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FEBRUARY 28,
THE MUSIC TRADE
1925
REVIEW
The Field for Accompaniment Rolls
A Type of Roll for Which There Will Exist a Growing Market as the Public of Player-piano Owners Be-
comes More Familiar With the Musical Capabilities of That Instrument—The Possibilities
Which Exist and the Way in Which They Can Be More Widely Exploited
HAT there has always been a small but
faithful company of ardent player-pianists
is known to every person whose business
it is to deal with such matters; and that the
number of these faithful is steadily increasing
is another matter likewise known. When we
find that a house like the Gulbransen Co., made
up of practical men, thinks it worth while to put
on the market at a moderate price a grand
piano fitted with a personal expression player
action one may be sure that the spirit which
some have thought dead is not dead at all.
Some day indeed the trade generally will
realize this, but until that day (which is not so
far distant as some perhaps think) we must be
content to address a comparatively small com-
pany of the faithful when from time to time we
desire to talk about the music of the player-
piano and its beauties.
And this month we want to talk about a re-
finement in the art of the player-pianist which
does not seem to be half so well known as we
should like. We intend to talk for a few para-
graph spaces upon ensemble music and the de-
lights of it as practiced with the player-piano,
a partner in the combination.
A Wonderful Catalog
For many years the Aeolian Co. issued a
catalog of "accompaniment rolls," so-called.
The name was very much less inclusive than
it ought to have been, for the rolls listed in
this wonderful book were by no means mere
"accompaniments" to songs or little solo violin
pieces. They comprised piano parts in sonatas
for piano and violin, piano and cello, piano and
flute, solo piano part in piano concertos, orches-
tral parts in concertos for piano, for violin and
for cello, piano parts in trios, quartets and quin-
tets. In fact, the "accompaniment" catalog was
a catalog of a whole library of musical beauty
of a kind which is seldom explored by owners
of player-pianos, but which adds an hundred-
fold, to the value of a player-piano and puts its
ownership and playing at once upon the pedes-
tal of real art. To be able to give accompani-
ment even to a singer is much. To do the
piano part in a trio or quintet is not only more
than this, but is immensely more, is, in fact,
something vastly more delightful and more
satisfying. In fact, it is probably true to say
that no one knows how delightful the player-
piano can be until he (or she) has become adept
at taking part with that instrument in ensemble
music.
T
We have heard recently that very probably
the "accompaniment catalog" to which refer-
ence has been made will be re-issued and its
contents made generally available. In such a
happy circumstance many player-pianists will
have opportunities never before realized of test-
ing the truth of what we say here.
Nor would it be right to omit reference to
the fact that in the great Q R S roll catalog
the whole of the 70,000 series of numbers is
given up to "accompaniment" rolls, which in-
clude many of the best numbers in the present
writer's rather large collection.
How to Become a Real Musician
The nice thing about taking part in ensemble
music is that it makes the player-pianist a real
musician. When one, two or three others are
playing with the piano time must be kept, and
the fact remembered that each instrument is
Hiffkaat
Quality
simply one of a company. No one instrument
must try to stand out by itself. In fact, when
it comes to learning to play softly there is no
training like the training the player-pianist can
get by playing violin and piano duets, espe-
cially sonatas, where the working out is delicate
and the violin needs support but cannot stand
domination.
The beginner should try his hand first at ac-
companying singers. This is because there is
no difficulty in following words, whereas there
may at first be some confusion in following
printed music, such as is used by other instru-
ments. In starting out, a very good plan is to
take one of the many song rolls and then supply
the singer with the regular printed music of the
song, and allowing him to sing just as he would
with an ordinary accompanist, paying all atten-
tion to his own music and none to the word roll.
Then the player-pianist, having the words on
the roll before him, has merely to follow the
singer's work, pausing, hurrying, slowing, or do-
ing whatever is called for. A little practice will
enable even the veriest tyro to manipulate the
tempo lever without any trouble.
