Music Trade Review
Issue: 1915 Vol. 61 N. 26 - Page 5
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
Power-Driven Player a Big Factor—Possibilities For Refinement in Ex-
pressive Capacity and Response to Control—Development of the Grand
and "Solo" Player—Considerable Technical Improvement for Music Rolls.
The present is the season of the year when pre-
dictions, good, 'bad and indifferent, are the order
of the day. It is not the intention of the writer,
however, to deal with predictions, or to pretend to
a prophetic faculty which he certainly does not pos-
( sess. It is, however, permissible to anticipate, and
.it is possible to anticipate intelligently. Feeling so,
'we have no hesitation in setting forth our antici-
pations for the coming year as concerns the player-
piano.
The person who looks at things superficially and
who is therefore the most easily deceived by pre-
tense, by noise and by the general first-sight ap-
pearance of things, will most decidedly tell us that
1916 is to be an "electric" year. We are not in the
least decrying the importance of the power-driven
player when we say that we altogether disagree
with this idea. We have already said enough—
and in this very issue of The Review are saying
enough—to show that we have very distinct and
definite notions concerning the place which mechan-
ical bellows drive may have and should have in
the future of the player business; but we do not
believe that it would be wise to anticipate a com-
ing elimination of the foot-driven instrument.
There are several reasons for this belief, which we
need not discuss in detail, although it is right to
remark that the power-driven and the foot-driven
player are much more likely to exist together than
to engage in any contest for supremacy, at least
for a year and more to come.
There are many directions in which improve-
ment may show itself, and none of these is more
inviting than that in which the power-driven player
is now traveling. We are of the opinion that
the coming year ought to show a beginning at least
of some work directed towards giving adequate
control over dynamics to the user of the power-
driven player. A*t present the weakness of this
player is in its dynamic inadequacy. This weak-
ness can be improved out of existence by pro-
ducing sufficient ' pneumatic power. Such means
probably—nay certainly—involve ultimately the
abandonment of the conventional bellows system
and the substitution therefor of a continuous ro-
tary system. Here again we have great possibili-
ties, for with the development of such a system
must inevitably come the development of control-
lable power, graduated so that, without physical
effort, all the present control of the foot-driven
bellows may be retained, with the addition of im-
mensely increased dynamic resource. Unless, in-
deed, the power-driven player goes in this direc-
tion, we can see for it no very bright future.
The Grand Player.
The development of player mechanism for grand
actions has been one of the outstanding develop-
ments of the year. One realizes, of course, that
the demand for grand pianos is always limited, but
it. is an astonishing fact that during the year 1915
there has been a positive considerable increase in
the number of grand pianos made and sold. A few
days ago the writer received a letter from the man-
ufacturer of a popular-priced and very good small
grand, in which the statement was made that the
factory is putting forth more than forty grand
pianos a week, with orders enough to justify an
output of sixty per week if only the corresponding
manufacturing facilities were in existence. This
being the case, and a parallel condition existing
with other manufacturers, it is plain that we may
expect to see and hear much more of the player
grand next year. For this we should be thankful,
•because the player-piano is a distinct refinement
in the player business, something that stands by
itself and that, when properly regarded and prop-
erly pushed, can always be sold at a price and on
terms which bring the right sort of profit to the
dealer. Not only is this so, but the player grand
is musically and technically a superior piece of
goods, as it were, something which puts the player-
piano on a higher basis. Any movement in the
direction of popularizing it and making it accessi-
ble to the general public is in every way desirable
and to be encouraged. One feels that this instru-
ment is due for very considerable expansion dur-
ing the next few years, and the trade will be wise
to encourage it as much as possible during 1916.
The "Solo" Player.
The announcement and first public demonstration
of the Cable Company's new Solo-Carola player
was productive of great interest throughout the
player world, and there naturally arises the ques-
tion whether this new vein of discovery is to re-
ceive fresh development during the coming year
from other efforts in the same direction. No one,
we conceive, doubts the desirability of developing
the ability of the player-piano, whether under man-
ual or automatic control, to make definite musical
accents, to inflect its speech and to broaden and
strengthen its dynamic powers. The problem, of
course, is extremely intricate and involves a multi-
tude of details not as yet perceived even by the ma-
jority of those who are looking into it, so that it
is not to be supposed that we shall see any'complete
solutions of the expressive problem within the
coming year. It is, however, an open secret that
the attention of several designers is being bent to
this problem, and some such announcement might
possibly ibe made during the coming year. Mean-
while the Cable Company's new instrument goes its
way and has become very much in demand. The
movement is vastly interesting, and although we
think it must finally be developed in such a way as
to allow the use of standard music rolls not pro-
vided with special perforations, it is yet too early
to prophesy any further. Look out for the devel-
opment of solo players, however.
