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DECEMBER 27,
1919
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
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The Fundamental Principles Involved
in the Composing and Arranging of
BY DR. EDWARD SCHAAF
(Editor's Note. Doctor Schaaf is a musician who has
given much attention to the problem of arranging music for
the player-piano in such a way as to bring out the instru-
ment's true voice and real musical value. As he says, "there
is only one way to unlock the magic of the player-piano
keyboard and that rs to treat the instrument as a new voice
in music." Doctor Schaaf has self-sacrificingly devoted
much of his time, without thought of material reward, to
the rewriting of music for the special purpose of making it
truly suitable for the player-piano and has achieved some
astounding results. He has also composed a number of
special pieces for the player-piano only, conceived in the
most modern style of what he calls plastic music;" and
altogether wonderful. Doctor Schaaf has already pub-
lished in The Music Trade Review the results of some
earlier researches into this subject, and the present series
of extremely interesting and fascinating articles, of which
this is the eighth, represents the latest fruit of his
studies.)
ORNAMENTATION
Continuing our discussion of the tremolo, it
should be noted that in the middle and lower
registers of the player-piano the legato tremolo,
at least, sounds better when the intervals are
close. For instance, Fig. 47 shows an example
which undoubtedly sounds much better than
Fig. 48. Again when we meet with an idiom
Fig. 47
Fig. 48
Fig. 49
Fig. 50
which normally would look like the example
shown in Fig. 49 the judicious arranger will
rather write it so that it sounds like
the arrangement shown by Fig. SO.
An interesting variant would be ob-
tained by the arrangement as shown
in Fig. 51.
THE TRILL
We now pass by a natural progression of
thought to the subject of the trill. As I have
before remarked, in the preliminary observations
on the general subject of ornamentation, all such
figures and ornaments as trills, tremolos and so
on trace their origin to the original defects of
musical instruments quite as much as to the art
of singing. In other words, when composers
were striving to obtain a medium of musical
expression which should enable them to develop
the ideas which they felt but could not properly
manifest they were led to study the remarkable
effects which the old Italian school of singers
obtained through the use of elaborate orna-
mental figuration. Now the trill is the common-
est, simplest and most obvious of all vocal
ornaments.
In composition for the player-piano, however,
the fact must be admitted that the trill has been
developed only to a relatively slight extent.
The mission of the player-piano is undoubtedly
in part to clear up and greatly develop the art
of trilling and trill writing.
Generally speaking, the employment of trills
has the effect of lending animation to a passage.
This statement, however, can only be accepted
when certain conditions are fulfilled. For in-
stance, if a trill is of considerable length it will
probably require to be swelled and diminished,
as shown in Fig. 52. This arrangement is ex-
Music for the Player-Piano
will surely follow the employment either of too
long a trill or of too many short trills.
It is said that the player-piano cannot per-
form the single trill as well as the manual
pianist, but this statement, like all general state-
ments applied to the player-piano, demands
application to any particular case only in so far
as the special circumstances allow. There are
player-pianos with which a skilled player-pianist
can diminish and swell, group and phrase, the
various sections or phases of a trill with won-
derful power and effect. There are other player
mechanisms which will not permit such delicacy.
Allowing, however, the utmost that can be
said on either side, there is one point on which
there can be no question. The player-piano,
that is to say, has the enormous advantage that
it can trill anywhere on the keyboard during the
performance of passages which would require
both hands of the pianist to be occupied with
other parts of the score. A brilliant example
of this is seen in the
example shown in Fig.
53, where a trill is.
placed in the middle of
a vast and intricate
musical structure.
At this point it is
proper to observe that
Fig. 53
it is possible to arrange the perforating of a trill
in such a way that the effect is as bad at one
speed as it is good at another. Frequently a trill,
which at the speed of five feet per minute
(tempo dial 50) would be very effective, is
nevertheless perforated so that at the speed of
ten feet per minute, for instance, it is almost
totally ineffective. I should like therefore to
point out to arrangers the necessity of studying
carefully and managing judiciously this impor-
tant matter. It is unfortunately true that some-
times the same relative spacing is adopted for
all the trill perforations throughout an entire
selection. This practice should not be encour-
aged, even where the tempo remains, or may
be tolerated if it remains, the same from one
end of a piece to the other. The reason for this
broad statement is found in the obvious fact that
the pneumatics of the player-piano do not re-
spond with exactly the same celerity when trill-
ing throughout the entire compass of the piano.
