal should
be of compelling interest -- sufficient on its own to merit members
paying the yearly membership fee.  If it is not the answer is simple:
they will not renew.

As the risk of digressing I will compare two magazines: The Economist
(my favorite, and, according to The Economist, the only magazine Bill
Gates reads each week) and Newsweek.  The Economist is filled with ads
and is successful at a yearly subscription rate challenging $100.
Newsweek has very little in the way of insightful articles or "new
news," and in order to bolster its declining readership and to keep
a base for advertisers, almost gives its issues away -- not quite, but
almost.

SOCIETIES II: Annual conventions, regional meetings, and the like are
very desirable.  In my opinion they should be open to anyone interested.
In my various showrooms, kids were often the most enthusiastic visitors
-- and if they put a nickel into a Violano-Virtuoso it was a memorable
experience for them.  More than just a few collectors today started as
teenagers or even younger, or at least in their twenties.  There are no
age limits.  J. B. Nethercutt started collecting in his fifties.

Perhaps to reduce the membership costs which have been a barrier to
some (per MMD comments), have two types: (1) With printed journal, at
a higher price, and (2) with Internet journal.  However, I warn everyone
that the Internet will become the most popular.  It might also be a
good idea for AMICA and MBSI to merge, as both have many of the same
members, and their meetings are similar in concept.

This was not always the case.  In the early 1960s when I joined MBSI,
it was _music boxes_, particularly of the cylinder type, that were
first and foremost in interest -- and it was made clear that pianos,
orchestrions, etc., were not part of the group.  This did not change
until a few years later when Harvey Roehl popularized the idea (via the
Vestal Press) that many collections had instruments of many characters
-- some music boxes, some coin pianos, a player piano, a reproducing
piano, and a band organ.  This makes sense.

Even today, few people have collections of just band organs or just
reproducing pianos, for example.  When AMICA first started, it had
nearly exclusive emphasis on player pianos and reproducing pianos.
That changed, but today emphasis is mainly on pneumatic instruments.

SOCIETIES III: Having hosted many society meetings, I have never seen
a "snooty" policy.  Within any group -- musical, religious, educational,
political, hobby, you name it -- there are human beings who have human
characteristics.  Some share, some do not; some are polite, others are
impolite; some don't want children around, others love kids.

At any society meeting or convention I have ever attended, there are
enough warm and friendly people that newcomers can have a really good
time.  At the MBSI convention in Orlando a few years ago a newcomer,
Nils Johannesen, attended -- a family friend.  I arrived the next day,
and he was in the midst of having a great time, having met many people.

Workshops are a place to meet and greet, etc.  I suggest that if
someone finds an MBSI or AMICA meeting to be "cold" or "unfriendly,"
reach out and extend a warm handshake, ask questions, and say some nice
things about what you see and hear.

WHAT TO COLLECT: As to the band organ COAA group, a dynamic gathering.
However, I have never met anyone with a band organ collection and
nothing else.  A band organ or two can be nice.  However, I doubt if
any reader of MMD would say that if he/she had a Wurlitzer 125 band
organ and nothing else, there would be much fun involved -- _except_
for exhibiting it.  I have a National 53-note calliope and a classic car
to pull the wagon -- great fun, but not a substitute for a collection.

Within automatic musical instruments, some are ideal for collecting
multiples -- organettes, cylinder music boxes, and disc music boxes come
to mind.  Orchestrions are large and expensive, and these are usually
added as an adjunct to other instruments.  Band organs are loud, and
one or two usually fills the bill -- not a dozen.  One dance organ
usually fills the bill as well.  I have met a handful of collectors who
wanted a reproducing piano of each of the Ampico, Duo-Art, and Welte
makes, but most pick one and enjoy it as a favorite.

INFORMATION, VIEWING, LEARNING: One can enjoy collecting information.
YouTube offers possibilities, but there is a huge amount of chaff among
the kernels of wheat.  Perhaps the societies could vet or give a seal
of approval to _good_ presentations.  Some of great museums are from
hand-held cameras panning all over the place, jiggling and wiggling, and
with people walking in front.  _Rarely_ is there any good information
about the model of the instrument, its history, and the pedigree of the
instrument being shown.

The Vestal Press in its day was a tremendous incentive to the hobby.
It is gone now, with no replacement.  Musical museums, once numbering
nearly two dozen -- Cliff House, Disneyland, Knott's Berry Farm,
Gay Nineties Village, Deansboro, etc., etc. -- are now nearly extinct.

The Musical Wonder House in Wiscasset, Maine, comes to mind, and a few
tourist attractions have a few coin-ops, but beyond that in the USA
there is not much.  The San Sylmar Collection is world class but is not
apt to be visited casually by a family on a vacation trip.  The Morris
Museum in New Jersey has a fine exhibit (which I have yet to see).
However, public collections are rare.  Perhaps YouTube will help.

OVERALL: Hobbies are not what they used to be.  In 1979 the MBSI had
2,500 members.  Not so today.  The American Numismatic Association
(coins), the American Philatelic Society (stamps), the American Theatre
Organ Society, and other groups have all had membership declines.
Fewer people go to national parks, for that matter.  Museums must
strain to get people to visit.

The Internet, iPhone, iPod, PC, and television have made entertainment
extensive at home -- no need to go anywhere.  The "sense of wonderment"
is largely gone.  "My gosh, a piano that plays Paderewski" might have
been an exclamation in 1975, but today it would not be as exciting.
And yet, collecting is alive and well, but can use stimulation.

THREE BOOKS: I have finished the manuscript on violin players
(Violano-Virtuoso, Phonliszt-Violina, and others) and it is now in the
graphics process; I have done perhaps 60% of the research and writing
for "The Encyclopedia of Disc Music Boxes", and I have done my part of
a book on orchestrions, photoplayers, and coin-operated American pianos
-- awaiting co-author Art Reblitz to finish his part.  I think each of
these will be a "good read" and will be an asset to our great hobby.

That's it for the moment.  Thanks for being a part of mechanical music.

Best wishes,
Dave Bowers