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THE
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
THE MEANING OF MECHANICAL REFINEMENT.
With the Increasing Interest and Knowledge of the Player-Piano on the Part of the Music-
Loving Public the Problems Involved in the Control of the Expressive Capacities of the
Instrument Continue to Receive a Greater Measure of Attention and Study.
As time goes on and the player-piano becomes
more ancT more an object of at least respectful
curiosity on the part of the piano-loving world, the
problems involved in the control of its expressive
capacities receive continually greater measure of
attention and study. For some years the opinion
held ground that the expressive capacity of the
player-piano was a very small thing indeed—doubt-
less valuable when embodied in "talking points"
used by this or that specific manufacturer, but small
potatoes as regarded the commercial interests of
the trade outside of the few specialists.
Happily, so wrong a feeling has largely passed
away. Even those who hitherto have refused to
look at the player proposition except as a pure
matter of "something else to sell," and who have
taken the position that the public only wants "some-
thing to make a noise," have veered round to a dif-
ferent position and are beginning to face squarely
some of the serious and inevitable problems which
for so long have been clamoring for solution.
Among these problems none hardly is of greater
importance than that which is associated with the
control of the expression. In the present article
an attempt is made to discuss the principles under-
lying this control, to clear up some disputed points
as to the things required to be achieved and those
that have been achieved, and finally to suggest a
general system which shall, at least provisionally,
meet what are shown herein to be the actual needs
of the case.
The general case which we have first to consider
is that of the reasons for the existence of any sort
of expression control. When we analyze any musi-
cal composition, as far as concerns the playing of
it, we observe that the four elements of speed,
phrasing, dynamic intensity and color form the
basis of expression and are, in fact, the whole of
expression as generally understood. We need not
consider any other elements when dealing with the
player-piano.
ARTIST-MADE
TEMPORIZED Music Rolls
WHAT THEY ARC
AND
WHAT THEY DO
These rolls are standard so far as concerns
their structural features and are adapted for
use on all standard 88-note player-pianos with-
out special mechanical contrivances of any
kind.
To say that they humanize the rendition of
a mechanical instrument is no exaggeration
because they are actual records of the per-
formances of great pianists and portray with
wonderful fidelity the distinctive characteristics
of each artist.
The use of these rolls entirely obviates the
labor and eye-strain attendant upon following
a tempo-line with a pointer.
No one person is acquainted with the correct
tempo of all compositions—then how can a
novice or a person having only a limited
knowledge of music hope to render in proper
tempo all of the twenty thousand music rolls
now catalogued? Whereas,, if the tempo is
cut in the roFl any one can give an artistic ren-
dition of any musical composition.
No better method exists than these Artist-
Made TEMPORIZED rolls for studying the
style, etc., of great pianists.
LIBERAL Discount to the Trade
STANDARD MUSIC ROLL CO.
Factory and Main Office
19-35 CENTRAL AVENUE, ORANGE, N. J.
Western Branch:
Southwestern Branch:
108-110 So. Wabash Ave.,
1008 Walker Ave.,
CHICAGO, ILL.
HOUSTON, TEX.
FOREIGN Branches:
Harrod Stores, Bromp-
85 Boulevard Hauss-
ion Road,
mann,
LONDON, ENGLAND.
PARIS. FRANCE.
Now, if playing is to be at all good, if anything
like decent results are to be had from it, the full
control of expressive capacity must be either di-
rectly or indirectly under the control of human
will. This can be accomplished in two ways. The
various elements may be subjected to an entirely
fixed control, prearranged in the construction of
the instrument and directed by a specially made
music roll or by other means, or else may be en-
tirely and directly under the control of the person
who performs music 'by aid of the player-piano.
For the present, at least, it will be unnecessary
for us to consider the former of these. We shall
therefore concentrate our attention upon the latter.
There is one excellent reason for so deciding, and
that is that the vast majority of player-pianos are
constructed upon the plan of leaving the expressive
control in the hands of the human perfonmer.
Tempo Control.
The first and most important element is that of
speed or tempo. Combined with this, and a part of
it, is what is known as ''phrasing." Let us con-
sider this with some care. Everybody knows, or
ought to know by this time, that all the artistic
effects of musical interpretation rest as much upon
phrasing as upon anything else. Now, phrasing is
the grouping together of the "phrases" or signifi-
cant sections of a piece in such a way as to give to
each its proper relative value in the scheme of the
whole composition. All of this is accomplished
through the tempo lever, whereby changes in speed,
pauses, divisions of phrases and so on are brought
about. Hence it is indispensable that some sort
of tempo-changing device be employed which will
do these things readily and accurately.
