 Mechanical
Music Digest™ Gallery |
| You Are Not Logged In | Login/Get New Account |
|
Please Log In. Accounts are free!
Logged In users are granted additional features including a more current version of the Archives and a simplified process for submitting articles. |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
MMD
Gallery
Tech
1908Buffalo
|
|
End-of-Year Fundraising Drive In Progress. Please visit our home page to see this and other announcements:
https://www.mmdigest.com Thank you. --Jody
|
|
Buffalo Convention Sets Piano Roll Standards by Matthew Caulfield (080219 MMDigest) Last year Wayne Stahnke and I became interested in tracking down the convention held 100 years ago which set the standards for 88-note piano roll hole spacing. We had heard it referred to as the "Buffalo Convention" or the "Chicago Convention," and it was said to have been held in 1910 or any number of dates around that year, depending on whose account you read. Recently Dave Bowers gave to the MBSI a set of the "Music Trade Review" (MTR) magazines which he owned. That weekly publication has now been scanned into PDF digital format by the MBSI, so that it can be searched and copies can be printed. The resulting file is very large, taking up most of a 200 GB hard drive, and the searching time, if you don't know the approximate date of what you are trying to locate, can be enormous. By the power of the computer and the good offices of the MBSI, the Music Trade Review report on that elusive standard-setting convention has been located. The convention, attended by representatives of the roll-making industry and by player piano manufacturers, was held December 10, 1908, in Buffalo, New York, at the Iroquois Hotel. It was there that, after a day-long debate, the 9-holes-to-the-inch hole spacing won out over 8-holes-to-the-inch by a twelve to six vote, which was later made unanimous. Page 31 of the December 12, 1908, MTR issue (v. 47, no. 24) contains a full-page report on the debate. Two issues later (v. 47, no. 26, p. 27) William Braid White, an MTR staff writer, worries that the close spacing chosen would make tracking devices on player pianos necessary, although he admits it did leave room at the edges of a roll for expression holes. Matthew Caulfield
Thanks, Matthew and MBSI. A history of the Iroquois Hotel of Buffalo, New York, is given at http://ah.bfn.org/h/iroqH/index.html MTR v. 47, no. 24, p. 31: Gathering
of the Player Men at Buffalo (MTR-1908-12-08-v47-n24-p31.pdf
2,549 kb)
20 February 2008 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CONTACT FORM: Click HERE to write to the editor, or to post a message about Mechanical Musical Instruments to the MMD Unless otherwise noted, all opinions are those of the individual authors and may not represent those of the editors. Compilation copyright 1995-2024 by Jody Kravitz. Please read our Republication Policy before copying information from or creating links to this web site. Click HERE to contact the webmaster regarding problems with the website. |
|
|
||||||
|