Music for player piano, and especialy ethnic piano rolls are the second main topic of my research. First time I discovered strange paper rolls in 2010 at Lithuanian Museum of Cinema, Music and Theatre. Since then my knowledge and understanding of the wonderful world of mechanical music grew up in giant steps. I would like to thank here Bob Berkman, Jerry Biasella, Mike Kukral, Edward Lisauskas and Arthur Reblitz first of all.
My interest in Lithuanian music for player piano started from the only one piano roll and now there are 350 Lithuanian piano rolls discovered on my trips to US in 2006, 2012 and 2018. I had noted many Lithuanian rolls still on the internet market on “eBay”. It let me to form my personal collection of almost 100 rolls. All of them were re-played and re-recorded on CDs with a kind support of superb musician and real “guru” of player piano and piano rolls Bob Berkman (Buffalo, NY). After digitization process was finished “The Complete Catalogue of Lithuanian Piano Rolls” (2014; +7CDs, played by Bob Berkman) was published and my private collection was donated to the Lithuanian National Library (2017).
Open lectures:
Ethnic piano rolls. Lecture at Northwest University, Bienen School of music. Chicago, February 28, 2019
Ethnic piano rolls. Lecture at Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture. Chicago, September 14, 2018
Collection of Lithuanian piano rolls at Lithuanian National Martynas Mažvydas Library. Lecture at Museum of Lithuanian Theatre, Music and Cinema. Vilnius, November 18, 2015
Conference presentations:
Ethnic piano rolls. Round table. World congress of IMS (International Musicological Society). Athens (Greece), August 22-26, 2022
Ethnic piano rolls. A general overview. 2nd Global Piano Roll Meeting (Prelude 3). Organizers: Stanford University, Hochschule der Künste Bern. Online, June 19, 2021
Ethnic piano rolls. Conference of IASA (International association of sound archives). Hilversum (Holland), September 30 – October 3, 2019
An idea of Lithuanian independence and the early Lithuanian music recordings in Unites States. International conference of AABS (Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies). Stanford University, June 1-3, 2018
Collection of Lithuanian piano rolls at National Martynas Mažvydas library. Congress of IAML (International Association of Music Libraries). Riga, National Latvian Library, June 18-22, 2017
Jonas Žemaitis ir lietuviška muzika pianolai [Jonas Žemaitis and Lithuanian music for pianola]. National conference on musical heritage. Kaunas, Kaunas city museum, March 31, 2017
Forgotten history. Research of piano rolls. World congress of IMS (International Musicological Society). Tokyo, March 20-23, 2017
Sharing punched sounds. The case of Collection of Lithuanian Piano Rolls at the National Martynas Mažvydas Library. Annual conference of BAAC (Baltic Audiovisual Archival Council). Vilnius, November 2-3, 2016
Lithuanian music for piano rolls: aspirations of cultural independence and necessity of international collaboration. AABS (Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies) konferencija „Global, Glocal & Local: Distinction and Interconnection“. Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania, May 26-28, 2016
Lithuanian music for pianola. International Symposium „Reactions to the Records“. Stanford university, April 17-18, 2015
Lietuviškos muzikos istorija perforuoto popieriaus ritinėliuose [Lithuanian music history represented in piano rolls]. International conference „Art in history, history in art“. Vilnius, Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, April 10-11, 2014
Lithuanian music for pianola. Lecture at Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture. Chicago, May 24, 2012
Publications:
D. Kučinskas, M. Kukral, K. Skalska, B. Berkman. Ethnic Piano Rolls in the United States (ed. D. Kučinskas). Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2021. 199 p. ISBN: 1-5275-6780-X
Kučinskas, Darius. Ethnic Piano Rolls in the United States: Between Folk, Foreign and National Music. In Fontes Artis Musicae, 2022, Vol. 69/2, p. 101-115
Kučinskas, Darius. Lithuanian Piano Rolls: Collections and Research. In Fontes Artis Musicae, 2018, Vol. 65/1, p. 1-12
Kučinskas, Darius. Lietuviška muzika perforuoto popieriaus ritinėliuose [Lithuanian music on the perforated paper rolls]. In Ars & Praxis. 2014, No. 2, p. 98-108
Kučinskas, Darius. Lithuanian music for pianola. Complete Catalogue [Catalogue and 7CDs]. Kaunas: D. Kučinskas, 2014. ISBN 978-9955-03-907-5
Kučinskas, Darius. Pianolos lietuviškos muzikos įrašai ir jų sklaida JAV [Pianola recors of Lithuanian music and their spread in the United States of America]. In Kūrybos erdvės. 2013, Vol. 19, p. 8-22
Kučinskas, Darius & Astrauskas, Rimantas. Lietuviška muzika pianolai. Antologija [Lithuanian music for pianola. Anthology]. Kaunas: Technologija, 2013. ISBN 978-609-02-0830-4
Kučinskas, Darius. Lietuviška muzika pianolai: Katalogas ir kompaktinė plokštelė [Lithuanian Music for Pianola: Catalogue and CD]. Kaunas: Technologija, 2010. ISBN 978-9955-25-903-9
Kučinskas, Darius. Lietuviška muzika pianolai. Šaltiniai ir katalogas [Lithuanian music for pianola. Sources and catalogue]. In Lietuvos muzikologija. 2010, Vol. 11, p. 139-151