Robbie said: >[ In my (American) Aeolian Themodist the accomp regulator >[ vacuum is fixed with a spring, and the slide valves are >[ a crude variable bleed to the theme supply. I'd much >[ rather the accomp vacuum were a _regulated percentage_ >[ of the main reservoir vacuum. A slide lever won't do...

•The auction of mechanical music instruments in Chartres (50 miles SW from Paris) last Sunday, Dec. 7th 1997, that I announced in my contribution to the 97.11.30 Digest, was a success. More than 100 pieces were sold, including the automatas. And there were, besides the mechanical music, scores of ph...

•To all: Larry Sitsky, Head of the Composition Department at the Australian National University in Canberra and prolific author of among other publications, a two-volume consideration of the world production of classical reproducing piano rolls, has an important project for which he requests immedia...

•What it looks like, or how the gizmos giz and mo, is of minimal importance to me (but I'm just me, after all). I love orchestrions and band organs and coin pianos because I'm in love with music from that era, or at least as musically interesting. Perhaps it's because I write music as well. A well t...

•In case some of you may not have heard the announcement or read the obit in the New York Times, the doyen of New York (and piano performance) critics, Harold Schonberg, has left us at age 87. I had the rare privilege of correspondence with "himself" at the time of the release of the Telarc recordin...

•Hi All, Got a call from a woman this morning about an "Elepian" player piano. A quick check in the Pierce Piano Atlas yielded nothing, and I couldn't find any mention of the instrument in the MMDigest Archives. Searching the Internet, I found quite a few references to an Elepian electric piano, but...

•I've been slowly collecting more piano roll scans for my ongoing series of piano roll scans visualized in Synthesia. For those who are new to the MMDigest or don't know about this series: (a) Each video is rendered in Full HD video with high quality audio from my Yamaha P-85, and (b) Each and every...

•Serinettes which were supposed to teach caged birds to sing are well known. I was not aware of other mechanical musical instruments used as teaching tools until I made a trip to Seville, Spain. There in a flamenco museum I came across a machine used to teach flamenco dance students the various rhyt...

As a "newbie" to both the WWW and this group, I'd appreciate it if folks could post any interesting phonograph and automated music Web sites to visit. For instance, I've noticed lots of references to the "Bam Bam" page...what's their address? Thanks everyone....I REALLY enjoy this digest! Jim Canava...

•George Gershwin is one of those composers who, like Jelly Roll Morton and Fats Waller, requires a particular performance style in order to be effective. Even the composer wrote in the preface to his 1931 Gershwin Songbook that "the music should be free of sustaining pedal" and that the performance ...

•Well, it seems a shame not to share the Blancafort article with everyone else now so here it is! The text is an adaptation and translation of a pre-existing potted biography of Blancafort and for player-piano interest purposes I left off at the end of the mechanical music era. Do go and track down ...

•-- George Wright Auditions The Welte-Mignon -- Some decades ago now, George Wright, the then-living theater organ virtuoso of legend, took some time to listen to Cyril Scott's Welte-Mignon record-roll No. 1696 of his most famed composition, "Lotus Land," and to critique it. To set the stage -- This...

•I found a batch of vintage player piano rolls (Atlas, Schettino, Opera Selections, Irving Berlin, etc). The rolls are in good condition, some boxes are damaged. 01) Virtuoso dance roll (no. 197) Valse Fantastico. Valzer di N. MENFI 02) Atlas word roll (no.984) DINAH Fox trot song 1926 (H. Waterson...

Forwarded Message: • From: tompkins@cnct.com To: ALL Orig: MBNET Subj: FAQ Piano-related Resourc Area: 0-sic.makers.piano Date: 08/27/95 ============================================================================= •Here's the final final draft of "FAQ: Piano-related Resources on the Internet" for f...

•This is a reminder that the "Maesto" and "6-Violin Phonoliszt" at Siegfried's museum are well done but are modern-day reproductions. There are only six original Weber Maestos (4 in the US, 2 in Europe) and there are no known examples of the double bow (6 violin) Phonoliszt. If you like the replica ...

•Music rolls for sale: - Phonoliszt Violina original roll Ludwig Hupfeld: $60.00 - 5 Weber Maesto original multi-tune rolls: $1000.00 - Wurlitzer APP long roll multi-tune recuts, have 6 @ $80.00 each Oak Reproduco with side cabinet, from a pizza joint: $4000.00 I can provide photos or more info if n...

•-- non-subscriber, please reply to sender and MMD -- Dear sirs, I found your web site in my search for music. In reply to your call to get information about mechanical music, I would like to inform you that I have a recording of a Weber Maesto orchestrion, recorded about 35 years ago. Also I am ver...

•Piet de Kort is looking for Weber Maesto recordings. Last June, while on the Bumbling Bruder organ tour, I purchased two CDs at Siegfried's Mechanisches Musikkabinett in Rüdesheim am Rhein, Germany. CD SMMK 11, Weber's Maesto Konzert Orchester, contains 11 classical selections. CD SMMK 13, Weber's ...

•[ CD SMMK 11, Weber's Maesto Konzert Orchester, contains [ 11 classical selections. CD SMMK 13, Weber's Maesto [ Jazzband Orchester, contains 28 selections of popular music. Hi from Rüdesheim, Germany! The price for the Maesto CDs is 16.00 euros each plus postage. You can order them at email or vis...

•There was a company called Concert Recording with whom I had a subscription in the 1970s. Each month they sent out a list of recordings which always featured a selection of the month. They would send that automatically and you could order anything else in addition. I bought many outstanding and man...