Hello MMD readers,  Saw the posting about this topic and believe I have
appeared more frequently over the last 40-plus years, in this capacity,
than most collectors in the field.  This includes daily performances at
the Musical Wonder House museum  http://www.wiscasset.net/artcraft/mwh.htm
both on the guided tours and the special evening concerts (in which
case the audiences were seated).  The museum presentations continued for
almost a quarter century, during the summer and fall months.

Beyond that, I've done sidewalk events such as the Moxie festivals in
Maine, Boston's 'First Night' (a marathon!) and sundry musicales and
appearances as a solo pianolist and also with ensembles, such as the
Arcady festivals with Masanobu Ikemiya and the two Niantic CT ragtime
festivals hosted by composer/pianist Galen Wilkes.

It has been my experience that a sparkling, effervescent, staccato
laden roll will attract the public and "hold" them, while the
organlike, formula arranged and droning commercial rolls will cause
people to pause for a moment and then continue on their way.  (I'm
talking about _instrumental_ music here, not 'singalong' word rolls.)

A number of years, ago, I shared a sidewalk player with Dave Levin,
who performed regularly at Harvard Square.  He had boxes of QRS rolls
with standard songs ("Ebb-Tide", "Jambalaya", "Somewhere My Love",
etc.) but he turned the piano over to me, featuring my interpretive
arrangements.  Among them was "Poverty Gulch" by Max Morath, the master
roll prior to its release under my Artcraft label.  Whenever my rolls
were played, of music mostly unknown to the general public, there was
an audience of 20-50 people, every time.  Whenever Dave switched over
to his roll library, only one or two people remained who wanted to sing
with a particular 'organlike' roll arrangement.

This was repeated later at the Dinosaur Annex Concert (First/Second
Church of Boston), where I premiered "Linnmania-Marsaillaise" using
a Brewster piano owned by Peter Nielsen for this program.  My rolls
"held" the listeners for the opening of the evening's presentations.
At the reception the piano was moved to another location in the
building.  Again my rolls attracted many people, one of whom was the
arts writer for the Boston Globe.  After a few numbers, Dave brought
his commercial 88-Note rolls out; the audience fled.  I distanced
myself from the player but I was summoned back to the piano, yet only
regained half of the people at that point.  The musical 'damage' had
been done!

Having played in so many difference places and under a variety of
circumstances, I can say that the performance in the roll arrangement,
and not the title, is what captivates people, across the board.

Beyond my rolls, I recommend selecting some of Milne's snappier
Mel-O-Dee arrangements, Capitol/Supertone rolls with bounce, most of
the dance music from the brown box Welte-Licensee days (Howard Lutter)
or something which sparkles.  Repetitious rolls with connected,
homogeneous notes are guaranteed to thin down a group, immediately!

That's all one needs to attract and hold an audience!

Regards from Maine,
Douglas Henderson - Artcraft Music Rolls
Wiscasset, Maine
http://wiscasset.nnei.net/artcraft/