I have been working with MIDI and player pianos for probably fifteen
years now.  It is surprising that there are very few resources for
the beginner, especially with respect to the needs of player piano
collectors.  MIDI can be very complicated and daunting to learn even
the basics without such resources.  There may be on-line tutorials
that I have not discovered yet.  It would be great to have a "MIDI
for Dummies" book but the market is probably too small to bother.

If there is sufficient interest, I would consider doing a workshop
at the 2013 AMICA national meeting in San Francisco.  I will be at the
San Francisco AMICA Chapter meeting on Saturday and will suggest this
possibility if I hear that there is enough interest.

I write programs to generate and modify MIDI files.  I also have
manufactured, sold and used hardware for driving pneumatic instruments
as well as electronic players.  There is a lot to learn but it should
be possible to cover enough of the basics in a one hour session to
allow a beginner to understand MIDI and to learn how to learn more.

Best regards,
Spencer Chase
Garberville, California
http://www.spencerserolls.com/