Wikipedia:Featured sound candidates/Pleasant Moments - Rag played by Scott Joplin

File:Pleasant Moments Piano Roll.ogg

Pleasant Moments (Rag) - Piano Roll played by Scott Joplin, 1916

A piano roll recording by Scott Joplin of a Rag "Pleasant Moments" from 1916. This rag and the roll it comes from was thought lost, until discovered by a collector in New Zealand, in 2006. This piano roll recording is one of the few that Joplin made in his lifetime, although the session this comes from was subject to heavy editing in the production process, so is not a true reflection of Joplin's abilities at the piano during the last stages of his life when he was suffering from Syphilis. The recording was made from a player piano and posted online by the NZ collector, and converted by me to OGG format. More information from a 1994 biography of the composer by Edward A Berlin.

Add your reasons for nominating it here; say what article(s) it appears in, and who created the recording.

A rare recording of Scott Joplin's piano playing. There are limitations in the "truthfulness" of the recording, but for all that and given the piano roll was thought lost and the recording we have is of high quality I think it should be recognised.

Nominate and support. Major Bloodnok (talk) 16:38, 17 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Support strongly! A very rare recording of an influential artist performing his own work, presented in good quality. This pushes the bar higher for our featured sounds. Them From Space 08:43, 18 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Comment Do we feel that this recording correctly qualifies as public domain? Scott Joplin recorded onto a piano roll in 1916. Worn Axles used that piano roll recently to create this recording by running it through a player piano. Does that constitute a new artistic work? I will support if there is consensus that this recording is in the public domain. Also, this file may work well in the player piano article. Jujutacular ^T · C 01:13, 19 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

A very good point, and one which did concern me initially; I was concerned that the performance of the roll was augmented by the operator of the player piano - on refection I did consider that the artistic input was highly limited, and was more akin to transfering a picture from one format into another, tweaking it in the process and tidying up flaws in it (therefore not adding to the image). There was a conversation about this on the Scott Joplin talk page about this - the collector himself gave the opinion that the recording was in the public domain for the reasons explained above.Major Bloodnok (talk) 08:49, 19 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I would tend to agree with you. It could probably also be likened to restoring a historical image. I'll wait for a third opinion. Jujutacular ^T · C 23:49, 20 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Support, as long as consensus dictates that this is public domain. Jujutacular ^T · C 21:27, 19 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Comment I am surprised to see editors expressing opinions and even voting on an issue that is a simple factual question that undoubtedly can be resolved by research. I am reminded of that U.S. state legislature that voted many years ago on a reasonable value for Pi. David Spector 00:54, 9 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Trust me, I've looked. The case is a relatively obscure one so it is undoubtedly difficult to find precedent for such an issue. I'd welcome any research you've turned up. Jujutacular ^T · C 19:43, 10 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Support—Good recording. There is utterly no problem in transferring the piano roll data to mp3: they're both "digital". Historical significance. And it's good to listen to. Please fix the spacing of the duration and bandwidth on the doc page. Tony (talk) 17:18, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Promoted File:Pleasant Moments Piano Roll.ogg Bencherlite ^Talk 09:14, 28 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]