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THE
FEBRUARY 26, 1921
MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
The Art of the Player-Pianist
The following is the fourth in a series of articles by Wil-
liam Braid White. The aim of the series is to teach the
salesman and the music lover the secrets of playing the
player-piano artistically, a secret apparently known to few,
but which can readily bv imparted to anyone who is inter-
ested in music and is willing to give the player-piano a
fair trial. At the present time, when it is more than ever
necessary to attack the selling problem from the stand-
point of demonstraimi, this series should be extremely
valuable.
4—FINDING THE MELODY
In the last article we said that it is now time
to begin our systematic search for the melody
in all music. Tune or melody is the foundation
of music and, in exact truth, melody is all there
is to music. Accompaniment, support or what-
ever it is called, turns out in the vast majority
of cases to be in itself part of the general idea
of melody.
Search the scores of the great
contrapuntists of the sixteenth century and
-later and you will find that melody is the whole
warp and woof of them. It is a case of one
melody or tune appearing successively in the
soprano, alto, tenor and bass voices successively,
never ceasing its flow, and supported in the
other voices at each moment by subsidiary
melodies. The essential melody forms the tune,
and the flowing secondary melodies, each stand-
ing by itself as a complete tune, form a steady
and consistent support.
The Prevalence of Melody
With the development of the art-song the
single voice appears as a musical species, sup-
ported by accompaniments of chords. But the
music of to-day is again going back to the
point where the voice in a song is treated just
as a part of the general structure, instead of
as the only essential element. The modern
song, or piano piece, for instance, not mention-
ing for the moment the orchestral fantasy, poem
or symphony, carries the principal melody suc-
cessively through all the parts from soprano
to bass, whether or not a solo instrument or
solo voice appears. In an old-fashioned ballad
the tune is all in the voice-part and the accom-
panying instrument carries supporting chords
only. In a modern piece piano and voice seem
to blend together in one, and the melody is as
often in the piano as it is in the voice.
The search for melody is at the bottom of
all playing of the player-piano. As composers
of music more and more come to see that the
player-piano is an instrument sui generis, and
begin seriously to study its possibilities in such
a manner, for instance, as Doctor Schaaf so
admirably is doing, they will begin to build up
from its great capacities a richness and com-
plexity of melody which will astonish the
musical world.
The player-piano can be a
melody instrument. It can be the greatest of
melody instruments because it allows as does
no other, save the grand orchestra, for ingeni-
ous and beautiful interweaving of melodic pat-
terns. Any combination or group of tones can
be played on it at any speed, in any quantity or
with any complexity of rhythmic pattern, as
easily as can the simplest of nursery rhymes.
Now, there are two ways of finding the
melody in player-piano music, whether this
music be arranged for the piano or orchestra
originally, or instead be specially composed for
the player. The first way is by listening. The
second is by co-ordinating the sounds heard
with the patterns which the perforations make
in the moving roll of paper.
The Rhythmic Pattern
If the reader will take a music roll of some
simple song and unwind it along a table till
several feet of it are in view at once he will
immediately be struck with the fact that the
perforations arrange themselves in groups,
quite as distinct in their way as the successive
patterns on wallpaper. A very good way of
seeing this plainly is to begin with a very simple
word roll, as, for instance, one of the Nursery
Rhymes or Mother Goose rolls. This should
first be played over, using the words as a guide
to the melody perforations, until the tune asso-
ciated with a certain set of words is familiar
to the ear. Then let the roll be wound up and
started again, and this time let the experimenter
mark with a pencil each of the perforations set
against the words for, say, two sentences, half
a verse. Now take off the roll and with a
pencil draw a line around the perforations 1
which stand nearest to the words of the first
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line of the song.. Then draw another line around
the perforations which stand nearest' to the
words of the second line. Then unwind the
roil stiH turtiier and careiully lix in the mind s
eye the pattern assumed by the perforations
covering the first line of the song. Then, lastly,
unwind several more feet of tlie roll and go
over it and note how the same pattern can be
iound at intervals further along. Then back to
the beginning and do tlie same thing with the
pattern for the second line.
in this way the 'experimenter may easily
learn to identify the patterns assumed by the
perforations which reproduce the rhythmic and
tonal requirements of the music. The practice
will well repay the person who tries it. In a
comparatively short time the roll will be almost
as open as a book. Save the actual pitch of
each tone, every element in the music is laid
out and set before the eye in a sharp pattern,
which is as easily identified as a pattern of
flowers on a cup or plate.
The Elusive Rhythm
There is more to this even than the mere
ability thus to search out and find the melody
of a composition. The rhythm of music is one
of its most fundamental but most elusive ele-
ments. It is the opinio* of most music teachers
that music notation is very poorly adapted to
teach the idea of sound rhythm.
There is every reason to believe, though this
is not a matter for immediate consideration here,
that the music roll can be used more effectively
than any system of notation in teaching musical
structure and rhythmic analysis, especially if
the perforations can be produced for or by the
student, as, for instance, by the Leabarjan music
perforator.
The beginning player-pianist will find that
the study of the note patterns on the music
roll is of the utmost value to him. He will
soon learn to recognize the shapes which repre-
sent arpeggios, pace notes, trills, octaved melo-
dies and, in fact, all the imaginable combinations
of tones. As he works in this way he will
gradually learn to follow a melody perfectly
by the eye alone. When he can do this he is
on the way to become a true player-pianist.
Remember the Ear
Yet, of course, important and essential as all
this certainly is, the operation of listening must
come first. A simple song or little dance, for
instance, has its melody all in one voice, usually
in the soprano or alto, occasionally with a
transfer to some low voice. But more compli-
cated music is noi so simply developed. In a
modern ballad or fantasy the guiding thread of
melody which runs through the composition
may have to be traced very carefully. It is
advisable to experiment for this by taking, for
example, a Bach fugue and playing it through
very slowly, listening closely for the melody
and noting how it moves from voice to voice.
A little practice in following music of this many-
voiced sort will give the player-piano student
the power to follow the most complicated
melodic scheme. A very good example is Bach's
great fugue in E flat, sometimes known as the
St. Anne's fugue. Another one is the humorous
C minor fugue, No. 2, from the Well-tempered
Clavier. These two (both by Jf §. Bach) can
be obtained in the Melodee Music Co.'s catalog.
The student need not be afraid 'of the name
"fugue."
Just run through the jolly little
C minor piece just mentfoned, going very slowly
without any attempt at expression and simply
concentrating on tracing the melody by ear
through all its phases and movements. He will
cease to shudder at fugues and will find himself
vastly interested in the game of tracking down
the tune.
(To be continued)