As a teenager, I recall being so taken with some rolls that
I decided to transcribe them into musical notation; This was possible,
but very time-consuming.  In particular, I remember creating a piano
duet version of  'Butterflies in the Rain' by Sherman Myers (a Meloto
roll, I think).

I was fascinated by the appearance of the rolls and tried to teach
myself to read them, treating them as an alternative (and far less
convenient) form of musical notation.  I would pedal the rolls in
silent mode and see how accurately I could hand-play them from just
reading the holes.

I loved popular songs and dance music from the 'Twenties and
'Thirties and the published arrangements were never very interesting,
whereas the rolls provided me with excellent arrangements which I could
learn, albeit in a different form of notation.

I became quite good at this after a while and developed my own
'cocktail piano' technique, learning quite a few foxtrots and Frank
Milne dance arrangements which stood me in good stead when later I got
a job as pianist in the perfume hall of Harrods' store in London.
Occasionally people would tell me that my playing sounded 'like a
Pianola'; I didn't let on!

Incidentally, Frank Holland at the British Piano Museum (as it used
to be called) was very evangelical about a particular form of musical
notation called Klavarskribo (which means 'keyboard writing' in
Esperanto) which was read vertically, quite similar to a music roll.
This is fine if you are a keyboard player, pointless if you play just
about any other instrument.

I'm sure I am not the only pianist to have learned music and
arrangements from rolls.

Rowland Lee