Hi everybody:  Just wanted to add my thoughts re the future of
mechanical music.  People on average are fascinated by these
instruments and the ingenuity underlying their creation.  I recently
viewed the DVD that was released by the MBSI, "Marvels of Mechanical
Music", and was very impressed.  The few other people I have shared it
with are equally impressed by these machines.  The DVD presentation was
current state-of-the-art high technology.

My thought is that one way to spread the word and get more people
interested would be to create something along the lines of music videos
and release them to the public, much like popular recording artists
presently do.  People have videos of fireplaces and aquariums displayed
on their computers and TV screens for endless hours, for either
personal viewing or entertaining purposes, so why not have a music
video on DVD of an orchestrion or nickelodeon showing the moving,
mechanical parts along with a playlist.

Perhaps the video could depict a late 19th or early 20th century
family or group of people in a period dance hall, thus creating a
theme.  This method would bring the incredible spell-binding effects
of the working machines themselves along with the music they produce
to the viewer/audience all in one setting.

As Mr. Moore suggested in his article, half the fun is seeing the
instruments perform while the other half is hearing the music.  In
other words, let's bring the machines and their music to the people,
instead of making them go to museums and private collections and
special gatherings for enjoyment.  Thanks.

Larry Gruet
milo8295@yahoo.com.geentroep