About the Composer

This is via a friend of mine (who blogs in the form of an email list). Engineer and music lover Warren Trachtman has developed a way to scan old, deteriorating player piano rolls, and convert them to MIDI files that can be played on any device, or even used to create new paper rolls.

In his words…

There is a tremendous amount of wonderful music from the late 1800’s and early 1900’s that is in danger of being lost as these old paper piano rolls deteriorate with age. I am able to optically scan these piano rolls and convert the scans to MIDI files which can then be used to play the music on modern solonoid pianos, digital pianos, computer soundcards, or any playback system that supports MIDI files.

Mr. Trachtman has converted nearly 2000 rolls so far, among which the ones published before 1923 (and there are many) can be downloaded from his site in MIDI format.

Didn’t Ravel, Debussy, Bartók et al record their own music on piano rolls? I remember hearing that somewhere. If so, I hope those rolls will make their way to preservation in this way. What great use of technology!

For more information, including eye-glazing technical details on how he does it as well as a complete list of songs preserved so far, visit Warren Trachtman’s Roll Scanning Information Page.

How I’ve been neglecting the blog! Haven’t had time or energy recently, but there’s a slew of items in the works.

The upcoming performance of my new fanfare for the Washington International School, it turns out, will not only be a premiere, but a very rare conducting appearance for me. I was asked yesterday if I would do it, and, flattered, I agreed.

If my memory is correct, I haven’t conducted in public since 1998, and before that only rarely. For a long time it was something I really wanted to do, but that interest waned as I gained experience. Turns out, I may have the ear training and other musical skills that are required, but not the others: leadership, time management, sparkling personality, floppy hair.

Maybe it hasn’t sunk in yet, but I’m alarmingly calm about the whole thing. It’s only a two-minute piece for a small brass and percussion ensemble, and someone else is doing the real work of running the rehearsals. Also, it’s my old school, so I’ll be among friends.

The fanfare will be performed during WIS’s 40th Anniversary celebration at the shiny new Roundhouse Theater in Bethesda, Maryland on May 12th and 13th.

Haven’t seen much advance publicity about this, so I thought I’d mention it for any Bay Area folks who are reading this.

Berkeley Opera has paired Berkeley composer Clark Suprynowicz with playwright John O’Keefe for a new commission. Chrysalis opens April 22nd, featuring soprano Marnie Breckenridge, mezzo Buffy Baggott and baritones Igor Viera and John Minagro

Chrysalis is a comedy, and from the plot synopsis, it sounds promising.

Wickedly funny, dreamily evocative, Chrysalis explores a neighborhood not far from our own, where identity is up for grabs and beauty is something purchased over the counter.

(More detail here…)

I’m looking forward to being there on the 22nd.

Julia Morgan Theater
Saturday, April 22nd, 8:00 p.m.
Wednesday, April 26th, 7:30 p.m.
Friday, April 28th, 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, April 30th, 2:00 p.m.

Tickets: (925) 798-1300

Well, I just got sick of the way this site looked, so I’m redesigning it. It was too, well, red, and with all those links all over the place, frankly it was a little ongepatchket.

So, I’m tinkering away, and now it’s at the point where it needs to be live in order to really get it working. I’m on the fence about the colors and the Courier font, which I love in print, but never seems to quite work on screen.

Let me know what you think.

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