140611 MMDigest had a request for Ampico roll 62993, "Islamey".
At the end of that posting, Robbie gave the YouTube address of my
Chickering playing that roll.  The music in the roll is not for
everyone, but the composition is extremely difficult to play well,
and thus seems to be a favorite teaching piece at conservatories.
When musicians visit my collection, it is often requested.

The roll played in the YouTube video is a newer roll produced by
Klavier.  The coding on the roll is in the "A" format.  Now I am
wondering if anyone has found the roll with real "B" coding.  If not,
this roll would be prime candidate to upgrade to "B" format.  I might
take that on as a project.

As an aside, the YouTube video I made of that roll does several things.
First, it celebrates the ability of Julius Chaloff.  Second, it shows
the rare concert demo version of the Ampico in operation.  The
demonstration piano has a wider dynamic range, with stack vacuum levels
reaching as high as 70 inches water gage.  Third, it has brought me
correspondence from some of Chaloff's former pupils.  And finally,
a modified version of that performance is used in my DVD, "The Ampico
Code part Two".

I am hoping that the recent request for roll 62993 has motivated MMDer's
to locate that roll in their collections.  Now if you could all take a
second look while you know where the roll is, and see if it has "B"
coding.  I'd like to know if it does.

Bob Taylor
Missouri

 [ Bob's YouTube video performance is at
 [   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLsJODH-qW0 
 [ The piece is discussed at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamey  and
 [ http://www.henle.de/blog/en/2013/06/10/climax-more-or-less-%E2%80%93-e-flat-or-e-in-islamey/ 
 [ -- Robbie