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MAY
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
29, 1920
Being Purely Personal Patter, Pertinent to the Purposes of This Periodical by
the Review's Tame Philosopher, to wit: the Editor of This Player Section,
Who Herein Presents His Views on Matters of Greater or Less Import
Barbering an Industry
There are those who think that the prosperity
of this great land depends upon accidental cir-
cumstances; that the action of banks can of
itself change the basis of industry from prosper-
ity to poverty and from confidence to despair.
It is a pity that it should be so, but the "fraid-
cat" we have always with us. The best thing
that can happen to any industry is to go to the
barber's chair at regular intervals to have its
flowing locks gently scissored into orderliness.
Our industry is not in any worse a predicament
than is any of the great staple industries in the
country. It is confronted with many prob-
lems, but these problems are being faced by
practically every other line of business at the
present time, and chief among the perplexities is
the question of transportation. That question
is not yet fully solved. The music industries
cannot ask to be awarded priority of trans-
port over the basic industries which are con-
cerned with food and housing. Nor ought there
to be the least difference of opinion in this sense.
If the people, find themselves in a bad way as
to food supplies or housing, they will not
buy pianos, player-pianos or talking machines.
That is plain. Wherefore, let us take thought
and realize that whatever just now is best for the
country at large is also best for us. Let us
realize, too, that the prosperity of the music
industries does not depend upon the political
vagaries of legislatures cr on the wisdom or
caprice of bankers. It rests upon the desire of
the people for music. That desire nothing can
take away.
The Essentiality of Music
Next to food, housing and clothes, music is an
essential. It should take rank far in advance
of candy and motor cars. One can get along
without a pleasure car, but the world cannot
get along without music. The attitude we must
take, therefore, while our problems are being
solved, is that while we have to acquiesce tem-
porarily in the remedial measures which are im-
posed on us by the present confusion and strain,
we must insist on our rights. It is our right to
be treated as something better than a non-
essential, something much more than a luxury.
It is hard to see anything more important to us
than this duty of teaching our politicians that
the music industry is not a luxury trade.
Players and Pragmatism
These random remarks might have been writ-
ten up to this point in any editorial section of
this paper, for they have not been directed espe-
cially to the player-piano. Here, however, is
COMPOSING AND ARRANGING MUSIC FOR THE PLAYER
(Continued from page 5)
isters, as already laid down, represents the third
of our guiding principles. Drawing again on
Chopin for an example, a remarkable syncopated
effect will be found in the example from the
scherzo of his Second Sonata, as shown by Fig.
eighty-seven. Here we find a most magnificent
m
Fig. 88
effect, where the syncopations follow successive-
ly upon the second, first and third beats of the
measure. Virtually the entire keyboard is em-
ployed in obtaining this astounding effect. At
this point, it may be well to assume that in the
matter of facility of transition from one reg-
Fig. 89
ister to another, the player-piano is rivaled only
by the orchestra. An effect like the intense bit
of Contrast arid Color shown by Fig. eighty-
eight is of course only possible by purely or-
chestral means. The quotation is from the first
scene of the third act of Wagner's "Tristan and
Isolde."
d. Imitation or Repetition of harmonic pro-
gressions, or musical fragments, from one reg-
ister, in another register. Once more I quote
from that fountain of wonders, Chopin, and
show in Fig. eighty-nine a beautiful song-bird
effect from his Fifth Etude, which amply illus-
trates the principle just mentioned. Seldom
does one hear a pianist phrase this passage
with proper accentuation; but the player-piano,
with its marvelous faculty of speed and dy-
namics, never fails to bring out the characteristic
bird-song quality of these bars.
There are still many other ways of securing
Contrast, as for instance by means of
e. Rhythmical figures
f. Phrasing
g. Change of Coloring itself.
Thus we see that contrast may be obtained
without Color, and also by means of Color; and
conversely Color may be had without Contrast
or with it. A piece cf music may be arranged
for the player-piano with approximately the
same Color value throughout, and yet be full
of Contrasting effects. On the other hand, a
work may be arranged with a wide variety of
Coloring, but with hardly any Contrast. Never-
theless, the two factors, Contrast and Color, are
so closely associated in their nature, that usually
speaking, they are not considered separately.
The subject is, however, of such great impor-
tance that I shall have to give it a little further
consideration before we go on to the next sub-
ject for discussion.
(To be continued)
WRIGHT-PLAYER-ACTION
the player-piano's cue. If we have to teach the
lawmakers that music is not a luxury we can
make the best use of the player-piano as an
example in support of our case. The one thor-
oughly democratic instrument of music, the one
instrument which places the production of music,
not its mere reproduction, at the disposal of
rich and poor, instructed and uninstructed alike,
is the player-piano; a triumph of native talent
and industry. Here is something which is doing
good wherever it goes. Although it is not
always wisely used, although its capacities are
sometimes prostituted to unworthy ends, still
the fact remains that its influence has, on the
whole, been most beneficial to the general morale
of the people and more especially in the social
work of promoting family life. The player-piano
in the home unites rather than separates, binds
rather than severs. In this respect it stands
in agreeable contrast with the automobile and
the motion picture house. It represents more
perfectly than any other musical instrument the
characteristic American attitude towards the
arts, the pragmatic attitude which says "prove
it to me, show me." We ought to think enough
of our player-piano to be proud of it and to
e'efend it from all attacks.
"Physician, Heal Thyself"
How are we going to secure the attention of
those who make laws and issue administrative
orders, those whose duties are to keep the ves-
sel of industry off the rocks, if indeed we have
not ourselves the requisite belief in our own mis-
sion? How are we going to show those who
have to be shown that music is an essential un-
less we believe it ourselves? How are we going
to induce an interest in music on the part of the
people, unless we show that we share that
interest? It is hopeless to expect that the
people will take any tender interest in us at a
time of strain and difficulty, if we are to them.
just another industry, pursuing just our own
selfish ends and making a parade of arguments
in which we do not ourselves believe. The big-
gest task the leaders of our industry have at this
moment is to teach the rank and file to interest
themselves in the product they sell. That prod-
uct is music—not machines and instruments, but
music. The great task now is to induce the mer-
chant to take an interest in the spreading of
musical ideas. An ounce of example is worth a
pound of precept. If the music trades remain
conspicuously aloof from any and all popular
musical movements and show in the persons of
their representatives no living interest in the
subject, how can it be expected that there shall
be any popular sympathy in the cause of the
essentiality of the music industries? We are
sellers of music. We say that this music is
needed by the world. This is all true, but how
much are we showing that we believe in music
practically as a doer of the great needs we so
glibly talk about? What percentage of piano
workers own pianos? How many tuners own
player-pianos? How many merchants take an
active part in local musical movements, not
merely commercially but as active workers for
the common good? These are practical ques-
tions and in the answer to them lies the whole
truth about essentiality or its reverse, so far
as we are concerned.
MAKES GOOD PIANOS BETTER
WRIGHT & SONS CO.