Very nicely done, great to see. Kudos to all here, and to Jim Weisenborne who saved all of this from the Moller works (which is why it ended up in Michigan - see Amica Bulletin, Aug 1992). It's good also that there is growing interest in roll repertoire, organ piano or whatever - not just the well-known Stanford piano roll project but also national libraries in Europe and a growing number of academic institutions. And software that nowadays allows us to 'reconstruct the master roll' from production rolls and hence replicate them accurately.
My late grandfather finished his career with Moller's as a Vice President. His name was Harold D. Ocker and started working as an installer upon his high school graduation in 1924. He was working part-time until his death in 1991. He was a relative of Peter Mathias Moller and fortunately passed away before the demise of the company.
I'm from Hagerstown and I've heard your grandfather's name mentioned. There are still some former employees living in the Hagerstown area. Two of them meet for lunch frequently. My father worked there during the early 50s. My great grandfather Robert L. Witmer worked for the automotive branch of the company as a salesman during the 20s. I can understand what you mean when you mention his passing before they folded. I play, played thanks to the virus, a 1943 Moller locally.
It's wonderful to see the dedication of the university of all parts of the fabulous Moller organ. Thank you for preserving and maintaining such an important part of musical history.
I live in Hagerstown Maryland, home of the Möller Organs. I e played Möller Organs for many years. I wasn't aware of this technology. The old factory is being repurposed into condos.
Most interesting subject. There was also a system developed for piano by Ampico. Rachmaninov had made a number of recordings, based on this techique. (CD: Rachmaninov, The Ampico Recordings.) The disadvantage, which also applies to the Möller system, is the absense of a way of influencing the "expression", say volume. Correct me ,if I'm wrong. One remark about the pronunciation of the letter ö. It is commonly used in German. It must sound like the letter U in the word fundamental. Most kindly from a viewer in Belgium.
I vaguely remember the number of Moller players sold to be 149. Many player units in the Depression sold with small mortuary organs, so a fair number of later rolls were quiet background music. The roll masters didn't have registrations punched, every roll required the stop changes to be put in by a technician. The technician would pull the spec sheet of the organ he was coding for. Then he would pull the folder for the roll, which contained an instruction sheet for every stop change. He might need to synthesize stops that the organ didn't have, but the four-rank mortuary organs didn't allow many choices. Some of the overtures had a hundred or more stop changes. Moller should have standardized the registration coding on the rolls, and rewired each player to the capability of the organ. Hand coding each roll made them extremely expensive. How did the masters find their way from the Moller factory in Maryland to a barn in northern Michigan? Do the stop change sheets still exist?
Thanks for this interesting upload. John Schwandt's comment, “The music will be performed as though the long-dead artist was actually sitting at the instrument," reminds me of the identical claim made for reproducing piano rolls at the time of their production and use. In the case of these rolls, this was found not to be so, partly because of the limitations of the reproducing pianos used, but also because the 'recordings' made by the famous pianists of the day were 'corrected' by 'editors,' who removed wrong notes and smoothed out other imperfections. Presumably the same (quite understandable) practice will apply to the organ rolls. Having said this, it is remarkable that no academic institution seems to have grasped the importance of piano rolls, especially those which remain in which the 'corrections' can be seen to have been made. They give a unique insight into the playing practices of the day and of those particular performers. (See Harry W. Stephenson's book, "In Search of Hoffman" or "Fair Play for the Reproducer.") This may be because piano rolls are not academically 'cool.' Perhaps the same considerations, both positive and negative, might apply to the organ rolls? The AOI is to be commended for its attempt to bring together the artistic and practical sides of both the organ player and the organ-builder.
It is my hope that this great musical heritage will be preserved for all time, and the optical reading device for the Perforator is a tremendous success. It is also an equal hope of mine to obtain, if possible in time, a library of Moller rolls reproduced by AOI for my Moller as well.
I'd happily pay for high-res recordings, living as I do in a part of the world where I'm never likely to hear these things live. Perhaps that could be an ongoing source of revenue? Thank you very much for sharing.
Will the "data" stored on the rolls in the form of punched holes+and registration info., be provided to the public, in the form of MIDI files? So we can play them on our pipe organs (or computer simulations of) at home, and on the larger municipal/church pipe organs that have the capability to play midi files?
Very nicely done, great to see. Kudos to all here, and to Jim Weisenborne who saved all of this from the Moller works (which is why it ended up in Michigan - see Amica Bulletin, Aug 1992). It's good also that there is growing interest in roll repertoire, organ piano or whatever - not just the well-known Stanford piano roll project but also national libraries in Europe and a growing number of academic institutions. And software that nowadays allows us to 'reconstruct the master roll' from production rolls and hence replicate them accurately.
