March 11, 1920.
ingenuity, to awaken new interest in an inherent passion as old as
life itself. To devise new means for stirring up a practical demon-
stration of music-love which may reflect upon and influence the sale
of musical instruments, is no easy matter. It demands more than
even the rare abilities of the expert promoter and advertising spe-
cialist. It calls for genius. Mr. Aldcroftt recognized all this in his
compliment to the Bureau for the Advancement of Music.
And Mr. Aldcroftt also paid a graceful tribute to the tireless
efforts of General Counsel Pound, who so ably looked after the legal—
we had almost said political—interests of the industry and trade.
On the whole, President Aldcroftt's address was the most lib-
eral expression of conditions in the piano and associated industries
that we remember in connection with the annual conventions. And,
still better, it was informative and exceeded the customary official
review because it also looked forward and suggested ways by which
to remedy the defects of the past while insuring the progress of the
future.
If there is any member of the industry and trade who did not
read carefully what Mr. Aldcroftt said at the New York convention,
as reported in this paper of February 5, we suggest that a duty of
self-interest has been overlooked and the neglect should be remedied.
THE STENCIL CITY
Many years ago, while the earliest of the explorers had merely
coast maps to guide them, the French pushed inland in North Amer-
ica in their quest for Hochelaga, a mythical city of untold riches,
which one of their exploring geographers reported to have heard of.
But, although the wonderful city was never found, the search has its
counterpart today in the quest that is being made from time to time
by curious dealers as to the point of manufacture of this, that or
the other piano, the origin of which is not indicated on the instru-
ment.
When the French failed to find the native city, they attached
the name "Hochelaga" to a province in Quebec, Canada. Hoche-
laga has 76 square miles of territory, on the west bank of the St.
Lawrence River at Montreal, with Longue Pointe as the capital.
But what city or territory is the Hochelaga of the piano business?
And so we seem to have discovered the stencil city, at least.
And, no doubt, it's a good city—as good as the best of the unidenti-
fied pianos about which readers of Presto ask from week to week.
There was a time when the trade papers, and some of the piano
manufacturers also struggled hard to discover some other name that
could be used in place of "stencil." That descriptive word had be-
come so hackneyed, and it permitted of so many definitions, that it
had become evasive and unsatisfactory. Possibly the name of the
Canadian town might have served the purpose of a substitute.
"Hochelaga" might as well imply stenciling as any other word. It
has something of a teutonic sound, and the first syllable may easily
be translated to the advantage of any stencil piano.
In any event, the stencil piano has become softened in the esteem
of the piano trade. It no longer is regarded in the light of
fraud, as it once was, in its worst phase. And, whether or not
stencil pianos are sold by the dealers of Hochelaga, the researches
of the geographically-inclined member of Presto's staff has offered a
suggestion which may possibly be useful to some of the manufac-
turers, after things become normal and the demand for pianos sub-
sides to proportions something like those of former days.
PLAYER=ROLL PRIVILEGES
If there has been any doubt about the place of the playerpiano
in the development and exposition of art in music, such an announce-
ment as that of the Q R S Company, in last week's Presto, must
dispel it. For the Q R S announcement presented the names of
forty-nine of the world's greatest pianists and composers whose
creative and interpretative genius have been, by agreement, bound up
with the progress of the great player-roll industry. It means, of
course, that the phenomenal performers, the most inspired inter-
preters of music, have contracted to permit of the permanent record-
ing of their playing, for the perpetual example and delight of the less-
gifted lovers of good music.
From the days of Gottschalk, Thalberg, and the still earlier
pianists, the piano-loving public has had occasional opportunities for
knowing how the great interpreters caught and reproduced the mas-
ter-compositions. But it was an infrequent opportunity, and possible
to only a very small proportion of the people. Today it is possible
for any lover of fine pianism to know precisely how Paderewski,
Gabrilowitsch, Hamburg, Bauer, Busoni, Bloomfield-Zeisler, or any
of the rest, perform the intricate works of Liszt or Chopin, or Rubin-
stein, or the other geniuses of the piano. And the possibility of that
one-time priceless privilege is so easy of attainment that future gen-
erations may not place a proper estimate upon it. But, even so, the
effect, the influence, of the player roll must be one of the greatest
in the entire chronology of the world's intellectual and spiritual
"uplifts."
There are thoughts suggested by the Q R S Company's an-
nouncement that cause a tingling sensation in the minds of all who
know what fine music really means. It is difficult to realize that from
this time forward the world can never lose the impressions, the living
force and the deathless influences, of the great masters of the piano.
We have all read the lives of the wonder-workers of the piano. The
tours and triumphs of Chopin, Mendelssohn, Robert Schumann, Liszt,
Von Bulow, Anton Rubinstein and others, long since gone forever,
are familiar. Their stories and the idealized pictures tell us of some
of their moods and struggles. But beyond all that we know little.
We can not compare Chopin with Godowsky, nor Liszt with Les-
chetizky, nor Rubinstein with Hofmann, nor Von Bulow with Sauer.
All that the earlier masters of the piano could say, by their amazing
skill, was stilled in their death. But the masters of today can never,
in the same sense, die. Their wizardry will remain, and even the
tyro may repeat the effects of their genius with all their power of
tone and delicacy of shading.
How many of the music lovers fully appreciate this? And what
greater argument were possible in favor of the playerpiano as an
actual necessity in art? The old-time custom of the piano manufac-
turers finding great pianists to perform upon certain instruments ex-
clusively, is now discounted by the leading player-roll industries.
Where a great piano industry once engaged with an artist to use a
certain instrument, the Q R S Company now engages fifty pianists
to grant the exclusive privilege of reproducing their playing in the
rolls that will give back again for any owner of the rolls all of the
beauty of expression of the original performance.
It is certainly a great age in which we live. And, so far as con-
cerns music and the people who enjoy it, the playerpiano and the
music roll are contributing a large share of the greatness of the time
in which we live.
The "Where Doubts Are Dispelled" columns often give evidence
of the uses of printer's ink. Within two weeks three one-time famous
pianos have been asked after which were once famous but now almost
forgotten, No name is sufficiently powerful to defy the effects of
time and neglect. Publicity is as essential to a good piano as tone
or quality.
* * *
A correspondent asks us to name the "fool-proof" playerpiano.
Several of them come pretty near to it, but there is nothing in the
world that is absolutely fool-proof. If there was we wouldn't have
so many of them with us all the time, and playerpianos wouldn't be
submitted to so much abuse.
;|: *
*
The increasing number of "house organs" in the piano trade is
one of the signs of the times. The bright little store and factory pub-
lications serve a good purpose and help to enliven the trade. And
some of them suggest that there are factory workers who would
make good editors.
* * *
Piano selling is very largely a matter of intelligent solicitation.
As with life insurance, it involves the ability to convince people that
they really need something they think they are not sure they want.
Don't telephone. That only gives a man the chance to turn you down.
^ ^ ^
Japan threatens to make a strong bid for the world's trade in
many things. Musical instruments are among them. Wages are so
low in Japan, and labor union activities so small, that the cheap up-
rights of the little brown man may get a new stencil record.
* * *
There is significance in the renewed call for competent piano
salesmen. Pianos have been selling themselves, but a change is
coming and the automaton will not do, even where demand exceeds
supply.
^ ^ ,
A lively demand is growing for the once-popular "parlor organs."
It is certain that the few reed organ instruments that remain will ex-
perience a revival of activities sufficient to tax their capacities.
* * *
England is bidding for American industries. Some lines may
listen, but not piano manufacture. There's room enough at home and
better opportunities.
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