Classic Mode

Music Trade Review

Issue: 1931 Vol. 90 N. 2

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
PIANO FACTORY and
PIANO SERVICING
DR. W M . BRAID WHITE
Technical Editor
The PLAYER-PIANO
Still HAS POSSIBILITIES
fingers, together with the ability to sound
the right tone at the right moment without
any regard to the speed of evocation or the
number of tones being evoked at any one
time. One might almost agree with the
clever description put forth years ago by
the advertising expert of a great manufac-
turing house and say that the player-piano
was ''the piano plus the ability to play it."
WELL, SO IT WAS; AND YET IT WAS NOT
DR. WM. BRAID WHITE
AM perfectly willing to be denominated
either an old fogy or a miserable im-
becile for what I am now going to say. I
do not at all think it asinine, of course, for
if I did, I certainly should not -write it
here. I set it down because I think that,
although it may sound asinine, it is Teally
not asinine at all.
Here it is then: why should we not bring
back the player-piano, in a dress and after
a design suitable to the day and based upon
our thirty years' experience of it?
If that is insanity, then I am insane. But
at least, before you open the commission de
lunatico inquirenda, read what I have to say.
What went wrong with the player-piano?
Why did it suddenly drop into nothingness
after being at the head of the procession foT
twenty years?
The superficial answer is that radio killed
the playeT-piano. I decline, however, to be
misled by superficial appearances. The
player-piano was on the down grade before
radio was heard of. The player-piano, in
my opinion, was killed by the policies adopt-
ed for its exploitation. Years ago I used
to say the same thing, only to be told that
I was (fatal description) a theorist and to^.
tally lacking in practical understanding of
business. To-day it appears that I was right.
When the player-piano began its course, it
faced a future as bright as could have been
imagined. Here was a device that was, and
that of course still is, in every respect
unique. Attached or built-in to a piano of
any kind, it enabled its user to play any
music of any kind, difficulty or type known
to piano literature, as well as music which
by no ordinary means of piano playing
could on the piano be evoked at all. It gave
to its user not ten but eighty-eight piano
I
42
Yet, an automobile standing on a con-
crete road might be called quite truthfully
a conqueror of distance. The purchase of
an automobile with no more distortion of
truth than is usually found in salesmanship
might be called the purchase of the ability
to conquer distance. But the appellation
would be untrue, for an automobile does not
drive itself. Its owner must learn to drive
it before he can put it to use.
The parallel is not quite complete, indeed,
because one can, in fact, cause the player-
piano to emit correctly the successive sounds
which constitute the framework and details
of a musical composition without any more
knowledge or aptitude than is needed to sit
on a bench and push a pair of treadles up
and down. The important point, however,
is that the player-piano never did and never
could give to its owner, by the mere fact
of its coming into his possession, either mu-
sical taste or a desire to play the piano.
What the player-piano could and did give
was, to those who already possessed the rudi-
ments of taste and a strong desire to produce
music, ability to produce, after a short period
of pleasant preparatory practice with a few
simple controls, really excellent piano play-
ing. Moreover, it held out, and quite truly
too, the promise that those who should per-
severe should shortly find themselves actu-
ally able to produce artistic, personal per-
formance of a very high level of excellence.
The first makers and exploiters of the
player-piano were aware of the distinction
here set forth. They made no pretenses and
told no lies. In consequence their sales were
confined to a small intelligent minority.
When, however, some of the push-sale
geniuses of the piano industry directed their
gaze to the player-piano they concluded that
if only it could be made cheaply enough,
it could be sold to the masses without much
trouble and at great profit. When then they
made the attempt, they simply said that the
player-piano would enable a child to play,
without any study at all, like a master; and
when they had evolved that masterpiece they
felt that a good day's work had been done.
WHAT A CHANGE!
What was the result? The original at-
tempt to engage the interest of an intelli-
gent minority was dropped. All efforts were
centered on the attempt to put a player-piano
into the home of every workman in the land.
Any effort that in other circumstances might
have been made to design an instrument in-
teresting to musicians or musical amateurs
at once became impossible. Moreover, the
deadly hostility of the entire musical profes-
sion was evoked. As it at last emerged into
its final and popular phase of existence, the
player-piano was good neither as a piano
nor as a pneumatic machine. It was as in-
convenient and as clumsy as possible. The
pneumatic principle, which might have been
developed to remarkable lengths in the way
of convenience, playability and responsive-
ness, was left to stagnate. Workmen in fac-
tories designed the actions and their con-
trols. When at last the all-automatic in-
strument came in, the effort which ought to
have been made with the original player-
piano was at last undertaken, but it came
too late. No longer was it possible to en-
gage large public interest in any form of
an instrument which, in its popular shape,
was making night hideous in every street.
Moreover, the phonograph and radio were
just around the corner; and the price of the
all-automatic player-piano was very high.
In fact, the time was wrong and the in-
strument untimely.
TODAY
Today we have a public bored stiff with
radio, bored with listening, bored with pas-
The mistake of making the play-
er piano an instrument for the
masses can be remedied by ex-
ploiting it for what it really is
among the musically educated
who desire and understand, but
have not the ability to play good
piano music.
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW, February, 1931
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE
MUSIC
TRADE
REVIEW,
sivity. The large demand is for noisy music,
noisy dancing, silly, noisy amusement. But
suppose that some of those who have been
complaining about the unhappy condition of
the piano business should get themselves to-
gether and make up their minds to think out
afresh the whole player-piano problem. Sup-