It will be found that trills high up in the treble
are usually voiced more clearly and accurately
than when they appear in the bass, and the rea-
son of course is to be found in the differing
weight of the hammers at the two ends of the
piano. If the player-pianist be extremely skill-
ful, he will imitate the fingers of the manual
pianist in giving a little more power at one end
of the piano than at the other, but it is not to
be expected that most persons who own player-
pianos shall be able to do anything of this sort.
Generally speaking, then, whenever a trill as-
sumes a position of artistic importance in a
player-piano transcription it should be treated
by the arranger
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much as an artist
~*t> '* :• I • would finger it, that
is to say, it should
Fig. 54
~frrf~H i uj j—r^ begin with a few widely sepa-
rated perforations quickly lead-
ing to an extremely rapid succession, as shown
Fig. 52
by Fig. 54.
tremely effective upon the player-piano. On
The general effect of a trill may be greatly
the other hand a distracting and confusing effect
improved by various judicious methods. For
instance, the addition of an animated figure
above or below it often produces very fine re-
WORCESTER, MASS.
sults, as in the marvelous passage from Chopin's
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Second Ballade, shown in Fig. 55. Chopin was
fond of figures like this and so was Beethoven.
Also all kinds of Pneumatics and Supplies
Fine examples of such treatment may be found
:
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WIND MOTORS for PLAYER-PIANOS
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in Chopin's two piano concertos, in E Minor
and F Minor respectively. The student is re-
ferred also to a very remarkable passage in the
finale
of Beethoven's
Waldstein Sonata Op. 53,
as well as in the second
movement of the great
Fig. 55
sonata in A Flat for piano
and violin known as the Kreutzer.
Concluding Observations on the Trill
Generally speaking, we may say that when a
trill is used in the upper registers its effect is
to brighten. When it is used in the middle regis-
ter it tends to soften and make smooth, and thus
lend peculiar charm. In the lower register its
tendency is to become somewhat dull.
The trill has considerable power of sustaining
tone. Nevertheless it cannot without becom-
ing monotonous be used to anything like the
same extent as the tremolo. It is well to re-
member that the more often one uses a trill the
less effective it becomes; therefore, it should
be sparingly used.
Of course, in scoring for the orchestra one
can use the trill or tremolo almost constantly
without causing monotony, if this be done
artistically. To give an example, Richard Wag-
ner on almost every other page of the score of
The Mastersingers has made use of the trill,
while again in his earlier Tannhauser score al-
most as persistent a use of the tremolo is made.
The orchestra, however, is one thing and the
player-piano another. The player-piano will not
bear to be loaded down with too many de-
vices of ornamentation. This is a fundamental
rule and the only exception to it probably is
to be found in the case of the arpeggio where
the player-piano is indeed in its natural element.
Nevertheless what I have said above remains
true: The judicious use of ornamentation may
render the player-piano score a thing of beauty;
and in consequence a joy forever. On the other
hand, injudicious use tends to overloading the
score with a useless and confusing weight of
ornamentation. The present condition of many
hundreds of existing player-piano arrangements
bears eloquent and unhappy witness to this
truth.
(To be continued)
CUBAN PIANIST RECORDS FOR Q R S
Miss Catalina Forteza, Prominent Pianist of
Havana, Cuba, Has Recorded Fifteen Popular
Cuban Selections on Q R S Rolls
Miss Catalina Forteza, prominent pianist of
Havana, Cuba, has recorded fifteen most favorite
Cuban and Spanish compositions exclusively
for Q R S player rolls She is at present in this
country and will appear in a piano recital in New
York City Thursday evening, January 1, 1920.
Miss Forteza was born in Havana, Cuba, and
began study of the piano at home with her sis-
ter. • At the age of seven she played in public
with great success, and four years later met Ben-
jamin Orbon, the great Spanish pianist and
composer, with whom she completed her studies,
becoming his preferred pupil, obtaining a gold
medal (by opposition) playing the "Great Con-
cert Op. 16 Grieg" with orchestra accompani-
ment in his musical conservatory. Later she
gave several piano recitals at noted music cen-
ters in Cuba and met with even greater success
from the public and press critics.
Spanish and Cuban music lovers will look
forward to her autograph and word rolls that
will be produced by the Q R S. Co., exclusively,
shortly. The Spanish text will appear on the
word rolls.