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THE MUSIC TRADE
APRIL 24, 1920
REVIEW
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Being Observations by The Review's Tame Staff Oracle and Dispenser of All
Wisdom, to wit: the Editor of This Player Section, on Matters Pertinent and
Otherwise, Who Herewith Presents His Periodical Outburst of Philosophy
'Oversold"
Oversold? "Yes, of course we are." That is
the story one hears everywhere and it is not
even a joke any longer. In truth the player
business is becoming a good deal more than a
joke. The vicious circle of high costs and high
prices, of the everlasting dog chasing its ever-
lasting tail, is still being described by the en-
tire industry with uudiminished speed. There
is some evidence, indeed, that production, thank
goodness, is once more showing an approach to
the normal, although there is not much chance
of any immediate relief. Any improvement is a
ctuse for rejoicing; we have had so little rea-
son to feel happy over anything of the kind
during the past two years'. The men who do the
thinking—too few in numbers, unhappily—are
all seeing plainly enough that we as a trade are
being condemned to watch inactive while the
public demand sweeps by. The player-piano is
the biggest single article in musical demand at
the moment. It is safe to say that half a
million player-pianos could be sold during 1920
at fair prices—If only they could be built. So
many cannot indeed be built this year, but how
sure are we that we shall build even as many
as the labor supply and the material markets
will allow? When men have heard over and
over again that a certain condition of limita-
tion exists there is sure to be a noticeable let-
down in their productiveness. The mental rea-
sons are recognized by all who study these mat-
ters. Now the truth is that production, at the
moment, is much more a matter of good will
than of labor or material. There somehow
exists a wide-spread belief that, apart from any
and all external conditions, the world is de-
termined not to work this year. The supposed
reasons for the belief really do not matter, but
the belief itself does matter very much. A lit-
tle effort to shake ourselves free from the mes-
merism of the times would help us all much.
The problem of production is rapidly becom-
ing a problem of good will.
A Gap: and a Bridge!
Our genial and expansive local representa-
tive of the Music Advancement Bureau—Anne
Shaw Oberndorfer—she will forgive us for the
epithet—has just got back from the city of
Brotherly Love and queer municipal ways, where
she has been attending a big meeting of per-
sons who engage themselves in teaching music
in the public schools and universities of this
land. Our Anne tells us that one of the best
parts of the convention was the exhibit of what
may be called "educational machinery." The
little Miessner school piano was there, for in-
stance. So, too, was the Leabarjan music per-
forator, which deserves passing mention in this
column. We learn that this little machine
made a hit among the big men and women in
music pedagogy. We learn, too, that every one
of these had an individual view as to its true
function. To some it was principally the music
expositor par excellence; the simplest and best
means for showing the child graphically the
structure and theory of musiic. To another its
great virtue seemed to be in its power to open
up all sorts of special music in the form of music
rolls for the player-piano, whereby that instru-
ment might be made much more valuable for
schools. Which leads to certain thoughts. Is
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The highest class player
actions in the world
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"The valve unit that made the player famous"
it not true that the player-piano has never
achieved in the public school system a position
at all comparable with that which has long
since been achieved by the talking machine? Is
there not an excellent reason for this state of
affairs? Is it not true in fact that the state
of the music roll catalogs has been such that
necessary material often cannot be secured in
roll form for the purposes of schools and school
teaching? The statement does not imply any
deliberate neglect on the part of the music roll
makers; for indeed the school authorities have
had to be bullied into the little any of them has
done for the use of the player-piano. The real
difficulty has been in the absence of some flex-
ible means for producing player music needed
for teaching purposes, but yet not of such gen-
eral interest as to be worth producing commer-
cially. Here comes in the mission of the small
perforator. It is to be hoped that the hint here
given may be treated with consideration; for it
is quite evident that the prestige of the talk-
ing machine to-day is in part founded upon the
useful work it has done and is doing in the
schools. Now, one of the great advantages of
the talking machine is in the great wealth of
vocal music in the catalogs of records. The
term includes both quantity and variety. There
is quantity all right in music roll catalogs, but
not enough variety.
Don't Kill the Goose!
It is time to say once more that in the pres-
ent condition of the piano market the straight
upright piano is in danger of being squeezed
out between the grand and the player. And it is
therefore also time to say that the trade will
be well advised not to allow any such process
to go very far. If the piano market is ever
restricted to players and grands two grave dis-
advantages will begin to operate. On the one
(Continued on page 10)
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