Alive and Well Rag (Goodman) intepreted on an American Fotoplayer by Andrew Barrett

[ruymijazzer]

hey , your composition is interesting too , jejeje , i see , you like ragtime , amazing

[ruymijazzer]

hey , your composition is interesting too , jejeje , i see , you like ragtime , amazing ;)

[KawhackitaRag]

@ruymijazzer Thank you very much, but I did not compose this tune. This was composed by Mr. Stephen Kent Goodman, originally for concert band, I believe. He also arranged the roll. I think that the original band score is still available, as is this roll. Please see the link in my descriptive text above for more information :)

What I am doing is making up and adding the percussion parts (all hand-played), and turning on and off the different sets of pipes, mandolin effect, and xylophone.

[foxtrotgin]

This is Amazing!

[ARoyalLyon]

Great playing. I can only imagine the countless tedious hours spent restoring and modifying and maintaining this beautiful piece.

[TorontoEd7]

This is amazing to see and listen to. Thanks for posting!

[KawhackitaRag]

@TorontoEd7 You're welcome, glad you enjoy it!

[lithium68681]

I'm so glad to see there are people who still believe the old technology has never been surpassed by new. Imagine that… playing the music scores onto the paper. I always thought they were printed out using mathematics to approximate the sequences.

[KawhackitaRag]

@lithium68681 Thanks, however I should point out that this particular roll (and many old and new rolls) are and were indeed "arranged", that is, laid out by a musician away from the piano or organ or whatever instrument. They were worked out semi-mathematically (that is, the musician finalized their own musical ideas of what the arrangement should sound like, and then translated then mathematically into the finished roll master, excepting corrections of course).

[KawhackitaRag]

@lithium68681 Mr. Goodman's arrangement here was created on his computer, but as he advertises, no piano-type keyboard was used at all... just a computer mouse (hence the logo of his music roll company), and the regular computer keyboard.

Of course, music rolls can and have been made using a piano-type keyboard, as well (with or without a computer!).

[pax41]

That has to be a workout! I really enjoy listening to these old instruments.

[Yaledmot]

Great! My late friend, organ serviceman Dick Villemin said the Crystal Theatre in Porterville, CA had a Wurlitzer style YO. He said the rolls were great fun with a good operator at the machine. Not sure where it is now, but 20 years ago the stripped "console" of the YO was still in Porterville. Sadly it had been turned into a church piano.

[Pianosyncrazy]

Your a natural on the Photplayer Andrew, nice performance.

[petermackett37]

I operated the percussion on the Photoplayer in Utrecht last year and got a round of applause! Love these instruments!

[Yaledmot]

Very nice Andrew, Stephen, and Joe. We need more recordings/videos of these amazing instruments!

tld

[KawhackitaRag]

@Yaledmot I agree! Can't wait until I have enough money/room to have one of my own!!!

[Yaledmot]

@KawhackitaRag Just had my Wurlitzer version's piano tuned last week. Even though the pipes and percussions are not installed, I keep that big piano tuned and up to pitch. When it was all connected, Dick Zimmerman played it a number of years ago and could not believe the power of the machine.

[Yaledmot]

@KawhackitaRag And speaking of Dick Zimmerman, he told me that he once owned a style 25 American Fotoplayer unit. Dave Bourne told me he played a similar photoplayer for shows at the Music Box Theatre in Hollywood until it was badly damaged by water.

[KawhackitaRag]

@Yaledmot what happened to that one? Did they throw it away or is it in a warehouse somewhere?

I should not be asking this given my current storage situation (read: lack of room), but if it is the latter, would it be able to be had cheap???

[Yaledmot]

@KawhackitaRag I'll ask Dave. I think it was so badly damaged it was junked. Don't know about the unit Dick Zimmerman owned.