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THE MUSIC TRADE
AUGUST 28, 1920
REVIEW
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The Fundamental Principles Involved
in the Composing and Arranging of
Music for the Player-Piano
BY DR. EDWARD SCHAAF
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(Editor's Note. Doctor Schaaf is a musician who has
iven much attention to the problem of arranging music
or the player-piano in such a way as to bring out the
instrument'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 is to treat the instrument
as a new voice in music." Doctor Schaaf has self-sac-
rificingly 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 published in The Music Trade Review the re-
sults of some earlier researches into this subject, and the
present series of extremely interesting and fascinating ar-
'icles, of which this is the sixteenth, represents the latest
fruit of his studies.)
f
ARRANGING
The great mass of facts and of deductions
therefrom which have been brought together
in the preceding articles have now come to a
place whence we can draw them together, and
present to the reader as a whole the ideas which
I have with some pains and in some consider-
able detail successively presented. This draw-
ing together or summation of the facts I shall
present under the general title of "Arranging."
The reader will not fail to see that in all
which has gone before I have been exploring
difficult and uncertain ground, most of which
has been hitherto quite unknown. The diffi-
culty is great of giving directions which shall
be at once definite and accurate. Any possible
vagueness which the reader may discover in
what has preceded or in what is yet to follow
must be explained on this basis. Following
the section on arranging I shall append certain
concluding remarks under the title of "Plastic
Music." All that has been said so far, and all
that is yet to be said, leads to the conclusion
that the player-piano possesses the power to
serve as the medium for an entirely new school
of musical composition. The adjective "plastic"
best describes the characteristic properties of
this school. It is necessary as a proper con-
clusion and pendant to the present work that
the reader should have presented to him some
of the more positive facts concerning this new
art. From these he may safely pursue further
investigations.
The Preliminary Analysis
The reader need not be reminded now that
transcription for the player-piano involves a
large acquaintance with the science of music
and considerable proficiency in musical studies.
The first and most serious business of the trans-
criber is to make a keen and exhaustive study
of the music which he is called upon to render
suitable for the player-piano. In making this
analysis he must mainly attend to the follow-
ing elements:
(a) General tempo; changes of tempo.
(b) - General and special rhythmical scheme
and treatment.
(c). Polyphonic scheme and treatment.
(d) Nature and importance to the scheme, of
passage work.
(e) Placing of crescendi and diminuendi.
(f) Proper placing of forte and piano mark-
ings; a different point from (e).
(g) Possibility and treatment of mass effects,
(h) Placing of rests.
(i) Utilization of staccato and legato touches,
and general phrasing.
(j) Contrast and color.
(k) Use of ornamentation.
(I) Preservation of balance of tone.
It is scarcely necessary to say that the above
represents a pretty elaborate analysis, but it
certainly does not represent an exaggerated
FOR TONE, BEAUTY
AND LASTING
,
ACCOMPLISHMENT
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thought concerning the same. The transcriber,
however, will do very well to keep before him
that saying of John Ruskin, "Over the doors
of every school of art I would have the one
word, relieved out in letters of pure gold—
'Moderation.'" Here is indeed an essential
tribute in the transcriber's success.
The meaning which the transcriber conceives
the music to be intended to convey must of
course be very carefully grasped. When this
step has been taken and the significance of the
music is plain to the transcriber, he must then
begin to work into the score the details of his
transcription in such a manner as to illuminate
the music, but at the same time not to load
it down with technical or ornamental matter
to such an extent as to endanger the clearness
with which the main musical ideas are to be
presented.
The Critical Register
In this respect let me once more point out
the very great importance of learning to treat
the middle register of the player-piano in an
appropriate manner. Without doubt this region
is the most troublesome of all to handle, and
failure to master it is the cause of a very great
deal of failure. Unless the absolute necessity
of treating this region weightily enough is clear-
ly grasped, the music will always sound "all
top and bottom." Of course such a defect is
more or less inherent in ordinary piano music
indeed, but this has always been overlooked or
tacitly accepted as necessary to the ten finger
piano. With the player-piano there is no long-
er any excuse. Still, this simple fact is usually
not well realized, and I hope these articles are
doing something towards bringing the realiza-
tion into effect. Certainly the arranger will
find a whole new region of beautiful possibili-
ties opened out to him just as soon as he grasps
the importance of this critical register.
"'Rehandling" Music
Generally speaking, most ordinary piano
•music sounds very feeble, mechanical and old-
fashioned on the player-piano, unless it has been
rehandled along the lines I am discussing, and
especially in connection with the critical region
of the middle register. In order to find this
out one only has to play over a few of the
many music rolls now on the market. Yet the
same music properly treated for the player-
piano becomes strong, live, interesting and fas-
cinating. Of course, the works of a flexible
writer like Chopin, who understood the piano
thoroughly, do not need much rehandling, since
fortunately the very nature of his musical fancy
is extremely well suited to the player-piano, as
anyone can tell by examining the internal struc-
ture of his nocturnes, preludes, impromptus,
etc. On the other hand, very much music
indeed of the most romantic character has never
been expressed perfectly by the ten-finger
piano. In cases like these, of which many
examples can be given, the fullest resources of
the player-piano should be unsparingly em-
ployed.
There are no signs in musical notation for
some of the most important elements in inter-
pretation. There is no satisfactory way, for
instance, of indicating the composer's ideas
concerning what I may call (for want of a
better term) nuance of color. Whether the
arranger be himself composer or not, but
wherever he has grasped the internal meaning
of the music he is to transcribe, he will per-
ceive, in place after place, sometimes indeed
throughout the whole piece, the insufficiency
,-AUTO-PLAYER ~ '
The WERNER INDUSTRIES CO.
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and weakness of the signs which alone he can
find on the score to indicate these subtle
points. That is why he must carefully work
into the perforated master roll every single
point relating to color and its shadings which
he feels to be needed. For instance, he must
never hesitate to lengthen or shorten the time
value of notes, to space out arpeggios to fit in
with his ideas and so on.
Manipulating Time Values
Rightly speaking, of course, the player-piano
is not a true melody instrument. Yet any ap-
parent weakness here 'can be entirely neu-
tralized by correct understanding of the rules I
have already laid down. Moreover, the player-
piano has a great advantage over the ten-
finger piano, inasmuch as any tone which is
not immediately repeated may be set down on
the roll at its mathematical time value. In
consequence of this fact, every tone can be
held just as long as it ought to be held, and
the color effects which on the score are al-
ways so much better than they are when re-
produced by hand on the keyboard can come
out in their full glory. Even when tones are
repeated, the amount of shortening is ex-
tremely slight, and indeed is less than actually
occurs when the same process is gone through
by hand.
In connection with this matter of shortening
repeated notes a great deal depends on the
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Fig. 97
tempo. As a rule a very small fraction indeed
of value is knocked off. In some cases in
fact it is actually better to shorten broad har-
monic bass tones as shown in Fig. 97, for other-
wise the rich partial tones would swell the
volume of sound to such a degree that the
melodic voice would be overpowered. In the
Fig. 98
same way, it may be pointed out that where it
is desired to secure a light and graceful accom-
paniment the bass tones may also be slightly
curtailed, as in the example of Paderewski's
"Cracovienne Fantastique," shown by Fig. 98.
(To be continued)
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