Roll perforators as an MMD topic have been appearing recently.  This
ties into my collection of 116-note pipe organ rolls as I have always
wondered how Aeolian made them, including the perforating.

These rolls were made for use on the Orchestrelle reed organs and the
Aeolian Pipe Organs.  The tracker bars for these instruments have two
rows of holes, with the holes staggered, so 58-notes could be played
on two separate keyboards at the same time.  Aeolian called this system
their "Solo" organ roll.  It really was quite an invention with huge
capacity for interpretation of music.

Printed instructions run the length of the roll telling the user how
to set stops, adjust tempo, and open or close the swell shutters.  If
the user had time, he/she also had to attend to the manual tracking
adjustments as many of these organs had no automatic tracker.

Mind you, these users were some of the wealthiest people to be found.
It's no wonder that when we find these rolls, most of them are in mint
condition.  The owners just didn't play these cumbersome rolls.  It was
much easier to hire an organist.

There are over 1,500 titles in this roll format.  Of course, many are
ho-hum arranged rolls of ho-hum compositions, but some may be actually
hand played and have artistic merit.  Some of the arranged rolls are
stunning when properly rendered.  I just finished upgrading one them to
fully automatic Duo-Art status.  The roll, 51865, "Overture from Romeo
and Juliet", by Tschaikowski, is 18 minutes of outstanding music.

That's right, I said 18 minutes on one roll.  The Tempo changes three
times, but the average speed is Tempo 50.  That means this roll is in
excess of 90 feet in length.  There are many of these large rolls in
the 116 note-library.

What were the master rolls?  Were they cardboard, and at what ratio did
the perforator run?  To my knowledge, no one has ever written about the
masters and the perforators that produced these 116-note organ rolls.

It is my understanding that the 116-note roll production ceased in the
late 1920s.  The production of the Duo-Art 176-note rolls continued
clear up until the 1940s.  I have heard that Aeolian-Skinner finally
dumped all the masters and inventory in a paper drive during World War
II.  What a shame.

I'd like to hear from anyone with knowledge about Aeolian's organ
roll production.  Origins of the transcription, details of the roll
arrangement, stop selections, and applying the printed instructions are
topics that I have never seen on MMD.

In another post, I'll talk about the "Romeo and Juliet" roll 51865 that
was just upgraded and I may include my speculation about its origins.
Whether hand played or arranged, rolls like this one reflect tremendous
talent and understanding of the pipe organ.  The transcription is
outstanding with superb registrations that fit the music perfectly.

Bob Taylor
Missouri