I'm certainly not advocating taking "the hammers off" so as to only
see the mechanism of a player piano.  (That would make it an incomplete
mechanism anyway <grin>.)  But I think it would also be a mistake to play
the music without exposing or promoting the understanding (at whatever
level) of the instrument.  In my eyes, it's of course a partnership
between music and mechanism.  And I certainly have an "underlying
interest in the music", although I can't say that about everyone who
visits.  (An extreme example is the woman who watched a presentation,
then asked to bring her husband whom she was sure would enjoy the
"machines".  He did.)

I think part of the example about my player piano may have been missed.
Those playing and observing were not "non-keyboard-players", but varied
musicians.  I'll see them again come Christmas, so perhaps I'll take an
informal survey.  But I have a feeling that even a CD player would have
made better "music" than that piano -- should I have kept it off-limits
until it's final restoration?  But it will never be better musically
than a modern solenoid piano -- perhaps I should abandon the project
altogether!

I admit to being less concerned with emulating "what the instrument was
meant to do" (what their makers "thought") in presentation.  (And I can
show plenty of organette advertising that was simply false -- I doubt
that some companies cared about the music at all.)  I simply don't
think that environment still exists!  (Although we did purchase an
1870's home to help display our organettes, which are primarily "home"
instruments.)  I have many properly restored organettes which "at their
best" will never compete with today's technology.  Where would they
even be listened to in today's lifestyle?  I collect antiques, and my
primary interest is the instruments.  My bad.

I don't want to be "contentious" about this, so will probably "shut up"
on this topic for a while.  Anyway, it's probably best that there are
a _variety_ of approaches to collecting mechanical music.  And I applaud
those who have instruments which are able to produce high-quality
music.  I just don't want MMD to belittle collectors (or collections)
highlighting the "mechanical" nature of mechanical music.  There's room
for both.

Todd Augsburger
todd@rollerorgans.com