Bishop Kevin Vann’s love of the piano began at age 10 when he started taking lessons from his beloved aunt, Sister Mary Margaret Jones, who was a music teacher in his hometown of Springfield, Illinois.
In his teenage years, an affinity for player pianos (or self-playing pianos) blossomed, along with the art of rebuilding them.
Today, the leader of our Diocese of Orange has amassed a collection of nearly 3,000 player piano music rolls, which are essentially long sheets of perforated paper wound onto a spool. His vast collection includes tunes from jazz greats Fats Waller and George Gershwin; contemporary artists like Frank Sinatra and Garth Brooks; and Disney classics including Frozen and Cinderella.
The rolls are all categorized according to genre and are displayed in cases throughout his living room. They were acquired over the last 55 years, at various places like music stores, antique shops and eBay.
At the center, sits his own player piano — a 1922 Cable-Nelson — the one he bought for $50 at a neighbor’s garage sale back in 1967. He was 16 years old.
“I found this piano on sale in a parishioner’s garage in 1967 and bought it, then told my mom and dad and they had to haul it home,” said Bishop Vann….
The player piano—which reached its height of popularity during the late 19th to early 20th century —has traveled with him from his home state of Illinois over to Texas where he served as Bishop of Fort Worth from 2005-2012 and had it rebuilt a second time—and finally to his current home of Orange County. And with it, comes treasured memories of youth and family.
….These days, Bishop Vann says he plays his pianos (he has a second one in another room) a couple times a week. It not only relaxes him but brings back memories of days gone by. Guests always ask him to play as well.
Bishop Vann has been collecting music rolls since 1967. His oldest is the World War One-era Pretty Baby which he recently found at a California antique store. His inventory includes many collector’s items like Somewhere Over the Rainbow which followed the Wizard of Oz’s release in 1939. But the one that holds the most sentimental value to him is People (1967) from the Broadway music and movie starring Barbara Streisand, Funny Girl.
The above comes from a July 30 story in OC Catholic.
INTERSTING!
SPELCHK!
We new wat he ment.
is typng lyk this relly a thng?
Itz howz we spelz in New Yowk, u got a problem wit dat?
Thatz the reson eye fine peepol from otter contrees hoo speek Ingleash ezeer too understan thann peepol from New Yowk.
Nice to know the Bishop has a hobby…and an expensive one at that.
It’s good to have a hobby? I guess…
I have access to millions of songs, and they take up no space in my home at all. Streaming is wonderful! I just tell Alexa what I want or what genre of music or what band or artist to play, and I get it immediately. Player pianos might have been great a century ago, but they are passe now. Like does anyone collect bottlecaps anymore? Do kids today even know that used to be a thing? Or collecting stamps? Or teaspoons? Eventually we’ll have replicators like on Star Trek and then there won’t be a need to collect anything because you’ll be able to tell the replicator computer what you want and it will appear for you immediately. Future people will laugh at how much time we wasted collecting and preserving worthless physical objects. “Tea, Earl Gray, Hot.” And anything else you want. Better than 3-D printing. Can’t wait for that day.
+sigh+
There is much to be said and gained in the retention of physical objects. (holy relics anyone?)
Humans, real humans, get pleasure from those physical objects beauty and functionality. I own an Colt Gold Cup Commander. I appreciate firearms so I can admire both it’s beauty and lethality. I’ve also had the privilege of handling an authentic Roman gladius. Another example of beauty and lethality. I won’t even try to explain the difference between listening to Die Zaubefloute on spotify rather than at the Vienna Opera house.
“Future people will laugh at how much time we wasted collecting and preserving worthless physical objects.”
Candidly, I pity you. To never know those simple yet profound differences is sad. To wish them away is something else again.
Have you ever seen a player piano? They are really amazing, imho. Growing up We had a small toy player piano about 2 feet high. I think the rolls were on newsprint so became very fragile. It only came with about a half a dozen roles and I only remember Roll Out the Barrel. I guess it is useless in a utilitarian way but it sure beats looking at a screen all day.
I had a Fisher Price record player. Kinda the same principle.
While growing up, (during the Depression) we had a player piano my mother purchased from the Goodwill. It didn’t play by itself, you had to used your feet as if on a bicycle, to advance the roll. It was a lot of fun.
I don’t think any player piano plays by itself. They all need a source of energy.
Oh, you mean like sun tea. My mother used to make sun tea.