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THE MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
mysterious principles, and any one who chooses
to exercise a little care, coupled with the pos-
(Continued from page 5)
session of some natural musical feeling, no mat-
Wherefore the whole argument against the ter if it be as yet untrained, can understand and
"touch" of the player must rest on other grounds. apply them. Practice makes perfect, of course.
A Simple Experiment
When the rolls, the use of the sustaining pedal,
Perhaps the simplest and best way one can
the art of phrasing and all other features of
player-pianism are brought to needed perfection, take to enter the land of musical beauty which
the player-pianist will not have to apologize to a mastery of phrasing opens up to us is by
way of a familiar song. Let us, for example,
the pianist for a moment.
take a word roll of a fine modern song like
What Is Phrasing?
Now, as to the art of phrasing. The player- Nevin's "Rosary," which is known to all. Modern
pianist who has gone along with us so far will art-songs are best for our purpose because the
realize that a good pianist, in the interpretation music fits the words closely in most cases.
he gives to music, imparts a personal element Now, let the words be written down and read
to his playing which clearly indicates that he over, until one knows them almost by heart.
has a personal and perhaps quite unique idea Then let the music be played over without the
of what that music means. The art of phrasing words. If this is done carefully and patiently,
is simply the art of so grouping the tones of a it will soon come about that the mere reading
piece of music as to leave on the mind of the over of the words will suggest the tune. On
listener a calculated impression. Just as a tlie other hand, when the tune is gone over
speaker groups his words into sentences and mentally it will fit itself to the rhythm of the
his sentences into paragraphs, in such a manner words so that we shall find ourselves stressing
as to convey to his hearers some desired mean- unconsciously parts of the tune, hastening here,
ing, so also the interpreting musician gives to pausing there, just as we should if we were
the music he performs a similar treatment. He trying to recite the words so as to give them
"speaks" it, he "utters" it. He treats is as a sort the full significance which the writer intended.
of speech, only a much finer and less halting
Phrasing, then, is to music what reading aloud
speech.
is to poetry. Music groups itself into sentences
Does this require any particular genius? Well, just as words do. Composers, in writing their
in its higher aspects it does, but then that is the music, adopt the most elaborate means for indi-
case with all arts whatever. The principles on cating the phrasing they desire, putting in a
which the art of phrasing is founded are not variety of signs which show how the sentences
THE ART OF THE PLAYER=PIANIST
You Can Install The
ARTROLA PLAYER ACTION
It Saves Time—Labor—Worry
It can be installed by any player repair man and comes to you completely assembled.
It is the product of years of practical experience and for durability, flexibility and freedom
from trouble cannot be surpassed.
One of the outstanding features is its wonderful accessibility. It is not necessary to remove
the entire action to examine any part of it.
THE ARTROLA PLAYER CO.
212-224 North Sheldon St.
CHICAGO, ILL.
MAY
28, 1921
and paragraphs of the music, as it were, are to
be taken. It is a pity that the music-roll makers
neglect these entirely.
If the suggestion given above be taken up the
phrasing possibilities of a piece of music will
soon discover themselves, assisted by the con-
venient nearness of the words. The process can
be greatly assisted by joining up with curved
pencil lines on the roll the beginning and end
of each separate phrase or group in the tune.
When this is done let the student try to accent
lightly and also retard on the first note or chord
of each phrase. This slight pause with the stress
is called the agogic accent, and can very easily
be managed by means of the tempo lever. Every
player-pianist can master this accent, which is
very effective and is used by all good pianists.
In the same way, if the student would get a
singer to mark the breath marks on a word-roll,
and then try to phrase the music accordingly,
pausing at the beginning of each phrase and thus
marking the phrases off from each other, the
whole idea of phrasing would soon open up
wonderfully.
(To be continued)
AUTOMATIC LINES FAVORED
Operators Piano Co. Doing Largest Business in
Its History
CHICAGO, I I I . , May 23.—Alfred Livingston, of
the Operators Piano Co., gives some interest-
ing information on conditions in the automatic
field at the present time. He has been amazed
at the increase in sales of these instruments
during the past few months. Here's what he
has to say about it: "Our concern accomplished
the largest business done in any month in our
history during the month of April, 1921. In con-
trast to ordinary lines of pianos the automatic
business seems to get better when the other lines
get worse. There is a very good reason for this,
founded on past experience. Whenever the gen-
eral piano business during the past ten years has
shown depression the automatic business has
shown an increase for the reason that in dull
times the piano dealers look around for extra
lines to add extra profits and one of the first
and most profitable has always proved to be the
automatic field. When the regular piano busi-
ness is brisk the piano merchant in whose hands
lies the disposal of our line becomes self-satisfied
and does not seek so keenly after automatic pros-
pects, but when business falls off he looks around
for something that will improve it. And the
same with the proprietor of the establishment
to whom he seeks to sell the automatic piano.
The latter can be easily shown how his own busi-
ness, also fallen off through hard times, can be
made to increase by the aid of good music. It
has been shown almost wherever an automatic
instrument has been placed that this proves an
invigorator to business. The arguments in the
piano dealer's hands for the sale of automatic in-
struments are irrefutable. He can show directly
to the man with whom he deals how the latter is
to benefit by the purchase."