While surfing the 'Net I found this incredible resource of midi files which have been created from scanned images of piano rolls.

PLAYER PIANO REBIRTH

Website owner Terry Smythe says: "The principal purpose of this web site is to provide a repository of midi conversions emerging from the scanning processes of original player piano rolls produced in the golden era of player piano music."

What a treasure trove!

There are 3,276 titles to date available for download in 19 zip files. There is also a full list available on a spreadsheet for download.

If you haven't heard a pianola then this is a new treat for you, but if you have then it is, I think, an even bigger treat because it will bring back fond memories and open up so many new tunes. Being able to hear different arrangements of the same tune is wonderful too.

So, to hear the Victor Arden version of Bye Bye Blackbird you can download Batch 14, and listen to midi no 3502 S. I'm addicted to his arrangement of this song. I have to play it twice every time I load the roll onto the pianola. I'm going to wear it out, I know.

And Kitten on the Keys is in Batch 7, midi no S 353.

There is a lifetime of music there. So much music, so little time.

I discovered a US site the other day which sells ragtime piano rolls. I think I know what I'll be spending my money on over the next few years.

Helen