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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
11
The Tendencies of Public Libraries to Install Music Rolls in Their Collec-
tion Should Arouse Enthusiasm and Support—Every Move in This Direction
Helps in Popularizing the Player-Piano—Should beWatched by Piano Dealers.
Those whose foresight has equaled their caution
have never doubted the coming of the time when
the music roll would be regarded as a legitimate
method of recording music, quite as legitimate as
the printed page. It has always been quite clear
that as soon as the music roll has become publicly
recognized as a kind or type of musical publica-
tioh, it must begin to find its way to the shelves
of our bibliothecal institutions. The process, in
fact, has already begun. Public libraries are begin-
ning to acquire stocks of music rolls for the pur-
pose of loaning them out to the public. Already
several libraries have installed such collections and
others are considering the same proposition. Evi-
dently it is time for the trade to wake up and
consider how it is going to treat this new move-
ment. The object of this article, then, is to start
the ball rolling, with some intelligent direction of
its line of travel.
Some few weeks ago the news was published
that the Public Library at Kansas City, Mo., had
acquired a collection of 500 music rolls, and that
these would be loaned out to book borrowers in
the same way as musical scores are circulated.
The acquirement of this collection by the Kansas
City Library was due to the public spirit of a citi-
zen, but it is now announced that the Public Library
of Gary, Ind., the wonderful steel city, has pur-
chased directly what is to be the nucleus of a
great music roll collection to be circulated among
its patrons.
Not only is this so, but the library has also
purchased a player-piano and proposes to assist
its borrowers to become acquainted with the
proper ways of using the music rolls and of in-
terpreting the music. In fact, with this plan in
mind, the officials of the Gary Library have an-
nounced that a series of lecture-recitals, free to
the public, will be held in the fine auditorium with
which the building is provided, and that the ob-
ject of these will be to exhibit to the prospective
borrowers of music rolls the proper methods of
playing the player-piano and of interpreting good
music therewith. Taksn together, the lecture-
recitals at Gary will amount to a course in musical
appreciation, offered to the public freely as a prac-
tical expression of the growing idea that a public
library exists to give service in every sense of that
widely significant term. One need hardly insist
on the remarkable extension of ideas which has
brought about a policy so liberal.
So much for some concrete illustrations of a
movement that threatens to become general. The
question which now immediately concerns us is as
to the trade's attitude. What are we going to do
about all this?
Movement Should Not Be Left Unsupported.
It surely need not be said that we are not going
to sit down and allow this promising movement
to stand or fall by itself. We do not know at this
writing just how many public libraries exist in
the United States, but in 1904 there were 2,059
containing more than 5,000 volumes each. It is
hardly to be doubted that once the music roll
idea gets well ventilated the thing will go with a
rush. There are fashions in these matters as in
others. Plainly, then, we have to look forward to
a marked and considerable extension of the prac-
tise of including music rolls in the collections of
public libraries.
This being the case, it is surely plain enough
that every live dealer will see the wisdom of
pointing out to his own local institution the really
striking advantages of adding to existing collec-
tions a list of music rolls. It is perfectly legiti-
mate—and also perfectly true—to say that the
opportunity thus offered to the director of a li-
brary to assist in educating the taste of the public
is immense in its possibilities. Librarians who are
looking for opportunities to increase the value of
their institutions to the general public will hasten
to investigate the new proposition, nor will library
trustees be slow in authorizing the purchase of
music rolls if they can see that the result will be
of public benefit. The live dealer will take care
to urge the value of a music roll collection with
caution and circumspection. He must above all
look on the proposition with a broad view. If he
just thinks of securing an order and of making a
little profit, he will be very foolish, for the good
that will accrue in any town to the player busi-
ness through the installation of a department of
music rolls in the public library so far outweighs
any possible immediate profit that no just com-
parison is possible. The very existence of a col-
lection of music rolls is in itself a standing adver-
tisement for the player business; an advertise-
ment of the very best sort, one which works all
the time and which is all the more valuable be-
cause its advertising appeal is entirely uninten-
tional.
Libraries Should Purchase Player-Pianos.
It is not necessary either to insist upon the very
plain fact that the library which starts by buying
music rolls certainly ought to end by having a
player-piano.
If it be desirable to induce librarians and library
trustees to see the need for equipping their insti-
tutions with music rolls in the interest of musical
education, it is still more desirable to set about
the business in the right way It is not to be ex-
pected that library officials will be very expert in
musical matters, and it is, on the other hand, to
be expected that they will consider any advice
offered to them very much in the light of the in-
terestedness or otherwise of the adviser. Thus
it is to be expected that the best advice will be the
most disinterested.
Of course, by far the best thing that a piano
man can do in case he is asked to suggest a course
of conduct for a public library is to urge the pur-
chase of a player-piano in addition to the rolls.
If, however, this cannot be done at once, the
dealer might do a great stroke of business for
himself by offering to loan a player-piano to the
library for long enough to have some free lec-
tures given to the library public on the use of
the player and of the music rolls made available
by the library. It would be worth the while of
any dealer to co-operate with the library in secur-
ing the services of a competent expert to give a
series of lecture-recitals, dealing with musical ap-
preciation in general and with the relation of the
player-piano thereto in particular. This course is
now about to be carried out at Gary, where the
lecture-recitals will be given by the writer, who
also was responsible for the choice of titles in the
first instalment of their musical collection.
Selecting Music of Permanent Value.
It is not at all improbable that some piano deal-
ers may find themselves called on to give advice to
librarians as to the choice of music. To all such
let one strong hint be given: Do not be misled
into recommending music that is or is not likely
to be permanent in value. In case one is uncer-
tain, it is best to get the advice of a musician and
then to carry this out in music rolls by duplicating
the recommended list from the catalogs. Readers
who would like to have a list of the rolls pur-
chased by the Gary Public Library on the recom-
mendations of the writer may obtain the same by
communicating with the librarian, or with the
player editor of The Review.
A word may be said in anticipatory answer to
those who will suppose that library business is
not worth fostering. If it be objected that libraries
will try to get low prices, the answer will rightly
be that they are entitled to some consideration at
least. And if it be supposed that the presence of
a collection of music rolls in the public library
will hinder the sale of rolls by dealers, the answer
is that the library will have none but good music
and its business will be to foster a love for good
music. The more it does this, the better will
everything be for the man who sells player-pianos
and rolls.
Surely it is not necessary to insist, at any fur-
ther length, that the player .trade ought to look
with enthusiasm upon the growing disposition of
the libraries towards including music rolls in their
collections. Every move made in this direction is
a move in the direction of popularizing the player-
piano. If piano dealers will watch this movement
and encourage it broad-mindedly and with true
public spirit, they will reap a large reward. The
public need above all else to be awakened to the
real place of the player-piano as an instrument of
musical education and to musical culture as a de-
sirability. In short, the public need to learn to
respect the player-piano. The library will assist
in teaching the public. Will the trade be bene-
fited then by such activity? Assuredly it will.
Cleverness may, after all, be merely an ability
or wisdom not to attempt the things we know we
can't do.
The Master Player-Piano
is now equipped with an
AUTOMATIC TRACKING DEVICE
Which guarantees absolutely correct tracking of even the most imperfect music rolls
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