Theodore Roosevelt is re-elected in 1904, breaking the Vice Presidents’ curse. William Howard Taft emerges as Roosevelt’s most trusted advisor and spokesperson, and Roosevelt begins to speak of Taft as his preferred successor. 1906 proves to be Roosevelt’s best year yet, as he gets much of his legislative agenda through Congress.
Playlist:
Fanfare
Opening Theme
“The Cascades”
Composed in 1904 by Scott Joplin. Public domain.
Public domain recording. Source. Thanks to Ragnar Hellspong.
Closing Theme
Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.
One thing about the use of a piano roll which was not mentioned is that the piano roll accurately and faithfully records the velocity of the hammer of the piano’s mechanism. It is known that once the hammer has been propelled, it swings freely until it strikes the wire. Thus, the piano roll can give a rendering of a performance that is indistinguishable from that of the player himself. And so the musical selection, having been derived from a piano roll data set, is as good as those Scott Joplin himself had been at the keyboard in the 21st century.