A few days ago Douglas Henderson added to his web site a story about
an advertisement he had read (in the MBSI periodical) that claimed
electronics had made rolls obsolete.  "Stop bothering with rolls," it
said.  I wrote Douglas a note in reply, and he encouraged me to copy
it to MMD.  Here it is:

"Stop bothering with rolls" ???

  I love bothering with rolls, I'm absolutely sure that you do, too.
  Dozens of other people that I know seem like their player pianos
  precisely because they get a chance to "bother" with the rolls.

  I like the words on the paper.

  I like the opportunity to change the words on the paper if I want to.

  I like the antique rolls that have fallen apart and need mending.

  I like brand new ones that don't fall apart, but do put dust into
  the mechanism.

  I like cleaning that dust out of the mechanism with the tracker-bar
  pump.

  I like the rolls that won't play right unless I tape over the
  "expression" areas on my tracker bar.

  I like rolls that use the five notes at the top and bottom that my
  player mechanism ignores, because I have to insert those notes into
  each performance "by hand".

  I like the old International rolls that are on paper so bad they
  self-destruct (but I do have to be careful with them).

  I like the brand new rolls that present new arrangements, because
  I get to stare at the holes and try to figure out how the arranger
  did such a good or bad job.

  I like the opportunity to change the holes in the paper if I want to.

  I like pumping the pedals, trying to exact appropriate expression,
  even from rolls that were intended to sound bland.

  I like being constantly amazed at the wood-and-leather machinery of
  a century ago, and how well it performs.

  (I also admit to being fascinated by the equally old Telelectric,
  with its tiny metal rolls and its spitting sparks, but feel no need
  to own one.)

  Bothering with rolls doesn't bother me at all.

Peter Neilson