After a few music perforating attempts using a razor blade or a hot-wire
I finally got to use a Leabarjan perforator to make my first complete
piano roll.  I went to Bob Johnson's home in Long Beach, CA, early one
summer evening in 1964 and started punching holes with his little
Leabarjan.  I picked the simplest piece I could think of: the piano
accompaniment for the "Clarinet Polka".  Brother John played it as a solo
on his clarinet.

Bob had good heavy nickelodeon paper already trimmed to 11.25-inch width,
and we put three sheets in the punch, for the repeated sections of the
music.  I started punching about 8 PM.  The introduction was three note-
strikes, like a clock chiming, just to set the tempo for the soloist.
Then it was nothing but oom-pah all the way -- two notes in the bass on
beats 1 and 3, and a 3-note chord on beats 2 and 4.  Bob installed a very
coarse index for the time base so that I punched only one or two holes
for each of the notes or chords.

I began punching the third strain (the Trio) about midnight.  Bob
suggested that I add a simple tenor line, and that was easy, 'cause it
was just one note held until the chord changed.  About this time I was
getting a little bleary-eyed, and I found a good use for all the little
round punchings, the "chad".  When I punched a hole in the wrong channel
Bob showed me how to fill it with a punching and secure it with thin
adhesive tape on the back side; the repair was usually invisible!

Finally the Trio was punched and I was ready to punch the last part,
which is the first strain repeated, but played quite a bit faster, for a
"flying finish."  We did a little calculating, and guessing how fast John
could play the melody without getting too mad at me, and Bob selected a
different index for the time base, with the notches a bit closer together
to make the music faster.

I also added a harmony line, the same as the clarinet melody but a "tight
third" lower.  I punched that first, and then went back over the section
to add the bass and accompaniment notes.

We spliced all the sections together and carried the roll over to a piano
to hear it for the first time.  It was beautiful!  I drove home as the
sun was coming up, and awakened John to play it for him!

Years later I concluded it was appreciably faster for me to cut the roll
on the piano, right at the tracker bar, so I could quickly play-back the
music and correct the critical timing.

Robbie Rhodes