Publications
Over the past decades many experts and enthusiasts have produced and published very valuable documents. Some of these are still not known enough in the global piano roll community, some got lost, some even got extinguished from the internet or have never been published. This page shall grow step by step with links to piano roll related sources. Sometimes a non-restricted publication of a document isn't possible, in that case please inquire by email. Some of the documents or websites might just be available in e.g. German, please use one of the available translator apps (like google translator, etc.) if necessary.
We are also happy to list publications (books, CD, etc) that are available for purchase, as the amount to be paid to the author or publisher usually just covers part of the cost of research and production. Those listings will have a remark on the cost of purchase.
If you have documents or links to sources that are valuable and not known enough, please send us a message with your proposal. Thank you!
Author: Yasmin Kerber, at HKB, 2015
Title: Perforierte Notenrollenpapiere als Tonsteuerungsträger mechanischer Musikinstrumente
This is a less known work. It is an amazing Master-Thesis on the identification, materiality and conservation of piano rolls. If you are interested, please inquire.
Author: W. Dangel / H. Schmitz, Augustiner Museum, 2004
Title: Verzeichnis der Welte-Mignon Rollen
This is a great database of all ever published Welte-Mignon rolls. You can get to the database here: das Verzeichnis der Welte-Mignon Notenrollen.
Author: Peter Phillips, 2017
Title: Piano Rolls and Contemporary Player Pianos: The Catalogues, Technologies, Archiving and Accessibility
This is a great work on Rolls and Digitization. You can read this excellent thesis here.
Author: RCM, London
Title: Royal College of Music, London institutional repository for research
RCM Research Online is the institutional repository for research produced by the Royal College of Music, London. Research at the RCM embraces the creative, cultural and scientific study of music through a diverse range of projects in performance, composition, musicology, music education and performance science. This is the link to the RCM website.
Author: GSM, Gesellschaft für Selbstspielende Musikinstrumente e.V. , 1975-2012
Title: Journal Das Mechanische Musikinstrument No 1 – 115 (DVD, EUR 15,00)
The German Collectors organization has a great magazine, called ‘DMM’. You can purchase a DVD with all publications back to 1975. read articles and many very interesting pictures, etc.. This is the link to the GSM website-shop.
Author: HKB, Christoph E. Hänggi (publisher), 2011
Title: Wie von Geisterhand – Aus Seewen in die Welt – 100 Jahre Welte-Philharmonie-Orgel
This book contains extremely valuable articles by various authors. This is the link to the pdf document.
Author: Musikinstrumentenmuseum der Universität Leipzig im Grassi
Title: Website of the INSTITUT FÜR MUSIKINSTRUMENTENFORSCHUNG ‘GEORG KINSKY’ E.V.
Many piano roll related projects have delivered valuable results, like the TASTEN (keys) project, the digital database musiXplora, the website on mechanical music manufacturers of Leipzig, etc. etc. Most of it can be found on this Website of the University of Leipzig.
Author: University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey GU2 7XH, United Kingdom
Title: ERA – EARLY RECORDINGS ASSOCIATION
Early Recordings Association (ERA) is an open-access resource dedicated to early recordings. Aimed at general public, enthusiasts, and academics, ERA brings together the past, present, and future of early recordings research. You can access the ERA website here!