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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
8
THE PLAYER-PIANISTS' DEPARTMENT
[It is in every way eminently desirable that a publication
which undertakes to give so much space and so authoritative
* treatment to the great player industry, as does The Re-
view, should not neglect what is after all the real excuse
for the player's existence, namely, the music that is evoked
from it. Recognizing the extraordinary importance of do-
ing everything possible to spread more widely appreciation
and love for music among player-pianists, The Review's
Player Section for the present month contains below, and
will in future regularly contain, a department devoted to
the musical interests of player-pianists and of the player-
piano. Each month one musical article of general interest
will appear, together with useful hints, notes and comments.
This is in addition to the regular sub-section of the Player
Section, which analyzes the monthly issues of music rolls.
Professional demonstrators, salesmen and player-pianists of
every degree will find each month on the Player-Pianist's"
page of the Player Section much valuable, information. And
the Editor of the Player Section will at all times be glad
to answer inquiries on any and all musical player matters.]
THE FORMJ)F MUSIC.
Article I.
In the first article of this series we progressed
far enough to discover the raw material of music
in the so-called "diatonic-chromatic scale." We
observed that the piano keyboard shows a continu-
ous series of keys representing seven sets of twelve
each, each set being one octave of tones and the
whole being the series of seven octaves which con-
stitute the general gamut or scale of musical in-
struments. In addition, it should be noted that
three tones below the lowest C on the piano are in-
cluded on the keyboards of all modern instruments,
although they are very seldom of any use.
Now, it is plain from a mere sounding of the
various tones on the. keyboard that each octave is
complete in itself and leads into the octaves above
and below by a perfectly natural progression. Each
octave is self-contained, but also each is a replica
of every other, the difference being in the fact
that each starts with a different pitch tone. There
are seven C's on the piano, spaced an octave apart.
Sound all these C's and you find them identical in
character, but founded each on its own pitch.
Sound two or three of them together and the
sounds blend into each other so as to appear one.
Thus we have a scale of at least eighty-four (and
generally as noted above, eighty-eight) tones with
which to work. These form the raw material of
music, and are the rough forms in which the com-
poser must work.
Now, without going into details, we can easily
understand that the tones of the diatonic scale are
susceptible of combinations, of groupings and of
arrangements in various ways. If we undertake to
experiment on the keyboard of the piano, even in
the idlest way, we cannot fail to perceive that
numerous more or less agreeable series of tones
can be conjured up. If we have any talent that
way, we can even produce elementary melodies or
tunes. And if we continue to experiment in this
manner, we shall not fail to see that not only can
tones be strung together one after the other, like
beads on a string, but also that two or more can
be sounded together in such a way as to produce
what are known as "chords," of the utmost beauty
•ind richness.
With these two kinds of arrangements as a
basis, the composer sets to work. He has to deal
with tunes and with chords. Both he must in-
vent, yet both are limited by necessary rules. After
inventing a melody, the composer must support it
with the necessary background of subsidiary parts.
This is what is called the "accompaniment." But
really speaking, the composer goes further than
this. If we have ever heard an old-fashioned
four-part song or "quartet," as it is called, we
notice that each part, as alloted to its particular
voice, is capable of being sung all by itself and
of forming a separate melody. Now the founda-
tion of all good music writing is to blend several
melodies together so that they at one and the same
time form both a set of separate tunes simultan-
eously sounded, and also one principal tune with
an accompaniment.
Given such notions as these, the composer sets
down the thoughts that come to him. His thoughts
appear as melodies, just as a writer's thoughts
appear in sentences, a painter's in forms and colors
or a poet's in verses. But the very requirements
of composition insist upon form and coherence as
the first consideration in music and the composer,
therefore, finds that his musical inspirations as-
sume definite shape from the first. Actually the
apparent formlessness of music is merely apparent,
not at all real, for the composer is putting down in
tones the same sort of phrases, sentences and para-
graphs as the writer of books.
Music, in fact, might well be compared to inar-
ticulate language, and especially to poetry. Any
sort of musical composition can be understood
when once we begin to liken music to poetry and to
see in the forms of music the likeness there ex-
isting to the forms of speech. No technical knowl-
edge is necessary for this simple realization.
Musical composition, then, is the speaking forth
of thoughts in musical speech. Music is a lan-
guage and upon this realization of it may be appre-
hended its inmost beauties, whether one be a
trained musician or not. Indeed, the music which
only a trained musician can appreciate must ever
be music on whose claim to greatness suspicion
will lie.
Having brought into our minds the general idea
above set forth, and remembering what we have
already remarked about the raw material existing
in the scale, let us now proceed to examine the
various forms into which composers have by com-
mon consent cast the material of their inspirations.
In considering such a matter as this, we must
observe that as music is primarily a matter of ex-
pression, the natural tendencies of the human mind
must always have guided and controlled the arti-
fices of the composers. Hence the composers have
been less the leaders than the followers of con-
temporary tendencies in musical expression. Hence,
Jigain, it is important that we should know what
the human consciousness in general thinks about
musical expression.
Generally speaking, we may say that the three
elements of music are rhythm, melody and har-
mony, Rhythm is the "beat" or pulse of music
which we recognize when we keep step with a
military band, and which is customarily punctuated
by the bass drum during the performance of
marches. This rhythm may be, and often is, far
more subtle and complex than the simple example
just given. But it is to be recognized as a principal
element—in fact, the chief formative element—in
all music.
Now, rhythm is the most easily perceived of mus-
ical elements. The veriest savage can take some
pleasure in the measured beats of a drum, and it
is to be observed that the earliest attempts at musi-
cal expression are always more rhythmic than
melodic or harmonic. With all due respect to the
contemporary condition of musical taste, it is to be
observed that rag-time and the latest dances are
all more dependent on rhythm than on anything
else, and are, in fact, a reversion of musical idea
back to the primitive. This may not be compli-
mentary, but it is true.
Rhythm is the basis of all dancing, and the
dance is the earliest form of musical expression.
Dances certainly were founded on the sense of
rhythm and very likely the sense of melody grew
from parallel association with the ordered gesture
and motion of dancing. For music is expressed
motion, as is dancing. Certainly we know that
the earliest ordered composition was in the various
dance forms, and of these we must speak if we
are to understand anything about the progress of
musical composition. For all composition is to
this day based upon the dance from first and fore-
most.
(To be Continued.)
A HEART TO HEART TALK
Among the various and supposedly illuminating
things which are being said every month in the
columns immediately precedent of this one, the in-
telligent reader will not fail to have observed one
sentence, quite frequently repeated, quite short, not
at all elaborate in wording: "Music is a language."
What could be simpler? Yet what could be more
terrifyingly complex? "Music is a language." Yes,
and just because music is this very thing, it is one
of the most important things in the world, one of
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