Technology Through Music

Local resident, Jimmy Day of Toads Place, went exploring the Catskill Mountain region recently to discover "Band Organs," a type of musical instrument that is almost like a computer, in that it reads paper which is perforated.  The paper holds the selection of what notes are played at any given moment.  Recenly int he last 20 years, members of the Band Organ community have begun converting their machines over to a computer format called "MIDI."  As it turns out, there is a computer file which can do the same work as the paper.

Conversely, the paper could do the work of the computer!  In these archaic machines, learn about the level of ingenuity that went into the craftsmanship of these devices, in the words of the folks who have dedicated their lives to learning to build, restore, and maintain these machines.

Jimmy Day, identified in blue, is a sikh who maintains a factory in West Haven, while also maintaining the lighting and sound at Toad's Place.  Many music groups enjoy playing at the small venue because the sound is actually very good, and this is largely in part to the efforts of Jim.