Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
PLAYER SECTION
NEW YORK, OCTOBER 30, 1920
Despite Predictions to the Contrary, the Straight Upright Is Not Doomed to
Extinction, But Is Firmly Intrenched in Its Proper Place, a Situation
Which Player Manufacturers Should Endeavor to Strengthen and Maintain
A good deal has been said about the player-
piano superseding the straight instrument. It
has been predicted over and over again that the
day of the straight upright is over, and that the
only straight piano which will survive is the
grand in one form or another. The prophecy
has not yet been confirmed and one begirls to
see ever more clearly that it is not going to
be fulfilled. There is a reason for this which
piano merchants will do well to understand
clearly.
A Prophecy Gone Wrong
In the first place it should be understood that
the straight piano has recently been showing
unmistakable signs of life and an equally un-
mistakable aversion to being pronounced even
ailing. Now some merchants seem to think
that this means bad times coming for the player-
piano. We do not believe that any such fear
is warranted.
The straight upright piano appeared to be
doomed no. longer than a year ago. At that
time the demand for pianos of all sorts was
too far ahead of any possible supply to permit
any careful analysis: but it certainly seemed
that the player-piano and the grand would have
the field to themselves just as soon as the sup-
ply caught up with the demand. This belief
has, however, been disproved. The straight up-
right piano is still in demand, and there have
been signs that the ratio it bears to the player-
piano is becoming greater. What is the reason
and what should the merchant think about this
phenomenon?
The Price Question
Probably the best way of looking at the whole
situation is to combine the strictly economic
aspect with the more artistic and intangible, but
not the less real, question of public taste. It
is only fair to point out that the economic ques-
tion does certainly come into play. A great
many persons in this country have never had
a fair understanding or appreciation of piano
values. The present prices of pianos and player-
• pianos of all kinds represent neither profiteering
nor any illegitimate manipulation. They repre-
sent only the present cost of making pianos
translated into terms of customary profit. But
the people who have never appreciated piano
values have sometimes looked askance at the
present figures marked on grand pianos. The
straight piano trade has therefore advantages.
A Genuine Shortage
But this is only the smallest feature of the
situation. What is far more important is that
there has been a genuine shortage of non-
player uprights. The demand for the upright
piano, whether with or without player, has
never been so slow as recently some of us had
supposed it to be. So many manufacturers
seem to have been devoting all their energy
to producing players that an upright shortage
was bound to be manifested sooner or later.
The facts do not suggest that the player-piano
is being in any way neglected. They only show
that the straight piano has been neglected. This
is quite another matter, of course.
Then there is still another side to the ques-
tion. Allowing that the above explanations are,
at the least, plausible, it is very plain that the
question to be considered is whether the straight
piano is or is not an advantage to the player
business. There cannot be any question as to
this. The straight piano ought to be encour-
aged to the utmost.
A Mistaken Advertisement
A short time ago a piano merchant in the
West, advertising a reproducing piano, stated
in substance that 75 per cent of the pianos sold
(straight pianos, that is) are condemned to use-
lessness. A statement like this is simply
wrong-headed, in our opinion. For one thing,
it is not accurate to say that three-fourths of
the number of existing pianos are useless, that
is, never used. In the second place, if this
actually were true, it would argue that the
piano trade of this country is run as an annex
to the furniture trade. For if pianos are use-
less to the extent of three-fourths of their num-
ber, it is plain that they are bought merely as
furniture in that proportion. Statements like
these are inaccurate, to put it mildly.
The Basis of the Player Business
The truth of the matter is that the straight
piano is absolutely needed as-a companion to
the player-piano. In one quite accurate sense of
the term, the player-piano could not for a mo-
ment exist if it were not for the straight in-
strument. The present vogue for hand-played
rolls ought in itself to prove this, for it is as
plain as possible that there would be an imme-
diate and permanent decline in the demand
for player-pianos and music rolls if the human
element were withdrawn. Now this element
depends upon hand-playing. That is to say, the
prosperity of the player-piano depends upon the
cultivation of music by persons who are willing
to go through the long training necessary to
acquire the ability to play the piano well. In
fact, to put the matter on a still more solid
basis, it is no more than true to say that player-
piano makers and sellers ought to encourage
the study and cultivation of piano-playing in
every legitimate way, and ought to do every-
thing in their power to spread true musical
propaganda amongst the people in every section
of the country.
After all, whenever we have discussions of
this sort, they always come down to the simple
fact that the interests of the player business
are inextricably bound up with those of music
proper. The musician may think, if he likes,
that the player-piano has nothing to do with
him; but by no manner of reasoning can the
player-piano maker or seller argue that he has
nothing to do with the musician. To realize
this thoroughly, it is only necessary to ask what
would happen to the player-piano if all the
musical knowledge now existing in the world
were suddenly rendered unavailable. The ques-
tion is its own answer.
The Player's Functions
The real business of the player-piano is
duplex in its nature. First of all it exists to
supply music on demand to those who have not
the ability to play the piano manually. In that
sense it is primarily a piano; plus the ability to
play it. It depends upon the knowledge of
piano-playing and composition, of harmony and
arranging, possessed by musicians, all of whom
have depended upon the straight piano for their
education. Consequently the straight piano
stands behind the player-piano from the start,
in this sense.
The Other Side
There is, however, another side to the player-
piano. Doctor Schaaf has been showing in his
articles, of which the last appears in this issue,
that the player-piano is in effect also an entirely
separate musical instrument, possessing a voice
and a character of its own, together with a
great many other features even more impor-
tant. He shows that in reality the player-piano
is slowly giving rise to a new school of com-
position. In that case, the makers and sellers
of the player-piano will all the more wish to
conserve the straight piano. If we finally work
out into an altogether new appreciation of the
player-piano as an instrument which is even,
more than the piano, plus the ability to play it,
then it will be extremely necessary for us to
preserve the original ten-finger piano for its
own sake.
Each Dependent on the Other
The piano and the player-piano exist together
as comrades and friends. The prosperity of the
one is the prosperity of the other. To think
otherwise is to misunderstand the whole signifi-
cance of the player-piano for the music indus-
tries. The more straight pianos we sell the
more player-pianos we shall sell also.