Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
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HE year 19U> has seen the production of player-pianos
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carried to heights, both in quantity and quality, not before
attained. That the production would be enormous in quantity
demonstration are making no complaint whatever about the
supersession of the foot-pumped player.
was anticipated confidently months ago; and that the quality
would be in general the highest ever, might have been foreseen
with equal certainty by any one who chose to follow the current
of trade happenings. On the whole we have every reason to be
thoroughly pleased with the record of the year. This time last
year, conditions were by 110 means so rosy. The end of a period
of deep depression, with no more than glimmers of future turns
for the better, saw the country in a condition of mind far removed
from jubilation. To-day, what a change! Prosperity is no longer
prospective, but has been our constant companion for the greater
part of the year. Almost before the holiday sounds of 1915 had
died away, the new year was ushering in a period of industrial
activity almost unparalleled in national history. Christmas, 1916,
comes at a time when the relaxation of a holiday week from the
cares and toil of the year is really most welcome. We have every
reason to congratulate ourselves. The Christmas just passed
should have been a Merry Christmas indeed to everybody en-
gaged in the musical instrument trades. May the New Year be
as happy!
HE truth seems to us to be that the motor-driven instrument
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should not attempt to rest its claim to public appreciation
upon any competition with the foot-driven, but rather should be
UT it does not follow that 1917 will necessarily be as fever-
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ishly active as 1916 has been. It does not follow that we
shall have to turn down orders by the dozen through sheer
inability to fill them. While we have w r ith us the present astound-
ing condition of affairs, let us make our plans, sanely and wisely,
to prepare ourselves for whatever the future may hold. For
example, apart from the question of finance, it is certain that the
coming year will mark the climax of the struggle that has been
raging between the motor-driven and the foot-pumped players.
At the present moment, the general opinion of the trade seems
to be that the motor-driven player is bound to supersede the
other. But it would not be safe to generalize too hastily on
insufficient data. The writer was-informed recently by the suc-
cessful manufacturer of a well-known and highly reputed player-
piano, who made and shipped more than 3,000 instruments dur-
ing 1916, that his dealers had made but very few serious in-
quiries about motor-driven instruments and that he had not
yet thought it necessary even to consider the question of putting
in a motor-drive. The United States covers a vast area and con-
tains representatives of every taste and degree of appreciation
that the world can provide. Beware of generalizing .hastily from
the experiences of a few dealers in great cities. It may be true of
them, as was said by a manufacturer a short time back, that they
have neither the desire nor the intention to cultivate music, and
that their sole notion is to lie back in a chair and press a button
when music is wanted. To an extent this is true; for the
American people as a whole are steadily becoming more luxuri-
ous in their habits. But to say that therefore there is no future
for the foot-pumped player is sheer nonsense. The great mass
of the people have as yet not arrived at any such state of indol-
ence. They are very glad to get the foot-pumped player. What
we need is more intelligent salesmanship and demonstration.
Dealers who undertake to give intelligent salesmanship and
considered as something altogether apart. The motor-driven
player is essentially a reproducing player. It is at its best when
playing music from hand-played rolls with automatic expression.
It is at its worst when playing through personal control. The rea-
son for the latter statement is found of course in the fact that the
foot control through the pumps is something tangible, definite
and satisfying. To secure a maximum force of tone through a
direct foot pressure proportionate to the force is satisfying,
because it is parallel to the process of handplaying. To obtain
the same result by pushing a lever an inch across a plate with
one finger is not satisfying, because it is not parallel with
the effort of hand playing. The feeling of effort achieving a
result is lacking. The foot control, in connection with power
drive, as worked out by the eminent engineer whose experiments
have been described in previous numbers of this section, shows
a way out of the difficulty, and other experiments of the same
nature have since been made by others; but the idea is not
likely soon to be embodied into instruments salable at a com-
mercially competitive price. But this, which is the supreme
development of the motor-driven player, demands for its use a
degree of skill not less than that which is necessary for fine
playing of the foot-driven instrument. Hence it cannot be used
to back up the motor-drive argument in favor of a push-button
musical instrument. The motor-driven player-piano is essentially
a reproducing player-piano; and to attempt to popularize it as
anything else is to remove the most important incentive to
purchase which the player-piano possesses for the majority of
persons.
T has been remarked recently by the president of the Standard
I hood
Pneumatic Action Co. that during 1917 there is every likeli-
of the output of player-pianos surpassing that of the
straight instruments, for the first time, of course. The sugges-
tion is gratifying, nor is it to be supposed that mere enthusiasm
prompts the prediction. The player-piano, as this section has
often pointed out. on its merits ought to sell two to one against
the non-player-piano; simply because the player-piano can be
played by anybody, while the other cannot. If one-half the time,
ingenuity and labor which dealers waste on promoting special
slaughter sales and on devious financing for the purpose of
floating still lower prices and terms, were given up to intelligent
presentation of the player, the prediction of Mr. LeCato would
not only he likely but certain. Here is one of the big oppor-
tunities for Mr. Tremaine and the National Bureau for the Ad-
vancement of Music. "A Piano in Every Home" is a good
slogan,-but "A Player-Piano in Every Home" is equally good.
Christmas is past and gone and we express the hope, gentle-
men, that the turkey agreed with you. Here's to a Happy and
Prosperous New Year!
The Master Player-Piano
is now equipped with an
AUTOMATIC TRACKING DEVICE
Which guarantees absolutely correct tracking of even the most imperfect music rolls
WINTER & CO., 220 Southern Boulevard, New York City