MMD > Archives > July 1997 > 1997.07.09 > 12Prev  Next


Are Old Music Rolls Worth Preserving?
By Damon Atchison

I thought a lot about what Bill Chapman said about preserving old music
rolls.  I know this may sound a little extremist or just plain crazy, but
I feel all rolls should be saved. If you consider all the work it takes
to cut a music roll, then consider that you may have the last one like it
in existence, why waste it?

There are a lot of people who have player pianos running of Hoover
vacuums who would love to have the rolls, and when the rolls are
145-years-old, someone will probably want to recut them.  I am happy that
someone saved some old boring songs for me to hear from a different era
on my player piano.  I like "Avalon" (1920), and "Hindustan" (1945), and
I would never have heard those if someone dumped them in a landfill in
the seventies just because they didn't think that they were that special.

If a roll can't be played, I say save it, or give it to someone, or sell
it,....... do something!   Add some value to the thing and give it
another 50 years to exist, don't waste it.

Damon Atchison
Damon66@juno.com


(Message sent Wed 9 Jul 1997, 19:17:11 GMT, from time zone GMT-0500.)

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