The Music Roll.
Music rolls are due likewise for considerable
technical development, in our opinion. The con-
stant production of recorded rolls is beginning to
show certain family likenesses in the details of re-
production, which in turn is leading to the knowl-
edge that the records can be vastly improved by
judicious editing; a process now well under way
and gradually coming to be accepted by all arrang-
ers as quite necessary. But still more important
than this is the almost complete certainty that dur-
ing 1916 there will be a further effort, this time
successful, to promote standardization in some
technical details of manufacture. The movement
inaugurated through this Player Section by F. W.
Teeple, looking towards a conference to standard-
ize the marginal perforations on rolls intend-
ed for use with power-driven players and auto-
matic expression, will come to a head at the New
York meeting of the executive committees of the
manufacturers' and dealers' associations. From
this it is hoped that there will spring some definite
action whereby the troublesome and confusing con-
ditions hitherto prevailing may be eliminated per-
manently. Such action is indicated as essential to
the permanence "and popularity of the power-
driven player, for this type of instrument cannot
be established save through the hearty co-opera-
tion of the dealer, and such co-operation will not
be available if there is to be involved the trouble
of carrying duplicates of all rolls in half a dozen
editions merely because tracker bars and rolls are
not standardized. Such a condition cannot be al-
lowed to continue; its continuance is unthinkable.
With this reform once effected, the power-driven
player will receive a needed impetus.
Such are some anticipations, one hopes fairly
intelligent, of player-piano progress during 1916.
A Standard Seller—
Both in Name and in Fact
This bench is one of our best sellers because
it pleases. It possesses that quality ap-
pearance.
Construction and finish is the combination
that characterizes all our benches.
Style 103—Plain Columns,
with Music Compartment.
Standard
1223 W. Lake St.
Mfg. Co.
CHICAGO, ILL.
THE MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
Power-Driven Player a Big Factor—Possibilities For Refinement in Ex-
pressive Capacity and Response to Control—Development of the Grand
and "Solo" Player—Considerable Technical Improvement for Music Rolls.
The present is the season of the year when pre-
dictions, good, 'bad and indifferent, are the order
of the day. It is not the intention of the writer,
however, to deal with predictions, or to pretend to
a prophetic faculty which he certainly does not pos-
( sess. It is, however, permissible to anticipate, and
.it is possible to anticipate intelligently. Feeling so,
'we have no hesitation in setting forth our antici-
pations for the coming year as concerns the player-
piano.
The person who looks at things superficially and
who is therefore the most easily deceived by pre-
tense, by noise and by the general first-sight ap-
pearance of things, will most decidedly tell us that
1916 is to be an "electric" year. We are not in the
least decrying the importance of the power-driven
player when we say that we altogether disagree
with this idea. We have already said enough—
and in this very issue of The Review are saying
enough—to show that we have very distinct and
definite notions concerning the place which mechan-
ical bellows drive may have and should have in
the future of the player business; but we do not
believe that it would be wise to anticipate a com-
ing elimination of the foot-driven instrument.
There are several reasons for this belief, which we
need not discuss in detail, although it is right to
remark that the power-driven and the foot-driven
player are much more likely to exist together than
to engage in any contest for supremacy, at least
for a year and more to come.
There are many directions in which improve-
ment may show itself, and none of these is more
inviting than that in which the power-driven player
is now traveling. We are of the opinion that
the coming year ought to show a beginning at least
of some work directed towards giving adequate
control over dynamics to the user of the power-
driven player. A*t present the weakness of this
player is in its dynamic inadequacy. This weak-
ness can be improved out of existence by pro-
ducing sufficient ' pneumatic power. Such means
probably—nay certainly—involve ultimately the
abandonment of the conventional bellows system
and the substitution therefor of a continuous ro-
tary system. Here again we have great possibili-
ties, for with the development of such a system
must inevitably come the development of control-
lable power, graduated so that, without physical
effort, all the present control of the foot-driven
bellows may be retained, with the addition of im-
mensely increased dynamic resource. Unless, in-
deed, the power-driven player goes in this direc-
tion, we can see for it no very bright future.