Mechanically speaking, the question is whether
to the ordinary tempo valve and slide should be
added some even more delicate device, enabling
even quicker changes in motor speed. For the use
of those who are thoroughly familiar with the use
of a player mechanism, one may well say that no
additional devices are necessary. Unfortunately,
however, most of us seem to be obsessed with the
idea that the tempo lever is something that is to
be set at one place and left there rigidly, unless
the music roll contains an explicit direction other-
wise. Hence the provision of a more delicate ad-
ditional tempo-changing device has about it some
elements of value which must not be ignored.
Such a device may, and generally does, operate
on the motor governor which is in connection with
the motor-gate box containing the tempo valve and
slide. It terminates in a lever operated by the
hand of the performer and is arranged so that a
very slight pressure one way or the other will
produce a full stop, a marked retardation, or an
equally marked acceleration of the motor speed, and
hence of the tempo. Although, as was remarked
above, the experienced player-pianist can doubt-
less get along without such additional aids, the
novice will find them very welcome.
Dynamic Control.
It is not too much to say that the great battles
of player controversy as concerns design have
raged principally around the principles of dynamic
control, or, to put the matter more simply, on the
question of how the various gradations of softness
and loudness in playing may best be produced.
This Player Section has devoted space more than
once to a technical discussion of these matters, and
what will be said here is intended merely to 'be a
brief summing up of the facts on either side, not
in our own words but in those of a very well-
known, practical player man.
"The natural and instinctive thing for a person
to think of when attempting to secure a great
burst of sound or a sharp accent in piano playing,"
said this gentleman, "is to push down hard on
something—on the keys when playing manually or
on the pedals when playing pneumatically. Hence
it is not to be doubted that, other things being
equal, the pneumatic action which is equipped to
give accents and dynamic force of playing, prin-
13
cipally through the pedals, is fundamentally more
easily appreciated than any other. This is not a
snap judgment. It is reached only after long ex-
perience with every pneumatic action now on the
market. It is plain that the more levers and but-
tons one has to manipulate the less natural will the
operation of playing 1 become, simply because the
levers and buttons do not suggest of themselves
their proper functions. Especially is this true
when, instead of pushing down on a button to ob-
tain an accent, one has to release a button instead.
The operation thus involved is the very reverse of
the natural thing which one would expect to do,
and hence has to be thought of separately and dis-
tinctly every time it is required to be performed.
Hence, again, good playing is made more tedious
and difficult to acquire."
As for the various aids to dynamic control which
usually are to be found in connection with the main
system, whether this latter be dependent entirely on
pedals or not, the simple division of the hammer-
rail into two or three sections would seem to be
satisfactory for general purposes, although the
same result may as easily be obtained through a
division, not of the hammer-rail, but of the pneu-
matic action itself. In either case the end aimed
at is the same—to subdue a portion of the compo-
sition while the remainder is allowed to sound with
full force. But it seems not an exaggeration to say
that the combination of very sensitive bellows-set,
giving full pedal control over accentuation and
dynamic force, with simple hammer-rail lifting
pneumatics controlled by finger buttons, provides
a satisfactory method.
As for the various forms and systems of auto-
matic prearranged accentuation, there is everything.
to be said for them from the point of view of the
performer who distrusts his instinct or ability.
Here at least is provided a sure and reliable guide
to the proper accentuation of music and to its rea-
sonably good rendition. But it is not to be over-
looked that this very convenience is offset for the
experienced player-pianist by the concomitant loss
of control which he suffers. Such player-actions as
are so provided have the advantage of allowing the
automatic accentuation to be either used or aban-
doned at will, while such as are not so provided
suffer very little, since in the end everything rea-
sonable that the player-pianist may demand can be
done through the use of sensitive bellows with
simple hammer-rail selective devices, yet it must
not be forgotten that probably ninety-nine in every
hundred player-pianists cannot be called "experi-
enced" within the meaning of the above paragraph.
Thus the strength of the pre-arranged expressive
devices is obvious.
.
Color.
The past year has seen the gradual adoption and
popularization of automatic sustaining pedal con-
trol. To the musical ear, long suffering under the
torture of mishandled sustaining pedal effects, the
automatic device comes as a great relief. It is
true that no music roll can be arranged to control
the automatic sustaining pedal with sufficient deli-
cacy to give those who are experienced in playing
any satisfaction. Such player-pianists will naturally
desire to use their own discretion in the manage-
ment of the damper-lifting device. To those who
otherwise would make music hideous, however, the
use of the automatic sustaining pedal is strongly to
be commended.
THE MASTER PLAYER HAS GOOD CALL.
Julius Winter, head of Winter & Co., makers of
the Winter & Co. pianos and the Master player-
piano, at 220 Southern Boulevard, New York,
stated this week that the summer business done
by the company had gone beyond all expectations.
"We have had a mighty good season for this time
of the year," he said. "Although April and May
were a little disappointing, June and July have been
more than we expected, so that we have gained
materially in the volume of business when com-
paring 19i2 and 1911. There is a good demand for
player-pianos, the popularity of the Master player
being constantly on the increase. Taken on the
whole, we have nothing to complain of for this
time of year."