Player Piano Roll

自動ピアノロール / 1896–1930s / Style / Notation Systems

The rolled paper medium on which punched holes are the performance itself. The turn from scores read by people to codes read by machines — ancestor of the punch card and the digital sequencer.

Rows of perforations / The scrolling roll / Machine-readable music / Performance physically recorded

Player Piano Roll — 自動ピアノのロール（CC BY-SA 4.0）Player Piano Roll — ヴェルテの再生ピアノ（CC BY-SA 3.0）
自動ピアノのロール（CC BY-SA 4.0） ／ ヴェルテの再生ピアノ（CC BY-SA 3.0）

Dictionary entry

Best used for
Comparing primary sources and canonical works · Extracting principles that transfer to other media
Type
Observe the letters, signs and scale of reference works
Composition
Extract the one structure that governs gaze and information
Material
Verify the materials and behaviors specific to era, region and process
Caution
Don't reduce it to surface signs. Verify the context of era, region, technology and makers.
Further study
the Welte-Mignon / Gershwin's own rolls / the lineage to MIDI

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