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The Field for the Player Piano Is As
Large As Ever It Has Been
Campaign to Make Piano Players in No Way Reacts Against the Player and Reproducing Piano—Player-
Piano To-day the Piano Industry's Most Powerful Weapon for Cultivating Musical Feeling Among
the Adults of the Nation—Why the Industry Must Hark Back to First Principles
T
H E piano trade is responding to the very freakish music), the reproducing piano will not
strong gospel which is being preached in of itself supply the vacancy; for the reproducing
The Review and which takes for its text piano can be used by any one who has the
the present uncertainties and difficulties of piano money to buy it, which means that those whose
selling. There is of course no escape from the taste is bad will use it to satisfy that taste, or
logic of the situation. If piano sales have re- will not use it at all.
mained depressingly stationary, year by year for
What then about the pedal player-piano?
decades, while the population has increased by
This is pre-eminently the player-piano of the
scores of millions (250 per cent in 50 years), masses and it is also pre-eminently the most
and the national wealth has been multiplied to definite and obvious medium for the conveyance
an extent which shows material prosperity to be of musical ideas into homes which have never
enjoyed by the mass of the inhabitants such enjoyed their possession. It is even better in
perhaps as has never before in history been heard this respect, for the masses, than the great re-
of, it is certain that the cause is to be found in producing piano, for the latter is at its best
something not at all connected with the price when it is supplying to the already musical
or the bulk or the functions of this musical in- home additional musical atmosphere, something
strument. If, moreover, as we know to be true, which does not exist among the masses, but
piano sales do not increase even in proportion which the piano trade, if it is to survive, not to
to the annual growth of national expenditures say expand, must somehow contrive to awaken.
on music, it is evident that we must look pretty
What the Player Does
far beneath the surface for a satisfactory ex-
The pedal player-piano does seem here to
planation.
occupy a very important middle ground. It is
This has now been furnished, adequately and automatic, in the sense that sounds can be pro-
completely. It was set forth two weeks ago in duced from it at the cost merely of mechanical
the form of an editorial in The Review which actions, by the human user. On the other hand,
has been read throughout the industry and the it lends itself to such remarkable artistic de-
retail trade with the interest and attention it velopment, it can in fact be played so extremely
merits. And the gist of it is simply this: that satisfactorily and well, that although it does not
Americans have been for the last thirty years impart the same theoretical and practical knowl-
educated, in the mass, to be listeners and not edge of music which is to be obtained by actual
makers of music.
study at the keyboard, it does do something
And the remedy is to reverse the process and else very nearly as good, and in some ways
to take up the simple but eminently sound prac- even better. For those adults who can no longer
tice of bringing before the children of the land begin the study of practical piano playing with
during those years when mind and body most any hope of success, the pedal player-piano gives
readily respond to musical prompting the beauty a great power of musical command. It enables
and the opportunity of learning to play the an intelligent person to acquire a quite uncanny
piano. To get the piano into education, into the ability to phrase, accentuate, color and generally
schoolroom, to get piano-playing recognized as interpret piano music. It affords the means to
a cultural study, with its place in educational an education in music appreciation which is
credits; in a word to bring piano-playing back simply not surpassed by any other, and possibly
to the place it once occupied (though only for not even equaled. No other in the whole list
a short time) as the universal accomplishment, of musical instruments so completely possesses
and to bring the sales of pianos back along these powers.
with it.
If then the piano trade should take into se-
All of which is admirable; but we have now rious consideration any practical project for
to consider this question: what effect will all enlarging the present practice of piano playing
this have on the player-piano?
among the younger people of the nation it also
Weakness of Passive Attitude
should try to realize that the pedal player-piano
One thing is certain, that we are developing is its most powerful weapon for cultivating the
too much of a passive attitude among the boys musical feelings of the adults. It is musical
and girls of the present age. The automatic feeling, musical atmosphere, which the nation
in the piano has been overdone. That does not lacks and from the nation's lack of which the
mean to say that the genuine reproducing piano piano trade is suffering. The pedal player-piano
is not a valuable element in our present-day helps wonderfully to produce and then improve
culture. On the contrary, the reproducing piano this atmosphere.