The Grand Player.
The development of player mechanism for grand
actions has been one of the outstanding develop-
ments of the year. One realizes, of course, that
the demand for grand pianos is always limited, but
it. is an astonishing fact that during the year 1915
there has been a positive considerable increase in
the number of grand pianos made and sold. A few
days ago the writer received a letter from the man-
ufacturer of a popular-priced and very good small
grand, in which the statement was made that the
factory is putting forth more than forty grand
pianos a week, with orders enough to justify an
output of sixty per week if only the corresponding
manufacturing facilities were in existence. This
being the case, and a parallel condition existing
with other manufacturers, it is plain that we may
expect to see and hear much more of the player
grand next year. For this we should be thankful,
•because the player-piano is a distinct refinement
in the player business, something that stands by
itself and that, when properly regarded and prop-
erly pushed, can always be sold at a price and on
terms which bring the right sort of profit to the
dealer. Not only is this so, but the player grand
is musically and technically a superior piece of
goods, as it were, something which puts the player-
piano on a higher basis. Any movement in the
direction of popularizing it and making it accessi-
ble to the general public is in every way desirable
and to be encouraged. One feels that this instru-
ment is due for very considerable expansion dur-
ing the next few years, and the trade will be wise
to encourage it as much as possible during 1916.
The "Solo" Player.
The announcement and first public demonstration
of the Cable Company's new Solo-Carola player
was productive of great interest throughout the
player world, and there naturally arises the ques-
tion whether this new vein of discovery is to re-
ceive fresh development during the coming year
from other efforts in the same direction. No one,
we conceive, doubts the desirability of developing
the ability of the player-piano, whether under man-
ual or automatic control, to make definite musical
accents, to inflect its speech and to broaden and
strengthen its dynamic powers. The problem, of
course, is extremely intricate and involves a multi-
tude of details not as yet perceived even by the ma-
jority of those who are looking into it, so that it
is not to be supposed that we shall see any'complete
solutions of the expressive problem within the
coming year. It is, however, an open secret that
the attention of several designers is being bent to
this problem, and some such announcement might
possibly ibe made during the coming year. Mean-
while the Cable Company's new instrument goes its
way and has become very much in demand. The
movement is vastly interesting, and although we
think it must finally be developed in such a way as
to allow the use of standard music rolls not pro-
vided with special perforations, it is yet too early
to prophesy any further. Look out for the devel-
opment of solo players, however.
The Music Roll.
Music rolls are due likewise for considerable
technical development, in our opinion. The con-
stant production of recorded rolls is beginning to
show certain family likenesses in the details of re-
production, which in turn is leading to the knowl-
edge that the records can be vastly improved by
judicious editing; a process now well under way
and gradually coming to be accepted by all arrang-
ers as quite necessary. But still more important
than this is the almost complete certainty that dur-
ing 1916 there will be a further effort, this time
successful, to promote standardization in some
technical details of manufacture. The movement
inaugurated through this Player Section by F. W.
Teeple, looking towards a conference to standard-
ize the marginal perforations on rolls intend-
ed for use with power-driven players and auto-
matic expression, will come to a head at the New
York meeting of the executive committees of the
manufacturers' and dealers' associations. From
this it is hoped that there will spring some definite
action whereby the troublesome and confusing con-
ditions hitherto prevailing may be eliminated per-
manently. Such action is indicated as essential to
the permanence "and popularity of the power-
driven player, for this type of instrument cannot
be established save through the hearty co-opera-
tion of the dealer, and such co-operation will not
be available if there is to be involved the trouble
of carrying duplicates of all rolls in half a dozen
editions merely because tracker bars and rolls are
not standardized. Such a condition cannot be al-
lowed to continue; its continuance is unthinkable.
With this reform once effected, the power-driven
player will receive a needed impetus.
Such are some anticipations, one hopes fairly
intelligent, of player-piano progress during 1916.
A Standard Seller—
Both in Name and in Fact
This bench is one of our best sellers because
it pleases. It possesses that quality ap-
pearance.
Construction and finish is the combination
that characterizes all our benches.
Style 103—Plain Columns,
with Music Compartment.
Standard
1223 W. Lake St.
Mfg. Co.
CHICAGO, ILL.
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