Preparing the Rolls
When music rolls have to be used which con-
tain only the perforations without words, then
a little more care is needed. By far the best
plan is simply to compare the roll with the
sheet music and write the words on the sur-
face of the roll against their corresponding
perforations. Any one who can read music,
even though not a practical musician, can do
this. To be more refined still, one can also
draw across the roll a dividing line at the be-
ginning of each measure, as shown by the
printed music, and number the measures both
of the printed sheet and on the music roll. In
this way the singer and the accompanist can
always be sure of keeping together, while the
necessary work of repetition in difficult or
doubtful passages is in this way much facili-
tated.
Practice makes perfect and one of the first
things one learns in accompanying a singer is
to play softly. The soloist will soon complain
if the piano accompaniment is too noisy; and
too noisy it is almost sure to be at first.
A few weeks of work of this sort will make
any intelligent person into a good accompanist.
Singers who have tried working in this way
often come to prefer it to any other method of
accompaniment, simply because it is crisp, clean
and sure, while an accomplished player-pianist
can give the same freedom and delicacy of op-
portunity to the singer to show off his art as can
the most accomplished accompanist of the usual
sort. Wonderful as the reproducing piano is,
no singer would as soon work with it as with
the personal-expression player. Soloists love
to let themselves go, singers especially, and
above all a flexible accompaniment is what they
want, an accompaniment a little different each
time.
Ensemble Playing
Instrumental or true ensemble work is more
complicated, but after one has had experience
in vocal accompanying it is of all the most
charming. The writer has found it worth while
to prepare his rolls for such work very care-
fully. Comparing the roll with the printed mu-
sic, he marks off and numbers the bar measures,
numbering them also on the other parts to
correspond. He then puts marks on the roll to
show the entry point of each instrument
throughout. Sometimes when one instrument
has a passage by itself, so that the music roll
must be temporarily stopped, it is useful to put
marks on the roll at the corresponding blank
spaces, to show how many notes have to be
played by the solo instrument. In this, and in
various other ways which will occur after a
little experience, one can so prepare the rolls
as to make them veritable scores, doing away
with any need for using the sheet music, which
is always awkward with the player-piano, and
often impossible.
Musicians are often very skeptical about the
player-piano. Their most persistent notion is
usually that its tempo cannot be varied and
therefore everything has to be played in strict
metronomic time. One of the joys of player-
pianishi is to show violinists, cellists, horn
players and others that this is not true and that
the ensemble can go ahead with perfect freedom
and work out an interpretation as flexible as
any that could be achieved with the aid of a
competent ordinary pianist.
Is Your Roll Department
Linked With the Player
(Continued from page 3)
belief should be evident. It is evident in fact,
and probably we may attribute whatever of re-
maining power it has to that natural tendency
to resist change, which is the curse of all- busi-
ness, and which consecrates innumerable hoary
frauds with the sanctity of use and custom. Yet
the belief is false; and being false is doomed.
Let Us Be Wise
Let us then take time by the forelock and be
wise. There is nothing difficult about making
a right start afresh. The first big practical
thing to do in every retail store is to take steps
to create a proper music roll department,
stocked with an adequate and representative
stock of music (the manufacturer's knowledge
of what is best can usually be followed with
correct results). Let an intelligent clerk be put
in charge (often a young music student proves
to be ideal for the purpose). Let the whole
community of player-owners be told, once a
month at least, that new music is at the store.
Let sometimes new music be introduced to a
select party at the home of a socially prominent
player-owner by the skilled demonstrator of
the store. Let it be a rule that no piece of ad-
vertising shall ever omit the mention of music
rolls. Let every sale be built upon and around
music rolls. Let every salesman be given a
small premium for selling, say, fifty dollars'
worth of music with each player-piano sale.
Let all this v be done, and then let the results
for six months be watched and compared with
results under the old system.
We venture to think that the comparison will
be satisfactory. And if anyone says that this
cannot be done we beg to assure the skeptical
that it can be done, and that evidence to that
end is plentifully available.
Consult the Universal Want Directory of
The Review. In it advertisements are inserted
free of charge for men who desire positions.
Quality