By Clyde Noel

Los Altos History Museum’s July 15 “Music and Memories: The Way We Were” program offered a glimpse into the ways people used to listen to music.

The program recalled old-time recordings as Norm Rehbein and Jim Nichols were on hand to display Edison Ambersol Records.

Nichols explained that 100 years ago, the phonograph was a novelty, similar to stereo in the 1950s.

Cylinders and players were expensive by modern standards. Despite being advertised as “indestructible,” the cylinders were actually very fragile.

Nichols said the early recordings were typically less than two minutes in length. By the early part of the 20th century, grooves were narrowed and four-minute cylinders made their appearance.

The earliest cylinders (1890-1899), where multiple horns channeled the audio signal to a diaphragm which recorded the sound by pushing the needle into soft wax, were literally one-of-a-kind.

It was an entirely mechanical process without amplifiers, microphones or speakers. The waves on the cylinder were described as “footprints” of voices and music from 100 years ago.

Molds made from the master were used in turn to make the wax cylinders.

“These home-recorded brown wax cylinders are especially rare. They are extremely soft, and can be damaged with a stroke of the fingernail,” Nichols said. “To play such a delicate surface, a custom glass-bead stylus is made using pieces of broken glass fused together over a hot flame, then drawn apart. The resulting glass ‘wire’ is cut, and a small ball formed on the end. This is glued to the phono stylus shank.”

There are a dozen brown wax cylinders in the collection at the Los Altos History Museum. Many are unplayable due to cracks, chips or scratches; in addition, mold thrives on the wax and can destroy the recording. Fortunately, several of the cylinders were able to be transcribed onto a CD, using extensive signal processing to make the audio intelligible.

The music and the cylinders are on display in the Los Altos History House, on the Los Altos History Museum grounds. Among the songs preserved are: “Monastery Bells,” “Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean,” “Would You Care” and some John Phillip Sousa marches.