Music Trade Review

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Pedal Player Pianos
«
And Their Proper Merchandising
Instrument Capable of Recovering Its Pristine Position in the Music
Industries If Its Merchandising Methods Were Carefully Analyzed and
Wisely Executed in the Future—The Value Here of Experience's Lessons
place, which never was intended to be- the
SHORT time ago at a meeting of a to come before that of merchandising, the
local trade association in one of the manufacturers dictated the merchandising pol- place occupied by the player-piano. That ijie
largest cities of this country the activ-
icies; and so long as they were able to do trade should have supposed that the one was a
substitute for the other is a matter of constant
ities of the previous season were being sur-
this, all was well. The trouble began when
regret.
veyed and an attempt was being made to other manufacturers arose, who saw that some
appraise the probabilities of the future. Among
For the player-piano possesses powers of
the questions which came up for discussion
fascination which make it one of the easiest
was this: is the pedal player, in a commercial
of musical instruments to sell. The fatal error
N a recent discussion among the mem- lias been in supposing, years too soon, that
sense, dead?
bers of a leading trade association in the public understood and appreciated it. The
The gentlemen who took part in the dis- /
cussion of this question are well known to the the Western trade, fourteen out of fifteen truth, of course, is that the masses of the peo-
mid-Western trade. Most of them are at the members present went on record in declaring ple do not to this day know what it is all
head either of large factories or of large re- their belief that the foot-power player-piano about and have never in the least appreciated
how well it can be played, how easily it can
tail stores. They have every reason to know
be played well, or what fascinating work play-
what they are talking about. Discussion waxed could recover its pristine selling power if
the merchandising methods by which it is ing it is.
fast and furious, until the man who had first
put the question demanded a show of hands. sold to the ultimate buyer were carefully
And because of all this, because of the. error
And upon this show of hands it appeared that studied and reformed in every sense of the on the one side and the ignorance on the other,
only one man in a group of fifteen believed
ivord. This article points out some of the the high-class player-piano has been suffered
that the question should be answered in the
to drop into the background, to an extent
changes which must be made by the mer- which is positively horrifying. Hut that does
affirmative. Fourteen of the fifteen believed
chants themselves if the player-piano is not mean that the pedal player-piano is dead.
that the pedal player is not only not .dead, but
would be quite capable of recovering its pris- once more to be a selling factor in the On the contrary, the gentlemen who were
tine position if only merchandising methods industry.
co nearly unanimous were exactly and actually
relating to it were thought out soundly and
right. Tlie pedal player-piano is not dead. It
wisely executed.
has been forced into competitive grades,
beaten down to the lowest possible price com-
This is no mere rhetoric, it contains only
patible with anything like quality, and has be-
the truth. These men, who certainly are in a merchants would take something of low grade
.ind find .some way or other to sell it without
come in the minds of many, too many, dealers
position to know, do not think that the pedal
what the cheap $75 upright of twenty-five
player-piano has been put out of existence; going through the rather elaborate salesman-
years ago was to the dealers of that fantastic
and they are ready,- to the extent of all but ship which the original manufacturers wisely
insisted on. The player-piano took its place period. But the pedal player-piano is not dead.
one of them, to participate in a revival.
Nothing is easier than to exaggerate the in the piano line from that moment onwards,
It is not dead because it has in itself the
significance of a piece of testimony, especially as a taken-for-granted type of piano, nor did principle of life. It does something, and what
when it coincides with one's own views; but it occur to anyone until after some years had
is much more, it enables a man who owns it
the particular circumstances here related, to- gone by that a fatal error had been committed. to do something. It has often been said that
The error lay, of course, in the assumption
gether with the unquestionable authority of
the player-piano is a man's instrument, nov
the persons concerned, warrants us in assigning that the player-piano could be put into the was truer word ever spoken. Well, the power
taken-for-granted class at that time. For it of the player-piano to survive all the punish-
the utmost weight to this expression of opin-
ion. And the conclusions which thereupon
ment the dealer has inflicted upon it has been
is now perfectly evident that the buying public
one can draw are in the highest degree prac- never did understand the player-piano, never
in this very ability to give a man something
tical and interesting.
to do in the way of producing music. That is
did realize that it could be made to sound like
It has been said ad nauseam that the player- a well-played ordinary piano, but, on the con- it and there is the secret of building up a new
piano began to decline from its one-time pros- trary, supposed quite sincerely that it was and prosperous, permanent market in the most
fasincating of all musical instruments.
necessarily "mechanical," a very poor substitute
perity when the retailers began to look upon
for real piano playing; and, in fact, something
it, not as a musical instrument to be sold
Back to demonstration and back to the man.
like any other through demonstration, but as to be abandoned at the first sign of something These should be the rallying cries of the new
a piece of furniture which could be sold rather better.
era which awaits our efforts. We have .only
more easily than other keyboard-fitted pieces
The reproducing piano seemed to bring the
to look facts in the face and to follow where
because it could be made to produce some sort
"something better," but the reproducing piano
iogical reasoning leads us. Surely no one in
of musical sounds without calling for the serv- lias never been able to supply the place of the this day, when there is so much talk about
ices of an amateur or a professional musician. pedal player-piano, either in the matter of
new instruments and new ways of silling,
In the beginning of player-piano history, from
should be unwilling to look in any direction for
price or in giving to music-lovers the rare
the days of the cabinet Pianola, Angelus and sport and thrill of producing their own music. results. And when it is said with all sincerity
Apollo until the question of production began
(Continued on />«<;<• H)
The reproducing piano has always had its own
A
ESTABLISHED 1862
UXUTER-
ONE OF AMERICANS FINE
NEWARK N. J.
PIANOS
UPRIGHTS
GRANDS
THE LAUTER-HUMANA