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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
SEPTEMBER 28, 1918
The Problem of the Motor-Driven Player Is Still Unsolved, But the Future
Development of the Player Will Doubtless Produce an Instrument of This
Type Which Will Be Satisfactory From Mechanical and Artistic Standpoints
With the extraordinary conditions now pre-
vailing it would rather seem that we should
consider ourselves lucky to get any kind of
player-piano out at all without bothering about
the refinements. Yet it would be the part of
good-sense to remember that the war, essen-
tial and overpowering as it is, nevertheless ac-
tually is no more or less than an interlude. It
began, and it will end. The end will come
perhaps not so soon as the superficial optimists
think; but much sooner than some of the pessi-
mists would have us believe. Therefore, the
wise man, even if he be packing up right now to"
take his place in camp or on shipboard, will not
forget that after the war the world will have to
get itself back to its peace schedule and find
itself again. Then, the man who has not neg-
lected to keep himself sharpened up on the game
will be much happier than the man who has al-
lowed himself to run stale.
It is in this spirit that we continue our re-
search into the pneumatics of player-mecha-
nism; and in just such a spirit do we submit the
following, feeling that now we have made our
explanation and shall not need to make it again.
The Motor Drive -
During the years immediately preceding 1917
the trade was developing a good deal of inter-
est in the idea of motor-driven player-pianos.
The reason assigned for this was that the foot-
driven player-piano is too unhandy for the peo-
ple and that women especially cannot play it
in any comfort. The "treading" feature of the
foot-driven player-piano does not indeed com-
mend itself on the grounds of convenience or
beauty, and to that extent there is much to be
said for the charges against it. But the hard-
pumping feature has been pretty well removed
meanwhile, and is not likely to be heard of
among the player-piano owning public to-day.
What is more important, however, is that the
public has shown itself unwilling or unable
(perhaps both) to take up the expressive ca-
pacity of the player-piano and work it out, so
that the manufacturers v ho ir. the past have
been most ready to consider the a .' !:'; side
of the instrument have been prepared * give
The Sensation of the Year in Music Rolls
Exclusively Featured in
IMPERIAL PLAYER ROLLS
up the task of education in despair. Now, son, one may believe.
The motor-driven
when the first hand-played rolls came on the player-pianos which were intended to supersede
market and a little later when automatic ex- the better class of ordinary player-piano with-
pression devices controlled by the perforation out actually getting into the reproducing piano
of the roll began to develop, the idea of adding class failed in one particular. They failed to
motor drive sprang up at once. For it was give the owner enough to do, and likewise at
plain that when the great advantage of foot- the same time they failed to give him an expres-
work, namely, the variation possible thereby in sion that would be high-class enough to satisfy
touch effects, was even partially removed, the by itself.
principal argument against the motor-driven
Suggestions
bellows was removed also. That, we imagine,
What
can
be
suggested?
Well, assuming that
is the true course of the process.
the player-piano, motor-driven, is a legitimate
An Analysis of the Problem
and necessary development—as may perhaps
But, however the idea was worked out, the be assumed without too great a strain on the
fortunes it experienced were extremely inter- intelligence, what can be done to bring it into
esting. Some four years ago it began to be line with public requirements?
seen that several manufacturers would certainly
One or two ideas may be set forth with some
take up the motor-drive player-piano and make confidence.
In the first place, if the motor-
a feature of it. For about a year during 1914-15 driven player-piano is to be a success it must
there were signs of activity everywhere in this be foolproof or as nearly so as the ordinary
department. Then the whole thing seemed to player now is. Electric motor troubles, and
fizzle out. What was the trouble and why did especially difficulties due to lubrication require-
the motor-driven player fail to strike public ments, must be eliminated as far as possible.
favor? The question is worth examining and
In the second place, the instrument should be
worth answering as carefully as possible.
designed to eliminate the pumping indeed, but
Superficially, and at first sight, it would cer- to eliminate nothing else in the way of control
tainly seem that the motor-driven player-piano unless the automatic expression be wanted in
has a hundred advantages to the other's one, any particular case. This means, above all,
wherever current for the electric power is avail- that the pedals must in some way be retained.
able, which means virtually everywhere except The biggest and best scheme would be to retain
in the open country; and sometimes there, too, the pedals in some form and use one of them
nowadays. The elimination of the labor of to elevate the hammers through the hammer-
pumping and the certainty of hearing music ren- rail lift just like the ordinary soft pedal of the
dered with tolerable expression were advantages piano. The other could be used to govern the
of very considerable magnitude, without a reducing valve for the pneumatic action, where-
doubt; but they did not suffice to carry the in- by the power of playing might be graduated in
strument to popularity. The reasons, as they a manner comparable with that of the pedals
appear to us, are curious and interesting.
of the ordinary player-pianos. In fact, while
Forgetting the Owner
such a scheme is being carried out it would be
In the first place, there is no doubt whatever simple to retain the ordinary piano pedals, loud
that, unless the instrument is actually reproduc- and soft, and add another pedal for the power
ing the playing of some definitely named and control. In this way, with some care, the
more or less noteworthy artist, the owner is operator could obtain a very good control, if
not satisfied constantly to sit by in a passive the tempo were left under the governance of a
state and listen, without taking any part in the lever as in the ordinary player-piano. But it
performance. It may seem illogical, and per- would be better to have the loud pedal in all
haps it is, but the fact remains that the public cases controlled by hand, too, for if the power-
in general would rather do something in a per- governor is foot-controlled then also it will be
formance and do it very badly than listen pas- necessary to control the soft pedal in the same
sively to a much finer performance done without . way, or else much confusion will result. This
interference. It actually seems to be true that will fully occupy the two feet, while the hands
the ordinary person would rather make night will be still free to take the tempo and the sus-
hideous by pumping out some jazz rag at the taining pedal. This will give a fairly close ap-
proximation to the ordinary practice of the
top of the motor's speed and of his own pedal
player-piano, which has so thoroughly estab-
capacity than sit down calmly and listen to the
lished itself among the customs of the age,
playing of something ever so much better by
while removing the physical effort entirely.
the instrument itself. It may be strange and
Of course, this simple notion is susceptible of
it may be illogical, but it is apparently true.
As a matter of fact, the writer has often dis- many modifications, but if its basis of giving'
cussed this phenomenon with the heads of two the operator something significant to do is
of the largest producers of player-pianos in realized, then much of the cause for previous
the country, men who have for years been in failure of the motor-driven type will have been
contact with the popular thought among the removed.
This is contributed as a random study to-
dealers and the people.
In both cases the
statement has been made, not once but many wards the post-war development of the player-
times, that no real demand for the motor-driven piano, a development that is sure to come, no
matter what particular trend or form said de-
player has yet come before them.
But apart from this there is still another rea- velopment may take.
A NATURAL PART OF EVERY PIANO DEALERS TPADE
LI .
Iff THE AUTOMATIC FIELJ*
BEEBUHG
PIANO
COMPANY . , , CHICAGO ILLINOIS-
THEATRE
OPOANS