Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
SEPTEMBER 27,
1924
THE
MUSIC
TRADE
11
REVIEW
Making the Salesmen Player-Pianists
Proper Demonstration of Instrument to the Prospective Customer An Essential in Improved Merchandising
of the Player-Piano—The Secret of Playing the Player-Piano Lies in the Control of the Pedals
—Some Points of Demonstration Which Must Always Be Observed
T
O-DAY when almost everybody is, or
pretends to be, interested in merchandis-
ing methods for the player-piano, anything
that has to do with the art of playing this in-
strument is decidedly in order. Salesmen are
being told that a new order of things in player
salesmanship is here and that they must not
only know how to play tolerably well, but must
be able to show the customer how to do the
same thing. Since this is now recognized to
be a feature, if not the central point, of all
good player-piano salesmanship, some remarks
on certain of its aspects will not be inappro-
priate.
The secret of playing the player-piano is what
is called the "pedaling." In the technical lan-
guage of the player-piano the word "pedal" has
been appropriated to the use of the apparatus
whereby the pumper bellows are actuated. This
apparatus consists essentially of two foot-
boards each pivoted at one end and at the
other end connected by a link to the moving
wall of the pumper. Thus situated, the foot-
board is pressed by the player-pianist's foot
and the pumper is caused to withdraw air from
the interior of the action, setting up a partial
vacuum and thus enabling the pressure of the
air outside the instrument to actuate the moving
parts.
Principle of Pedal Control
The vacuum system is admirably adapted to
allow the performer upon the player-piano a
wide range of control over the dynamic ele-
ments of piano playing. Because we are dealing
with a fixed maximum of power in the shape
of the atmospheric pressure of 14.75 pounds to
the square inch, it follows that the working
pressure at any moment available must be
equivalent to the difference between this atmos-
pheric pressure and the internal air pressure
as reduced by the operation of the pumpers.
Since likewise the amount of this reduction de-
pends upon the rapidity of movement of the
pumpers, it follows that the more rapidly one
pumps the more power is at that moment made
available, and, of course, the converse is also
true. Therefore the weight of the touch or
the power put behind each pressure of a pneu-
matic upon a section of the piano action is a
function of the pedaling. A sharp rapid stroke
makes for a sudden sharp increase in power
and so produces an "accent," as it is called in
piano playing. Similarly, to pedal steadily and
with much energy builds up a heavy reserve of
power and produces loud, harsh-sounding .re-
sults. On the other hand, if the instrument is
well constructed upon a good design, the player-
pianist may produce from it, by pedal control
throttled down to the very lightest foot pressure
at the slowest speed of movement, tones of an
ethereal softness and delicacy.
The Whole Secret
In fact, the whole secret-of playing the player-
piano is in the art of manipulating the pedal-
control. Everthing else, whether manipulation
of the tempo-lever for phrasing effects or of the
damper and hammer-blow controls for color
or for division of force between treble and bass,
is incidental to this one big feature. He who
masters this masters everything, one might
almost say, for certainly he who understands
the use of the player-piano's pedals will have
no difficulty in aquiring all the other and inci-
dental accessories to the art of playing well.
Now there is nothing difficult about this art.
It does not demand technical study and listen-
ing to long dry dissertations on music. One
gives this assurance to keep from being fright-
ened to death some of those salesmen who
shudder with horror at the very notion of having
to use their brains; although these same men
will puzzle themselves half frantic over the
correct position to assume with a golf-club and
study harder over that than they are ever likely
to be asked to over the player-piano. On the
contrary, what is here suggested involves
simply a little pleasant practice in odd moments.
"Play Softly"
Many salesmen will have access to such ex-
cellent complications as the Q R S Educator
Roll, the Gulbransen Instruction Rolls and the
Story & Clark Repro-Phraso Instruction Roll.
Each of these has its section devoted to teach-
ing the use of the pedals and the acquirement
of what is called "pedal-touch." Without ex-
ception they stress the importance of learning
to play as softly as possible; nor is any other
road so open and straight-pointed towards the
goal. Learn to play as softly as possible!
One very good way of doing this is to use
the instruction rolls aforesaid, which all con-
tain very good text-matter, telling what to do
and how to do it. In default of so good an aid
the following suggestions will be useful:
Take any roll of the straight-cut variety, not
something elaborately hand-played and jazzed
up out of all likeness to its original self, but
preferably a simple ballad, something even as
simple and old-fashioned as "Home Sweet Home,"
or "Annie Rooney." In fact a roll of Old Time
Favorites would be just the thing. Select any
such simple tune and go through it once, pedal-
ing as hard and as fast as possible. Listen
carefully to the appalling harshness and me-
chanical hammering of the music thus produced.
Then rewind to the beginning and this time try
to pedal so slowly that the music roll will travel
only barely at the right speed, and the pneu-
matic only barely operate at all. That is to
say, see how near you can come to not playing
at all, while just avoiding complete silence. Do
this not once, but a dozen times.
It will need at least a dozen goings over to
get the trick and it will be best to stick doggedly
to the same piece. After a while, however, one
finds that the pedals can be kept floating just
enough over the minimum to produce a very
soft, almost whispering, sound. Just as soon
as this is being done easily, one can turn to
another piece and try the same on it. Of
course the actual manipulation of the pedals
must be adjusted to each piece, according to the
number of notes being played from moment to
moment. The more elaborately- a passage is
scored the more work must be done to supply
the minimum of power to play it, and so like-
wise in proportion for any higher power applied.
It is all done by the "feel"' of the pedals under
one's feet, and by the sound of the music in
one's ears. The aim is to acquire the trick of
playing at the very lowest possible level of
sound-power. Once this little simple trick is
mastered, everything else follows from it with-
out difficulty.
Accents Too
Thus, accenting becomes a very simple matter
once one has learned to play very softly. The
next exercise in pedal-control should be in fact
an exercise in producing accents over a very
soft background. This is simply done by taking
any tune with a clear melody and starting to play
it as softly as possible, then pressing sharply,
but not with an all-through stroke, upon one
pedal only, just as each perforation representing
a melody note crosses in its turn the tracker-
bar. The effort should be to get an accent
just strong enough to be perceptible over the
soft background of the other sounds. It is
easy to kick hard and get a "crash"; but that is
not how to play the player-piano. One can sell I
a dozen instruments by showing customers the;
trick of playing softly to everyone that can be
sold on the basis of noise. The secret of the
soft accent trick is to use one pedal for accent-
ing, and to press this pedal sharply but very
shortly with the toes only.
t
Other Powerful Accents
;
All other and more powerful accents can!
be obtained the moment this trick of soft'
accenting is mastered. It is only a little trick
and all very simple; yet there is nothing about[
player-piano salesmanship more important.
Play softly, one might say to the salesman, and!
teach your prospect to do the same thing. Itj
is easier than to make a noise; and it createsj
sales where noise kills them.
To Enlarge Pipe Organ Plant
An extensive addition to the H. Pilcher's
Sons pipe-organ factory, of Louisville, Ky., has
been announced by that firm and will be built
shortly at a cost of $100,000. The addition will
be of brick and concrete and will be three
stories in height.
Pratt Read
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