Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
Player-Piano's Musical Value and
How Well It Can Be Played
To Play the Player-piano Is an Art and a Universal Art Which Can Be Mastered by Practically Everyone—
Mistaken Attitude on the Part of Retail Merchants Who Seem Generally to Believe That
the Buying Public Will Never Buy Anything That Requires Study
J
UST how well can the player-piano be
played and what really is its musical value
to the world? These have been moot ques-
tions for long enough, in fact ever since the
first cabinet players came upon the market.
Controversy over them has never ceased and
the last answer has been no more conclusive
than was the first. Still, every bit of evidence
tending toward the formation of sound opinion
is worth having, for which reason the reader is
invited to notice the following remarks, ex-
tracted from the July issue of Musical Opinion,
a weighty and influential musical magazine
which for nearly fifty years has been regu-
larly published in London. The editorial
writer who signs by the pseudonym 'Schau-
nard' has this to say, speaking of one who
the previous month had protested in the
columns of the paper against some of the stupid
methods used in player-piano merchandising by
British music merchants:
"I am wholly with Mr. Godfrey in his plea for
propaganda on behalf of the player-piano and
the desirability of eradicating the bad impres-
sion created that player-pianos are so mechani-
cal, or any other fangled excuse. Yet the
makers have done their bit toward creating this
impression through their slogan about a little
child being able to play it. The 'push-the-but-
ton-and-the-machine-does-the-rest'
motion is
applicable only to the electric reproducing
models; in no sense of the word can pushing the
button be said to be playing. Yet the foot-
blown instrument is essentially one which not
only can be played but needs to be played. It
has its limitations, and you soon learn what
music it is as well not to attempt on it; but if
the technic of the controls and the feet are mas-
tered, it can be played in a way far removed
from any sense of the mechanical. Even the
piano can be played mechanically.
Right Propaganda Called For
"It would be propaganda of the right kind
if the companies were to engage a few expert
player-pianists to give demonstrations around
the country of the sensitive response which can
be obtained from a fine instrument.
The
average salesman can be good at the palaver,
but he is no good as an exhibitor of what the
player-piano can be made to do. . . .
Granted a fair musical knowledge in the pur-
chaser and perseverance in the task, a good
technic on the player-piano can be acquired
within a year. And a good technic includes
such sympathy between performer and instru-
ment, such as should exist between a horse and
a good rider, as eliminates the interval between
conception and accomplishment, so that what
he is thinking is translated into sound accord-
ing to his wishes before he has had time to feel
that he has wished it.
"Rub It In"
"The player pianist's advantage over the
pianist should be rubbed home, for it is a real
compensation for the limitations imposed on
him by his medium. He can prepare a finished
performance of a dozen or more pieces of music
in the time it takes the pianist to prepare one.
He can know intimately ever so much more
music than the pianist can ever hope to know.
And about what he achieves on the player-piano
he need not be too modest. All he has eluded
is drudgery. The player-piano roll, in its kind,
is not greatly different in status from the
printed book of poems. Poetry, like music, is
dry art until it is translated into sound. It is
possible for the player-pianist to make himself
an artist performer such as need not hang his
head before the pianist or the poetry-speaker."
All to the Good
Now all this is very much to the good. Here
we have an opinion from a musician, that is to
say, from one who might be expected to display
all the prejudice and the bigotry which have so
much disfigured discussion on the subject
during past years. As a matter of fact, British
and European musicians have been a great deal
readier to welcome the player-piano than have
their American brethren; something which is
very hard to understand but which is undoubt-
edly true. However, the important point is
that this gentleman, who has a right to speak
with authority, takes his stand with such men
as Ernest Newman in saying that it is right to
take the player-piano seriously, to treat it as
a veritable musical instrument and to take
pains to acquire its technic. Not only so, but
this authority corroborates further the state-
ments of Newman in his book, "The Piano
Player and Its Music," and of Grew in his still
more elaborate "Art of the Player-Piano," to the
effect that the expert player-pianist is really an
artist who can take his place with the other
artists in music; when indeed he has reached, as
he can reach, the highest points of excellence in
his o.wn special technic.
An Art for All
In a word, to play the player-piano is an art
and a fine art. But it is an art which can be
practiced by any normal person who will take
the trouble to acquire it. This question of tak-
ing trouble has been exaggerated to the point
of actual panic by piano merchants who have
grown almost tearful over their certainty that
the public would never, never buy anything
which required "study." Yet the actual amount
of such study is nothing like so much as is
needed to make a man reasonably proficient at
golf, and certainly no more than is needed to
make him a proficient automobile driver. In
fact, the talk about the dear public and the ab-
solute necessity of never, never even suggesting
that any one should learn to play the player-
piano is alibi, alibi pure and simple, alibi and
nothing else. Moreover, it is a very poor alibi
at that.
And it is poor very largely because good
player playing does not necessarily mean play-
ing those dreadful "classics," the thought of
which so horrifies many an otherwise excellent
dealer and salesman. The player-piano can be
played, and played very well, by persons whose
ideas are confined to popular music. And there
is a vast deal more fun in playing dance music
well, of one's own accord and initiative, than in
merely listening to it.
In fact, any normal person can within a few
months acquire a good player technic. No
game known to man is more fascinating than
this game of playing music. Why is it that our
merchants and salesmen will not take the obvi-
ous hint?
Pratt Read
Products
have stood for years
as an asset of
incalculable value
to the piano industry.
New Truck Folder
A new folder, describing the small dollie
truck for shifting pianos in warerooms and fac-
tory, has been released to the trade by Ham-
macher, Schlemmer & Co., New York. This
handy article, listed as No. 674 in the company's
catalog, is only 5% inches in height, and makes
the handling of pianos very easy. The Tote
Dollie, as it is called in the Hammacher
Schlemmer circular, weighs only 1 7 ^ pounds
and is easily picked up and carried. While not
necessary, the top can be padded with heavy
carpet or other soft material to prevent any
possibility of scratching or marring. With the
aid of a dollie truck, the shifting of pianos in
a store becomes a one-man proposition, elimi-
nating the need of two or three for the job.
Pittsburgh Radio Show
PITTSBURGH, PA., July 26.—Local music store
proprietors handling radio will have an oppor-
tunity this Fall for a real merchandising offen-
sive in this field, when the first annual radio
show will be held here in Duquesne Garden
during the week of October 4. The show will
be under the auspices of the Pittsburgh Radio
Association, which is composed of dealers and
representatives of the leading radio manufac-
turers of the country.
Know Our
PIANO KEYS
PIANO ACTIONS
PLAYER ACTIONS
and Our Service
Write us at the
first opportunity
PRATT, READ & CO.
Established in 1806
The PRATT READ PLAYER ACTION CO.
Deep River, Conn.