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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
Discussion of Question Whether the Professional Demonstrator Is a
Necessity or a Desirability with the Advent of the Hand-Played Record
Roll—Interesting Contributions by E. Fred Colber and J. L. Eggleston.
The player trade has often interested itself, at one time or another, with the question of the demonstrator
in his relation with the player-piano, with the public and with the dealer. Is the professional demonstrator
either a necessity or a desirability? Is he even an advantage? These are questions which are being asked
more and more since the hand-played record roll was introduced into the player-piano business, adding a new
element to the selling of the player-piano.
Some experienced player men are now saying that the professional demonstrator is, and has always been,
more of a disadvantage to the trade than anything else. It is claimed in some quarters and with no little plausi-
bility, that the efforts of the player artist are usually rather wasted, in that they have frightened the prospect-
ive purchaser more than anything else; while on the other hand it is clearly seen that the efforts of the ordinary
salesman and the crudeness of his attempts to render music acceptably, simply end in disgusting the intelligent
layman. What then is the remedy?
In seeking for some answer to these important questions, we have consulted some whose experience and abili-
ties have been given along these lines. The first gentleman whose views we quote is E. Fred Colber, traveling
representative of the Foster, Armstrong Co. Division, American Piano Co.:
The Views of E. Fred Colber.
"The demonstrator, in the minds of most deal-
ers, is already a thing of the past. The new rec-
ord rolls have shown their value to the general
run of salesmen, and in effect the professional
demonstrator has automatically begun to disap-
pear. The prospective purchaser of a player-
piano is searching for music, and for nothing
else. The salesman often sells him lead tubing
or rubber tubing or five-point motors, when he
should be selling him musical results; results at-
tainable and attained by the prospective buyer
himself. The professional demonstrator only too
often, as I know for a fact within my own ex-
perience, creates a doubt in the mind of the pros-
pect as to whether he could ever hope to play as
well as the former. The mere fact that in many
cases a salesman will pause during the process of
making a sale to call in a demonstrator is in itself
conveying a thought to that customer that there
is a skill required which is beyond the capacity of
the salesman and is, therefore, certainly beyond
the capacity of the prospect himself.
"'On the other hand, let this thought be taken into
consideration and presented to the customer in
some such fashion as this: That anybody can play
the player; this is what we have all advertised for
years, and that we are now coming to admit that
it has been seldom accomplished by the purchaser
•in a decent fashion. Let another thought also be
presented, as follows: That the player owner
should give himself up to the enjoyment of music
much as he does to the enjoyment of reading, or
seeing beautiful works of art. Let this idea be
put forth, that one can enjoy a book without
writing it, or a meal without cooking it; and, there-
fore', logically a piece of music without having en-
tirely to construct its interpretation from the bot-
tom up.
"What, then, does this lead to? Obviously to the
recorded roll. For no matter what else may be
said, we must admit that the purchaser does not
want to be scared away from the player, at the
very start, nor does the dealer want the sale of
every player-piano to be a standing advertisement
against the sale of any others in the same neigh-
borhood, simply on account of the rotten playing
which the ignorant customer indulges in.
- "Tt will be said that this use of the record-roll in
demonstration and in sale, and its exclusive use, as
I have here advocated, will have the effect of de-
stroying the individuality of the interpretations
produced by the player-pianist. But T answer to this
that the ordinary roll gives the artist far less pos-
sibility of real interpretation than does the rightly
made record-roll, while the ordinary layman, ig-
norant of music and asking only for results, can
do no better anyhow and usually will do, a great
deal worse with the ordinary mathematically-cut
roll.
"Does the talking machine owner have less en-
joyment because his own interpretation is confined
to the occasional changing of a needle; a process
which nowadays is no longer necessary even in
some makes of these instruments? The sales of
talking machines do not seem to indicate anything
of the kind.
'One more point: Suppose you were selling tele-
phones and came into a man's store to sell him a
telephone instrument. Now, none of us know what
electricity is; we simply know that it is the vehi-
cle of energy. You could not, if you would, sell
the telephone on the basis of its scientific mean-
ing, because you do not know, ultimately, what
this really is. You have to sell on the business re-
sults.
"Again, who kno.ws what radium is? No-
body knows what it is, but we do know that its
energy can be used. And we do use its energy.
Now, music is a powerful something that should
be used to win your prospective buyer over to the
purchase of a player. I will leave it to the judg-
ment of readers whether the rendition supplied by
the use of a straight-cut roll in the hands of the
average man can in any way be compared—as to
its effect on the customer and as a busines winner
—with the record-roll. There is no comparison.
"There are dealers who have already ordered
their salesmen to use nothing but record-rolls in
the demonstration of a player during the process
of selling. And these orders are forced upon
those dealers simply because the effects otherwise
available at the hands of the usual selesman have
been so disadvantageous.
"Some time ago I called on a dealer in Ohio who
told me that a wealthy farmer in the vicinity was
a prospective purchaser of a player and that he
was going that day to call on him. I went along,
and when the conversation turned to players I was
amazed to hear the farmer and his wife both de-
clare that they had been turned against the idea
of a player-piano through the wretched music
that they heard from one at the home of a near
neighbor. We went over to said neighbor and
found a beautiful player grand and a lot of or-
dinary rolls. We heard the owner play and then
understood. That is all I need say.
"Perhaps these words will vex some player-pian-
ists. But to all of them I would say this: Did
you ever hear, in response to your suggestion of a
player purchase, these words: 'There is one play-
er-piano in the block already, and that is enough.'"
J. L. Eggleston Gives Dealers' Views.
Here, then, is a discussion started that ought to
have some value. During some travels now being
carried out through the Central West, the Editor
of this Player Section has had occasion to talk
with many dealers, and has heard from some of
the best of them statements very much like those
which Mr. Colber has set forth here. Here is a
statement from J. L. Eggleston, the well-known
dealer of Champaign, 111. Mr. Eggleston is well
qualified to speak, since before he settled down into
the retail field he was traveling representative for
the Farrand Co. and a demonstrator nationally
known. Here is what he has to say:
"It would, in my opinion, be wrong to say that
the professional demonstrator is doomed. At this
time he is still a factor in the promotion of a
player-piano. I mean that he is necessary in the
field of promotion and this field is by no means
entirely closed as yet. We find that every day we
meet in our warerooms people who are totally un-
familiar with the player-piano. While I believe
that the professional demonstrator will eventually
pass, from the very fact that the player-piano will
become a staple product, understood by the masses
generally, there is still an important work for him
to do, if done with a salesman's intelligence. The
great trouble with the average demonstrator is
that he tries to sell himself to the customer in-
stead of selling the player; or, at least, that is the
impression left with the customer. This is not at
all necessary, and is never indulged in by a sales-
man who has real selling ability. But this very
point brings in and makes potent the autographed
or record-roll. It is my belief that the average
salesman will take advantage of the fact that^he
can make the statement to the customer that all
the expression produced in a roll of this kind can
be had by anyone. The result, first of all, will be
that the salesman will not hesitate to seat the cus-
tomer at the player with a roll of this kind and
without fear of creating an unfavorable impression
on the mind of the customer. This, of course, as
we all know, cannot be done with the average
standard roll. Then, further, in a great many lo-
calities, it is the practise among dealers to place
players in homes on approval. This to the ex-
perienced piano dealer is dangerous with the
straight, mathematically-cut roll, as the customer
is almost certain to gain a bad impression of the
musical possibilities of a player-piano. But, in
sending out a player, either on trial (or which
has not yet been settled for), hand-played or auto-
graphed rolls (whatever one calls them), when
properly selected, will almost invariably place a
(Continued on page 6.)