My late grandfather finished his career with Moller's as a Vice President. His name was Harold D. Ocker and started working as an installer upon his high school graduation in 1924. He was working part-time until his death in 1991. He was a relative of Peter Mathias Moller and fortunately passed away before the demise of the company.
I'm from Hagerstown and I've heard your grandfather's name mentioned. There are still some former employees living in the Hagerstown area. Two of them meet for lunch frequently. My father worked there during the early 50s. My great grandfather Robert L. Witmer worked for the automotive branch of the company as a salesman during the 20s. I can understand what you mean when you mention his passing before they folded. I play, played thanks to the virus, a 1943 Moller locally.
It's wonderful to see the dedication of the university of all parts of the fabulous Moller organ. Thank you for preserving and maintaining such an important part of musical history.
Very interesting and informative video. Great to see the preservation of such a rare machine. Well done to all involved!
I live in Hagerstown Maryland, home of the Möller Organs. I e played Möller Organs for many years. I wasn't aware of this technology. The old factory is being repurposed into condos.
Most interesting subject. There was also a system developed for piano by Ampico. Rachmaninov had made a number of recordings, based on this techique. (CD: Rachmaninov, The Ampico Recordings.) The disadvantage, which also applies to the Möller system, is the absense of a way of influencing the "expression", say volume. Correct me ,if I'm wrong.
One remark about the pronunciation of the letter ö. It is commonly used in German. It must sound like
the letter U in the word fundamental.
Most kindly from a viewer in Belgium.
Fantastic!!!
And all this has come to an end and Kegg has rescued the roll perforator from a closed program. Farewell AOI.
Terrible
Loved watching this.
I vaguely remember the number of Moller players sold to be 149. Many player units in the Depression sold with small mortuary organs, so a fair number of later rolls were quiet background music. The roll masters didn't have registrations punched, every roll required the stop changes to be put in by a technician. The technician would pull the spec sheet of the organ he was coding for. Then he would pull the folder for the roll, which contained an instruction sheet for every stop change. He might need to synthesize stops that the organ didn't have, but the four-rank mortuary organs didn't allow many choices. Some of the overtures had a hundred or more stop changes. Moller should have standardized the registration coding on the rolls, and rewired each player to the capability of the organ. Hand coding each roll made them extremely expensive.
How did the masters find their way from the Moller factory in Maryland to a barn in northern Michigan? Do the stop change sheets still exist?
I have all the stop registration files in my possession.
Thanks for this interesting upload.
John Schwandt's comment, “The music will be performed as though the long-dead artist was actually sitting at the instrument," reminds me of the identical claim made for reproducing piano rolls at the time of their production and use. In the case of these rolls, this was found not to be so, partly because of the limitations of the reproducing pianos used, but also because the 'recordings' made by the famous pianists of the day were 'corrected' by 'editors,' who removed wrong notes and smoothed out other imperfections. Presumably the same (quite understandable) practice will apply to the organ rolls.
Having said this, it is remarkable that no academic institution seems to have grasped the importance of piano rolls, especially those which remain in which the 'corrections' can be seen to have been made. They give a unique insight into the playing practices of the day and of those particular performers. (See Harry W. Stephenson's book, "In Search of Hoffman" or "Fair Play for the Reproducer.") This may be because piano rolls are not academically 'cool.'
Perhaps the same considerations, both positive and negative, might apply to the organ rolls?
The AOI is to be commended for its attempt to bring together the artistic and practical sides of both the organ player and the organ-builder.
It is my hope that this great musical heritage will be preserved for all time, and the optical reading device for the Perforator is a tremendous success. It is also an equal hope of mine to obtain, if possible in time, a library of Moller rolls reproduced by AOI for my Moller as well.
I'd happily pay for high-res recordings, living as I do in a part of the world where I'm never likely to hear these things live. Perhaps that could be an ongoing source of revenue? Thank you very much for sharing.
Love this
Extremely interesting
Will the "data" stored on the rolls in the form of punched holes+and registration info., be provided to the public, in the form of MIDI files?
So we can play them on our pipe organs (or computer simulations of) at home, and on the larger municipal/church pipe organs that have the capability to play midi files?
Open the cabinet doors so we can see interior while operating.
Is it possible to purchase rolls? A few are fortunate to have moller roll player organs. Is it possible to purchase rolls?