In 1990 Christopher Wilkins, the conductor of the Colorado Springs
Symphony (today reorganized as the Colorado Springs Philharmonic)
performed the original arrangement of "Rhapsody in Blue" using
Dick Kroeckel's 9'6" Steinway Duo-Art.  Chris contacted [pianist
and conductor] Newton Wayland to see if he could borrow Dave
Junchen's custom version of the roll, but it was not available.

I obtained recuts of the original 2-roll set and first removed the
orchestra-only interludes, splicing a short piece of blank roll paper
having a predictable length in each break.  Then I taped over all
non-piano notes played by the orchestra with Scotch brand Magic Tape,
leaving all of the notes shown in the original printed piano score.
I then sent the cut/spliced/taped roll to John Malone [Play-Rite
Music Rolls], who made an accurate recut, which after editing fit on
one roll spool.  This was my Opus #220, completed in April, 1990.

Wherever the pianist stopped playing in the score, I added a control
hole that operated a special shutoff mechanism only connected to the
wind motor.  Chris Wilkins had a foot switch that turned the wind
motor back on with very predictable timing.

I loaned my copy of the 12" Victor 78 rpm record #35822 to Chris,
who studied it aurally to learn the "flavor" of the original
interpretation.  We then spent an afternoon at Dick Kroeckel's,
editing the expression where Chris thought the roll wasn't faithful
to what he heard on the record.  I asked him if he'd use the 1924
orchestra instrumentation used in the original score, and he said
he'd use it to the extent possible, but that he "wasn't going to add
a whole row of banjo players."

For accurately stopping and restarting the wind motor with
predictable timing, I made a large valve and installed it in the
vacuum line supplying the wind motor.  It was designed so the motor
would immediately stop dead upon actuation of the valve, and start
immediately when the foot switch was depressed.  The pump motor ran
throughout the performance, so there was no lag as there might have
been if suction had to build up from zero.

The pouch was controlled by its own organ magnet valve, turned on by
a latching relay and also a pneumatic with its own momentary-contact
switch wired in parallel to the relay contacts.  I used one elongated
hole in the roll to control the pneumatic.  The beginning of each
hole collapsed the pneumatic, simultaneously unlatching the magnet
but temporarily holding the wind motor on with the pneumatic's own
switch.  At the very end of the hole, the pneumatic opened, instantly
stopping the wind motor without the least bit of coasting.

An impulse from the foot switch latched the relay on again within
a predictable fraction of second from the time that Chris depressed
it.  This provided for a very reliable method of synchronizing the
piano with the orchestra each time the piano was restarted.

I powered the relay and organ magnet with a lantern battery so the
piano wouldn't shut off in the event of a blip in the AC power on
stage, a common event during our Colorado lightning storms at 6500
feet above sea level.  As a safeguard, Dick Kroeckel sat at the piano
in case anything unexpected happened.  Thanks to Chris Wilkins'
conducting expertise, the performances were outstanding.  Chris later
repeated the concert in San Antonio, Texas, shipping Dick's piano and
hiring him to be there for the performances.

Working with Chris and Dick to bring back the sound of the original
performance was a very enjoyable experience.

Art Reblitz
Colorado Springs, Colorado

 [ The 12" Victor 78 rpm record #35822 is on YouTube at
 [   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PA3ryT2HJK4  and
 [   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpaWngUUl48 
 [ The performance is lively without sounding rushed, although
 [ many cuts reduce the performance time to 9 minutes total.
 [ -- Robbie