is doing an invaluable work for musical culture,
Realize the Facts
simply by bringing into the home the best of
Therefore the piano trade should realize facts,
music done by the best musicians in the best look the situation in the face, and cease making
way. There can be no doubt of the value of the pedal player-piano the bait of bargain sales
an instrument which will do this.
or the cheap stuff for cheap people which to
On the other hand, the same mechanism which so alarming an extent it has become. If indeed
will give us the interpretations of great music the case is hopeless, if the pedal player-piano
by a great musician will give us equally well has lost forever its once great position, then of
the cheapest and the silliest of music; so that . course nothing can be done. But is this so?
the reproducing piano does not furnish, merely It may be; but is it?
by reason of its existence, any guarantee that
We think it is not so. We think that though
the musical atmosphere of the nation, which is the piano trade has been blind and stupid, its
what we must improve if piano sales, and thus blindness has only come from the refusal to
the whole industry, are to be enlarged per- open its eyes. Unless one is hopelessly in error,
manently into a healthy condition is to be per- the piano trade can go back to intelligence, and
ceptibly refined. In other words, if the musical to selling by teaching the prospect how to play.
feeling is not there, if there is not the love for There of course is the one secret which the
the piano and for piano music already (which trade has always imagined to be so terribly
means at least the love for healthy and not for obscure; yet it is the simplest of secrets. More-
over, there is no other than this. No other pos-
sible selling method is worth talking about. For
every other one, every patent evasion of prin-
ciple, has been tried and found wanting.
This then is one corollary to the undoubted
truth that the piano industry must hark back to
first principles.
Bent Co. Announces
New Concord Line
Includes a Grand, Four Feet Ten Inches, a
Player-Piano and Two Styles of Uprights
LOUISVILLE, KY., April 19.—The Geo. P. Bent
Piano Co. has added to its line of instruments
four pianos bearing the name Concord, which
was formerly used by the Bent Co. for a number
of years for the designation of instruments that
met with wide favor in the trade.
The new Concord line has been produced in
response to the demand from Bent dealers for
an instrument that might be offered to the public
at a slightly lower price than that asked for
the Crown, and the company officials feel that
they have accomplished a real feat in producing
for the new line instruments that measure up in
every particular to the company's standards for
structural and tonal qualities, the lower price
being made possible through economies effected
in production methods and confined primarily to
details of case work.
The new Concord line includes a grand meas-
uring four feet ten inches, a player-piano and
two uprights, all of which will be illustrated and
described in detail in a new catalog now in
preparation. A new Crown catalog is also in
the hands of the printer and will include descrip-
tive matter relative to recent additions to that
line in the form of a new player and a new
upright.
It is significant that the company has en-
joyed a particularly satisfactory first quarter
with sufficient volume of orders on hand to in-
sure the continued activity of the factory until
Midsummer at least, in fact, in certain depart-
ments it has been found necessary to operate
night shifts temporarily.
During the past nine months the sales organi-
zation of the company, under the direction of
Charles McConville, has been developing on a
sound basis, with a result that there has been
established a substantial chain of Crown repre-
sentatives throughout the country and particu-
larly east of the Mississippi. The company is
also rapidly gaining ground in the West and this
spreading of representation is reflected in the
amount of business that is coming to the Bent
factorv.
Irving Dover Lovett Dies
CANTON, O., April 19.—Word has been received
in Canton of the death of Irving Dover Lovett,
aged seventy-two. Mr. Lovett, a former resi-
dent of Canton, engaged in the piano business,
died from pneumonia and a complication of dis-
eases in Mercy Hospital, Fort Dodge, la. Fu-
neral services were held at the Young funeral
parlors in Fort Dodge, and interment was in
Oakland Cemetery. The deceased is survived
by his widow, and one daughter, Mrs. Karl
King, wife of the noted bandmaster, now in
cliargj of leading bands in that city.