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THE MUSIC TRADE
APRIL 29, 1922
REVIEW
A Review and Appreciation of Sidney Grew's New Book, " The Art of the
Player-Piano," in Which the Author Has Set Forth Clearly and Accurately
the Fundamentals Underlying the Player's Mechanical and Musical Aspects
When a musician has once been induced to take
an interest in the player-piano he usually becomes
the most enthusiastic of player-pianists. That
this statement is true has been demonstrated over
and over again. For in truth it takes a musician
to understand the player-piano's musical possi-
bilities and to turn them to the best account.
Moreover, a musician who turns player-pianist
does not worry over mechanical refinement half
so much as might be expected. With the sim-
plest mechanism he produces effects unattain-
able by persons less skilled and takes real pleas-
ure in pitting his brains against the mechanical
limitations of the instruments. This, too, is some-
thing to be remembered.
Such reflections come acutely to mind in read-
ing the very remarkable book, "The Art of the
Player-piano," by Sidney Grew (E. P. Dutton,
New York. 1922). Mr. Grew is an eminent Eng-
lish musician who for some twenty years has
been interested in the piano player and player-
piano. As teacher, player and theorist he has
been before the musical world in his native coun-
try for more than a quarter-century and his posi-
t ; on is established. When, therefore, we find that
he has taken up the study of the player-piano as
an independent means for producing music and
has come to definite conclusions which enable
him to write a book on the subject we must con-
clude that there is more in the player-piano than
the men of the trade commonly know.
The very small group of thoroughly masterly
player-pianists in this country has received little
or no encouragement from the trade and to-day
there is not a single professional player-pianist
left. On the other hand, there still remains abroad
a body of educated amateur opinion and sentiment
in respect of the player-piano which makes it
worth while to cultivate the art of playing. A
group of distinguished musicians, headed by the
eminent critic, Ernest Newman, and including
Mr. (irew, has taken tip with enthusiasm the
study of the player-piano and has thereby in-
vested the subject with an air of respectability
which it has never, in this country, been able to
v. ear. Here, unfortunately, musicians have pre-
ferred to sneer and ignore, save where commer-
cial considerations have induced them to lend
their names and art to the exploitation of the
reproducing piano, with which, however, we have
no present concern.
An Imposing Volume
Mr. Grew's book is an imposing volume and its
table of contents at first sight stuns the reader.
Certain trade journals and others have taken upon
themselves to assume that because Mr. Grew talks
much about rhythms and rhythmic playing, using
scientifically accurate language in carrying out
his arguments, his book cannot possibly be "prac-
tical." What is wanted, they cry, is something
practical, something which the man in the street
can instantly understand. But the answer to this
cry is very simple. The man in the street will not
pay the slightest bit more of attention to the
most childishly simple text-book than to the
most accurate and scientific unless he be musical-
ly inclined. If he be musically inclined he will
understand and appreciate such scholarly com-
pleteness as Mr. Grew brings to bear.
Mr. Grew's book devotes itself principally to the
development upon a most extensive and elaborate
plan of the sense of rhythmic values in music, to
the end that the player-pianist may learn to pedal
rhythmically, that is how to pedal so that he
can obtain the rhythmic impulses of any musi-
cal sentences with due emphasis at the proper
places.
The Mastery of Pedaling
It is an unfortunate fact that this most fasci-
nating feature of the player-piano has been so
poorly appreciated and so almost entirely
neglected. The few professional demonstrators
have kept their secrets to themselves and none
of them has ever tried to show the ordinary buyer
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how he may attain to anything like mastery over
pedaling. Mastery over pedaling is mastery over
playing, as Mr. (irew rightly says. And, as he
says elsewhere, the player-piano is to be "stimu-
lated," not driven, by the pedals.
This last statement deserves to be emblazoned
in the consciousness of every one who tries to
sell player-pianos intelligently. It is still t^ruc
that the greater number of those who either play
or sell the player-piano arc blissfully unconscious
of any powers residing within its pedals besides
the power to drive the mechanism and thereby
produce some sort of music.
The Springboard of Power
As the author well says, the bellows must
first of all provide a sort of springboard of power
from which to launch the ever-changing accents.
Just as it is impossible to dive without some sort
of take-off so also it is impossible to obtain any
live tone from the player-piano save by first pro-
viding this minimum level of power and keeping
it constantly in existence. But this does not
mean that one must "drive" the player-piano as
one drives a bicycle. We have actually heard a
salesman, well known in the wholesale piano
business, say that the best way to pedal a player
is to imagine oneself on a bicycle going along a
level, well-paved road. Nothing, of course, could
be more false. The pedals are the media through
which we obtain varieties of accent and tone-
quality. They must, indeed, also provide the
needed power for the mechanical part of the work,
that is, for the motor, for the non-speaking ele-
ments generally and for the maintenance of a low-
vacuum level in the playing chests. But when this
has been done, and is being ma'ntained, when the
pedals are keeping this needed minimum supply
constantly afloat, as it were, then the art of
pedaling consists in rising above this when, where
and to the extent needed.
Those who have mastered this art know that
in certain respects the player-piano has a live,
compelling power, as to crispness of accent, sure-
ness of rhythmic impulse an:l convincing capacity
to color rhythms by means of the agogic accent
which hand-players hardly ever attain. Musicians
have often been heard to say that player-pianos
are unable to produce an appropriate rhythmic
flow in music and that plaver-pano playing al-
ways leaves them without any clear understand-
ing or feeling of the true rhythm of a piece. But
if this be their experience it merely shows how-
little the art of pedaling is understood b}' player-
pianists.
The Right Idea
When, therefore, we find that Mr. (irew devotes
the greater part o! his imposing book to a thorough
discussion of all the possible varieties of rhythm
used in music and ol methods for pedaling to
command the expression of these, we must recog-
nize that he is simply doing the right thing. He
is, for the first time, adequately developing a sub-
ject which lies at the basis of all player-pianism.
Mr. Grew believes that a complete study of the
art, based on the principles he lays down, will
occupy the spare time of a player-pianist for sev-
eral years. Does some one gasp at the idea?
Then let him think of golf. Devotees of the royal
and ancient game think nothing of periods of
study extending over decades. Why should the
player-pianist, absorbed in the joy of his hobby,
worry about time? Would to heaven this side—
the side of the hobby, the avocation, the private
delight, the amateur occupation—of the player-
pianist were recognized by our music merchants
and incorporated into their selling policies.