Music Trade Review

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THE
MUJIC TRADE
VOL. LXXXIII. No. 26 Published Every Saturday. Edward Lyra an Bill, Inc., 383 Madison Ave., New York, N. Y., Dec. 25,1926
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Chicago P. & O. Player-Piano Recitals
Strike Root of the Problem
Announcement by Association of First of Series of Recitals Where the Foot-Power Player-Piano Will Be
Considered as an Artistic Musical Instrument Begins Endeavor to Spread Interest in Self-
Creation of Music by the Player-Pianist — Link Up With the Trade
HE announcement by the Chicago Piano
& Organ Association of the first in a series
of foot-player recitals to be given under
the auspices of its publicity committee for the
purpose of reviving interest in the once favorite
sport of player-pedaling is very interesting.
This is neither the time nor the place to dis-
cuss the probabilities of success from a commer-
cial standpoint. That must be cared for in other
ways. What is for the present purpose interest-
ing is the nature of the program and that the
promoters appear to be trying to prove by
means of it.
The program is in fact unique. It opens with
a trio for violin, cello and pianoforte, with a
grand foot-player taking the latter part. Then
are to follow two groups of songs, with the
singer accompanied by the same player instru-
ment. Then, still more remarkable, it is pro-
posed to show the performance of a piano con-
certto with the solo part taken on one player-
piano and the orchestral part (reduced) taken
on another. One may question whether any-
thing quite so unusual as this has ever been
putilicly tried.
Lastly it is intended to perform a large and
elaborate work in four movements written espe-
cially for the player-piano by an eminent
musician.
Versatile and Artistic
Whatever else this demonstration may prove,
it will at least serve the purpose of showing
that the foot-player piano is a versatile and ar-
tistic instrument. Or at least it must be sup-
posed that the promoters have that intention
in mind. If they did not aim to prove something
like this, they would not be putting on so elabo-
rate and varied a program.
The artistic standing of the reproducing
piano has become a well-established thing. No
one now pretends that the reproducing piano
does not reproduce the interpretations of liv-
ing and dead artists who have recorded these
interpretations for it.
Now the question which is being brought up
in this affair with the foot-player is, substanti-
ally, this: Is the foot-player a musical instru-
ment, and (2) can it be played by the average
music-loving person satisfactorily enough to
hold his enthusiasm? If the answers to these
questions be in the affirmative, then evidently
T
the foot-player should be in for a great revival.
For it must be confessed that the attitude which
the lay public has taken towards the foot-player
is to be attributed mainly, if not solely, to the
r
HE announcement that the Chicago
Piano & Organ Association is promot-
ing a series of recitals in which the player-
piano (foot-power) will be considered and
used as an artistic musical instrument is ex-
tremely encouraging to those who have con-
sidered that the greatest default in player-
piano merchandising has been the neglect
into which the proper playing of this instru-
ment has fallen. The fact that the Chicago
Association has seen the need for a revival
in this interest is of trade-wide importance,
and the results will be watched with interest
culpable negligence and indifference of the sell-
ing end of the piano business. Salesmen never
took up the foot-player with any enthusiasm
because they found that they could not play it
well without doing some practicing. This it
seemed was too much for them. Again, when
customers came and began to try to play the
salesmen, knowing no more than the custom-
ers, were not only unwilling but unable to give
instructions. Instead they relied upon the fact
that any kind of treading on the pedals will
produce some kind of music, and proclaimed
that "a child can do it as well as an adult";
which was false in fact and false in what it
implied, namely, that the playcf-piano is not,
and cannot be made, a responsive instrument.
The sequel we all know. Of it we all com-
plain. But who is to blame?
The Best Evidence
Now it is evident that if the foot-player were
the sort of thing the trade has for years pro-
claimed it, by indirection if not openly to be
such, such a program as has been described
above could not possibly be given upon it with-
out risking an outburst of derisive laughter be-
fore it had proceeded five minutes. The mere
fact that such a program has been announced
and is to be performed offers the best proof
that the player-piano can be played artistically.
Of course, it may be said that, so played, it must
be a very difficult thing to master and therefore
commercially hard to sell. But the biggest out-
put enjoyed by any house in the whole piano
business has been built up almost entirely on the
foot-player by means of merchandising methods
all at least founded upon the principle of teach-
ing the customer to play. Nothing is more cer-
tain than that the moment a salesman can show
a customer how a change in the force put behind
the pedaling creates a change in the loudness
of the produced sound the foundation has been
laid for that customer to build up a lifelong
friendship with the player-piano. It is not for
a moment necessary to give the impression* that
each and every person who plays the player-
piano must be an artist produced only after
years of secret study and practice. Golf is a
very popular game, almost an industry of it-
self. Most people play it very badly; yet the
few great artists who are at the head of that
game find that they can give all their time if
they wish to imparting to the lame ducks as
much of their secrets as the latter can manage
to absorb, which usually is not much. Much
or not much, however, the worst golfer in the
world always secretly hopes some day to be
a Bobby Jones. And this is because golf has
caught on and has become the sport of the
millions of prosperous, well-fed and reasonably
intelligent men and women who are just the
very people to make of the player-piano an
indoor parallel to their one outdoor obsession.
In other words, if only the idea of personally
producing music can be sold to the people, as
golf, as the daily dozen, as the country club, as
Rotary, as bridge, as intercollegiate football
have been sold to them, if indeed the job can
be done only a quarter as well as some of these
others have been done, what an enormous re-
vival of the piano business there would surely
be.
Out With Pessimists
Of course it will be said that the thin-g can-
not be done. And of course the pessimists
will chalk up one more successful prediction if
the trade insists upon taking the view that a
(Continued on page 4)
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