Announcing the Player Piano Project at Stanford

The following reached us via IAML-L and is posted here with kind permission from Jonathan Manton, Archive of Recorded Sound, Stanford University:

The Stanford Music Department and Archive of Recorded Sound (part of Stanford University Libraries) are pleased to announce the launch of the Player Piano Project at Stanford University. The Player Piano Project will promote study and research into all aspects relating to the player piano and organ, especially as they relate to historically informed performance practice of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The Project seeks to bring together researchers, musicians, and others interested in contributing to knowledge of the player piano and organ.

The Project will develop an extensive collection of piano and organ rolls with a corresponding set of instruments capable of playing each of the major types of rolls. The rolls will be cataloged, preserved, and digitized.  

A news article about this initiative, along with a video featuring interviews with both faculty and librarians involved in the project, and demonstrations of certain instruments, has been published by Stanford News - http://news.stanford.edu/news/2014/october/player-piano-collection-101314.html.  

More detailed information about the project can be found at the project website - http://playerpianoproject.stanford.edu.