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PLAYER SECTION
NEW YORK, JUNE 30, 1917
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The Recent Trade Gatherings in Chicago Demonstrated That Many People
Are Ignorant Concerning the Player, and That the Industry Will Never
Come Into Its Own Until Supported by a System of National Publicity
With each recurring- year, it seems advisable
to devote an article in this Section to consid-
eration of the lessons which may seem to be
properly deducible from the annual meeting of
manufacturers, dealers and travelers, with re-
gard, of course, to the particular interests of
the industry which we may be said, with some
justice, peculiarly to represent. It need hardly
be urged that the large and impressive exhibi-
tion of player-pianos, player actions and music
rolls at the Coliseum Show, which ran con-
temporary with the trade conventions, offered
an opportunity more valuable than has been
offered in several years for a first-hand study
of the progress of the player industry and of
the reactions of the public toward it.
The Reproducing Piano
By this time, no doubt, everybody has exer-
cised his privilege of saying that the hits of the
convention and of the show were the reproduc-
ing pianos. There were not less than eight
separate types on exhibition at the Coliseum
and in the various hotels and warerooms.
There may have been more, but the writer came
in contact with eight various and different sys-
tems, each the product of a separate industry or
group of industries. They were very interest-
ing, and in some cases very impressive. They
were, on the whole, attractively and skilfully
displayed and demonstrated. They made a hit
with the trade and with those members of the
public who saw them. Some of them at the
Coliseum were visited constantly by great
crowds. Some excited much comment, all ex-
cited some comment.
But from the trade standpoint, where are we
to place the reproducing piano? Are we to
conclude that it is the player-piano of the fu-
ture, and that all its rivals are doomed? Su-
perficially speaking, the answer would probably
be Yes! But would it be Yes on more care-
ful consideration?
Now, the object of the reproducing piano is
to give a satisfactory reproduction of the piano
playing of an artist. Its possessor has no more
to do with its work than to insert a music roll
and turn a switch. His attitude is therefore
one of passive listening, and is essentially differ-
ent from the attitude of the person who pos-
sesses a player-piano of the foot-driven type.
The point is important and worth further con-
sideration.
A Changed Appeal
Tt is therefore very plain that the appeal of
the reproducing piano must be to either of two
persons; to the real music lover who desires
naught else than to hea^j*£productions of the
best playing by the best artists, or to the mere
lazybones who wants "all the pleasure and none
of the work," as he would say.
The trouble with this state of affairs is that
the first and most desired kind of person must
necessarily be a music lover of such talents
that the reproducing piano will not be his ulti-
mate desire. He will either play the piano
himself or else will desire to express himself
in music otherwise. The otherwise may sig-
nify violin or voice, or something like that;
but probably not. It is more likely to mean
a player-piano of the expressive personally con-
trolled type, which, however, hardly yet exists
to satisfy such a specialized and refined desire.
Destined to Spur on Invention
Therefore, if we sum it all up we are com-
pelled to the conclusion that the high-grade re-
producing piano is destined mainly to spur on
invention to the development of a perfected
personal-control instrument. If it be said that
such an instrument will have a limited appeal,
on account of the musical talent its use will
pre-suppose, it may "be replied that exactly the
same objection, of being too good for the
masses, applies to the reproducing piano itself.
The reproducing piano is in just this posi-
tion, in fact. But its makers do not mind this.
They do not want, in the present state of things,
to try to turn out a truly commercial player
of this type, for to do so would be to kill its
individual and distinguishing character.
The
reproducing piano is a piano for the place of
honor in the dealer's store. It can and will sell.
It will provoke the emulation of all and lead to
great improvements in the construction of the
personal-control player; but its progress will
be parallel with that of its rivals, not superim-
posed on their corpses.
The Attitude of the Public
The discussion leads naturally to another
point. One of the most noticeable features of
the affair at the Coliseum was the attitude of
surprise manifested by the visitors. The amount
of money that has been invested in advertising
both the straight player-piano and the repro-
ducing instruments may be counted by millions.
Yet it was a quite usual experience to hear
comments that would lead one to suppose the
player-piano to be brand new and this its first
exhibition anywhere. In fact, the talk that one
heard from the people who crowded every booth
from which music could be heard, not to men-
tion the crowds that fought their way into the
Aeolian and Ampico exhibits, sounded as if the
player-piano were actually and positively new to
them. The questions they asked and the eager
curiosity they displayed were most significant
and surprising.
A Lesson to Us
Have we not all these years been advertis-
ing the player-piano to the people? And have
not many thousands been sold? Then how is
it that those who own these instruments have,
usually, no idea of their capacities or of how
to play them well? And how is it that the
many more millions who have no player-pianos
know scarcely anything about them? There
actually were dealers at the convention who
declared that they had never sold a player-
piano, and that their town had none of these
instruments, so far as they knew. There were
visitors to the Coliseum in any number who
were heard to say that they had never before
seen a player-piano.
What does it prove? It proves two things.
It proves that in advertising on the assumption
That the principle and value of the player-piano
are self-evident and need no explanation we
are wrong. It proves that advertising alone
will not teach the people the facts about a mu-
sical instrument, though it may teach them
about an automobile. It proves that we have
not yet begun to educate the people as to the
beauties of the player-piano.
The Desire Is There
There is no sense in saying that the people
who thronged the booths at the show were,
or are, careless and indifferent about the player-
piano. There was plenty of eager curiosity
everywhere, and it was a remarkable fact that
the most modest attempt at demonstrating the
musical capacities of any player-piano had the
immediate effect of attracting public attention,
despite all competing attractions. The writer
had occasion to test this assertion personally
on many occasions during the week of the show
and can vouch for its truth.
The desire is there all right; and any notion
that any dealer has ever had about the player-
piano being hard to sell or not being wanted
by the people is wholly and absurdly wrong.
A National Campaign
During the sessions of the manufacturers' and
dealers' conventions the question of supporting
the National Bureau for the Advancement of
Music came up, and it is gratifying to note that
sentiment appeared to favor fair and rational
treatment. Yet it is painfully evident that the
trade is not yet alive to the nature of the situa-
tion with which the bureau is trying to cope.
The Music Show ought to have demonstrated
one thing at least, namely, that public igno-
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