pose that they should proceed somewhat in
the manner following:
The player-piano derives its right to exist
solely from its ability to give to an amateur
who loves the piano a surpassing capacity
for playing it. The player-piano will not, in
any circumstances, impart taste; but it will
give untrained taste a chance. Any person,
man or woman, who will take the trouble
to learn the simple principles of the foot-
work can learn quickly to play well, and
so give vent to his or her desire to have
personal part in the production of music. It
is, however, obvious that the masses are not,
at the present time certainly, interested in
any such appeal to intelligence and taste.
On the other hand, there is a pretty well-
estimated minority which is already inter-
ested in just such an appeal, and to which
the appeal could properly and fruitfully be
made. In a word, if a player-piano designed
for the sole purpose of giving to the intelli-
gent amateur power over the resources of the
greatest of musical instruments were brought
out at this time, it might succeed and might
even succeed on a large scale.
What would this instrument have to in-
clude? Obviously it ought to be founded
on a grand piano tonally and mechanically
good, or else upon an upright, small, beau-
tiful to look at and tonally satisfactory for
the small apartment. But the crucial factor
must be the design and construction of the
player action. This must, as it easily can,
be designed for the sole purpose of offering
to its user every possible playing conven-
ience and responsiveness. All non-speaking
parts should be operated without calling on
the foot, which should therefore be devoted
entirely to controlling the touch. The music-
roll should be improved until it has become
virtually a score. The whole effort should
be to give to the user the utmost in the way
of ability to play and of the feeling that
he is playing and not "operating" or "driv-
ing." Such an instrument, built not for mass
production or for sale to the masses, but for
quality and for sale to those two or three
millions who throughout the country love the
Guarantees
Quality
ps
kN
PFRIEMER HAMMERS
Always Found in Pianos
of the Highest Quality
Originators of the Re-enforced Tone
Producing Hammer
piano and would like to play, can be made,
and made at a fair price. It ought to be
made. It would be salable. It might foTin
the foundation of a new and high-class
branch to the piano industry. It might even
lead to many technical tonal improvements
in the piano itself.
One more thing: The name "player-piano"
would simply have to go. I offer another
name: "Clavilude," which means "keyboard
player."
Of course, if you still think that all this is
asinine I cannot help it. But I am still con-
vinced that while it may be and is radical
it is not silly.
The Merthenot Instrument
The other day I had the great pleasure of
talking with M. Merthenot, the talented
young French engineer and violoncellist, who
is over in this country exhibiting his new
oscillator-tube keyboard musical instrument.
He has played it in New York, in Phila-
delphia, in Chicago and elsewhere. He has
made a very interesting and possibly very
important development.
M. Merthenot and I are much alike in
one way. He can read and write English;
I can read and write French, quite easily.
But, alas, we both found that reading and
writing are not talking.
His rapid and
beautiful French had to be toned down to a
slow measured delivery before I could under-
stand him. My rapid but not so beautiful
English had to be bridled in the same way.
But we got along very well.
M. Merthenot is, in my opinion, ahead of
the Russian engineer, Theremin. He utilizes
an endless ribbon made of two equal lengths
of material joined, one-half being electrically
conductive and the other non-conductive. By
holding this ribbon at a point immediately
opposite one of the joints between the two
materials and moving it to the right or left
across his electric field, he controls the ca-
pacity and so the beat-tone produced be-
tween the two oscillators. The instrument
is provided with a keyboard of five oc-
taves, although its actual compass is more
than an octave higher and lower than this.
By moving the ribbon along in front of the
keys the player can select the exactly right
point at which to stop in order to produce
each beat-tone corresponding to a tone of
the musical scale. The performer thus runs
up and down the scale, using the keys merely
as resting places for the fingers with which
he manipulates the ribbon. The keys may
also be used for playing, on the same prin-
ciple, and are useful when a staccato effect
is needed.
Intensity is controlled by a rheostat under
the guidance of a tilting table manipulated
by the left hand. Inductance circuits en-
able the player to alter the composition of
the electric wave sent into the loud speaker,
so as to obtain some variation in quality.
The instrument is a considerable improve-
ment on that of Theremin, in my opinion.
A large American music house is negotiating
for the American rights.
CHAS. PFRIEMER, INC.
Fire in Organ Plant
Wales Ave. & 142nd St., New York
Lytton Building, Chicago
Fire caused a damage of $10,000 to the
plant of the Hillgren-Lane Co., pipe organ
manufacturers of Alliance, O., on January 15.
J
43
February, 1931
WM. G. SCHAFF BUYS
PIANO STRING CO.
The machinery and material of the Schaff
Piano String Co., Chicago, which made an
assignment a short time ago, was recently
purchased by William G. Schaff for $2,500.
The metal chair department of this company
was bought by the mother of E. C. Johnson,
former manager of the company, for $1,700.
The Schaff Piano String Corp. has been
formed and the plant will be operated as
heretofore.
Incorporation
The Schaff Piano String Corp., 211 Cly-
bourn avenue, Chicago, has been incorporat-
ed with a capital stock of $10,000 to deal in
pianos and musical instruments. The incor-
porators are A. L. Lienthal, Charles Mylea
and Louise M. Johnson, all residents of
Chicago.
DISTINCTIVE
TONE QUALITY
For generations Poehlmann
Music Wire and Fly Brand
Tuning Pins have made many
pianos famous for their re-
nowned tonal qualities.
The continued prestige of Fly Brand Pins
and Poehlmann Wire is due solely to
quality. Every detail is watched minutely.
Made from special drawn wire by men
who have done nothing else for a lifetime,
they embody every known requisite for
quality. That is why many manufacturers
of high-grade pianos demand Poehlmann
Wire and Fly Brand Pins.
SOLE AGENT U. S. A.
American Piano Supply Co.
Division of
HAMMACHER-SCHLEMMER
& COMPANY
104-106 East 13th Street
New York, N. Y.

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