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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
G
RAND players are in the air. This is not an Irish bull. It
is not modelled on the sayings of the immortal Sir Boyle
Roche. For in truth the air is full of talk about grand players,
while every now and then one seems to materialize from the clouds
and assume definite shape. The thing is not at all remarkable.
It had to come. This newspaper has been predicting its coming
for some time past; and now we have it full upon us. The ques-
tion for us to consider just now is—what are we going to do about
it? During the present season there will be on the market at least
half a dozen well-defined and individually distinct types of grand
players, all actively competing for favor. Obviously we shall be
witnessing the beginning of a brand new development. Obviously
it is our duty to know what we are doing.
W
HATEVER anyone may think about it, there is no doubt
that we have here something new and important to think
about. The grand player is not the upright player at all. In the
first place it is going to be, for some time to come, a relatively
costly proposition. Therefore, it is going to appeal to a better
class of trade. Therefore, it may be sold for cash. Suppose
every dealer who knows his business will make up his mind to push
the grand player this winter as hard as he can, on the basis of cash,
going after only the very best people and working for their trade
pnly. That will be one way to put the dealer's business on a better
basis.
UT this is not the only thing to be thought of. Say what we
may, the fact remains that the very best possible salesman-
ship method in the player game is based on public demonstration,
Now, when there are grand players on the floor to sell, there is no
valid argument against using them for recital work. For the kind
of people who can afford to buy a grand player, the best way of
selling is to demonstrate rightly. The way to demonstrate a grand
player is the way which we use in the demonstration of any other
{•ort of grand, namely, by having it publicly played. Now, if the
public demonstration of player-grands be done in the right sort of
way, the result is going to be just as good as it would be with the
straight grands. That is to say, just as people are prejudiced in
favor of the straight grand by hearing a great artist play it, so
they may be prejudiced in favor of a player-grand by hearing it
demonstrated by a competent musician. This, however, means that
the competent demonstrator must be able to impress his audiences
with two ideas: first, that the player-grand is markedly artistic,
and, second, that anybody can easily avail himself of its capacities.
In this second element of the demonstration lies the whole differ-
ence between useful and useless demonstration; between success
and failure.
B
I
T can be done. Let us have no doubt as to that. The only
question is as to doing it. Recitals we must have, but they
must not be imitation piano recitals. The killing weakness of the
player recital up to date has been just here. People have been in-
teiested, thrilled, excited in every way by artistic player recitals of
the usual sort—but they have not bought player-pianos. And the
reason has been that they were surrounded with the atmosphere
cf the piano recital, and were totally unable to get their minds de-
tached from the trains of thought thereby brought into being. We
must have informal recitals. Good playing is essential, but with
it must be mingled explanation and even instruction. Abolish the
platform and with it the sense of distance and awe. Bring the
proposition down to the level of the average person. Then you
will have achieved your purpose.
M
OST people in this world are not distinguished for the pos-
session of uncommon intelligence or uncommon powers of
clear thinking. But the opinion of the crowd, while it may be, and
usually is, somewhat inarticulate, is pretty near to truth in the
aggregate. The instincts are right, even if they cannot be logically
analyzed. And one may be pretty sure that when the public refuse
to take the bait which the player recitals have been holding out to
them, the fault is with the recitals and not with the public. One
can even put the matter in a clearer way than this. We have no
right to say whether the public is right or not. It would not
make a bit of difference if we could see plainly that it is wrong.
For it is our business to know what the public thinks, not to discuss
what it ought to think. Only when we know what people think
and then adapt ourselves to their methods, can we get into that
position with relation to them which enables us to begin to lead
them. That is a simple secret, but a great one.
I
N presenting grand players to the prospective purchasers, either
through the medium of advertising in various publications,
recitals of a more or less elaborate character, or by straight sales-
manship on the wareroom floor, the point to be considered is that
if the greatest results are to be obtained the appeal must be made
to the greatest body of the people. Therefore, the player-grand
must be presented not as something of mystery, of exclusiveness,
but as a form of player-piano most desirable for the musical people
from numerous points of view. The field for the grand player
should bear the same relation to the field for the upright player-
piano as does the straight grand to the ordinary upright and should
depend, as in the case of ordinary pianos, upon the tone superiority
of the grand as compared to the upright. The simplicity of the
player mechanism and its desirability should be demonstrated in an
understandable way to ordinary people.
TT
took 10 minutes to write this ad and 57
A
years to prepare for it, as since 1856 the
D. H. Schmidt Co. has been making hammers.
It has always given and will give a specialized hammer service
of such unusual character that as years mature the name Schmidt
represents THE piano hammer.
To continuously make piano hammers for 57
years and to rank to-day as the leading piano
hammer house is a wonderful achievement
DAVID
H. SCHMIDT CO., Poughkeepsie, N. Y.
Western repreMnUtiret: Widney ft Widn*7,
6 South Wabath Arenue, Chicago, 111.