Hello all,  The recent discussion about the accuracy of musical tempo
on piano rolls relative to that of 78 rpm records reminded me of my
attempts to synchronise a Victor recording of Alma Gluck singing
"Little Grey Home in the West" to an Imperial piano roll of the same
song.  Even though the roll was intended to be played in conjunction
with that record, I found it impossible to keep the two in sync -- if
they agreed in the middle, they parted at the end or vice versa.

I concluded that even if both media were manufactured accurately, the
playing instruments could not reproduce the precise original tempo.  In
particular, the piano roll wind mechanisms are not closed loop and the
sensitivity to load changes as the roll plays would vary widely from
one instrument to the next.  This is serious enough when playing "solo"
but hopeless when played together with another "mechanical" instrument.

Having attended Denis Condon's wonderful "live" performance of Greig's
Piano Concerto with Percy Grainger (deceased!) and the Adelaide
Symphony Orchestra in 1978 I can now more fully appreciate the
difficulty of synchronising a player piano with a real orchestra.  At
least in that case, the conductor can make small corrections as they
play together but the skillful part comes when the piano has to
commence playing after a period of orchestra only. An error of a few
milliseconds would be quite apparent.

I still find it hard to believe it worked so well. I think Dan Wilson
played some part in editing the original rolls.  I wonder what
corrections were made to allow for tempo change as the paper builds up
on the spool since, I think, the roll drive was electric on Denis'
Duo-Art push up player.  Any recollections Dan?

Darrell Clarke
Clarke's Corner, Adelaide
South Australia

 [ See MMDigest 970226 and the article from Larry Lobel,
 [ "Player Rolls Accompany the Phonograph"  -- Robbie