Music Trade Review

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MUSIC TMDE
PLAYER SECTION
NEW
YORK, APRIL 28, 1917
The Player-Piano Is an Excellent Medium Through Which the Review Slogan,
"Let's Have Patriotic Music in Every Home," Can Become an Actuality—
Dealers Should Take Advantage of War-Time Opportunities for More Sales
One would not say that the pertinent remarks
made the other day by Otto Schulz at the meet-
ing of the Chicago Piano & Organ Association
on the subject of community musical effort and
its relations to the music trades were the actual
opening of discussion on this topic; for, of
course, the whole matter has been in the minds
of piano men for years. To what extent the
public taste for music can be stimulated by the
trade, has not yet been discovered, for the suf-
ficient reason that no complete report is avail-
able of the present attempt of the National Bu-
reau for the Advancement of Music to work
the problem out. Yet it is plain that the whole
matter is one of great importance at any time;
and at this special time is of unusual, even vital,
importance.
When a nation goes to war, the consequences
of its action are largely incalculable; but there
is one point regarding which calculation need
not be at fault. One can always say, with an
approach to correctness, that the habits of
thought of its people will be more or less pro-
foundly modified. Whatever else may or may
not be said, this can always be said; and said
truly.
Now the experience of the peoples with whom
the United States is now in belligerent accord,
shows that war's greatest general effect upon
the civilian population is in the direction of
sobering and quieting popular thought. It is
true that the scenes witnessed when a victory is
announced, or the thoughts expressed at public
meetings, may not appear to confirm this be-
lief; but it is also true, that the experiences of
war-time are sobering experiences which, al-
though they may affect some persons into undue
excitement and recklessness, incite others to
higher self-sacrifice and deeper nobility of con-
duct.
During the coming months, then, it would
seem that an opportunity arises, as never before,
to organize public inclination towards music in
a manner and on a scale hitherto deemed im-
possible. Music is, of all arts, the one spe-
cially adapted to fit into the needs of a people
who find themselves under stress and strain.
Music of the more serious sort becomes more
and more interesting and appealing; and the
thought of the people can easily be directed to-
wards the things of the spirit when they begin
to face the serious things of life under the se-
rious conditions imposed by a state of bellig-
erency.
Following Natural Tastes of People
Mr. Schulz has said, very rightly and truly,
that the best way for us to look at the problem
of getting the American people more definitely
interested in music and musical instruments is
that of their own natural tastes. Everybody,
more or less, can and will sing if put into com-
pany with a crowd of others like-minded. Con-
gregational singing is very often quite impres-
sive, although no one individual, perhaps, is do-
ing very much. Yet, if you take that same
crowd of people and get them to sing for an
hour a week under a chorus director, you will
have them in three months not only doing well
collectively, but individually; and you will also
have them individually interested in music. It
is this last that counts.
Now if this be true, as it is, and if it be there-
fore our manifest duty to encourage every
agency now at work to promote community
singing and community music, how much more
is it our duty to promote the use of the musical
instruments already in the homes of the peo-
ple!
Take the case of the player-piano, which
is the particular concern of this department.
From a musical point of view, what a sorry
failure the player-piano is, to be sure! Indeed,
of course, we have sold them by the thousands;
but have we sold anything like as many as we
should have sold? By no means! We have sold
far fewer than we should have sold. We have
in a measure alienated the affections of the in-
telligent music lovers who might have taken to
the player-piano in the early days; and we have
cheerfully resigned the whole proposition to
the tender mercies of "the cabaret fiends, the jazz
experts and the tribe of sun-dodgers generally.
We now begin to reap our reward; for the per-
sons who have been buying player-pianos are
now just as likely to buy talking machines; be-
cause it is even less trouble to change a record
than to pump a player.
The More Definite Appeal of Music
But war has a way of sobering a nation up,
and our nation has needed the process for a
long time. The people will begin to think of
more serious things. They will be in a frame
of mind where the appeal of music will be much
more definite, and where they will respond to
any sort of advertising campaign based on the
notion of higher thinking and finer entertain-
ment. Let us consider some of the possibilities
of such a scheme.
In the first place, we can advertise to those
whose incomes are being increased through the
rise in the value of skilled labor, and can point
out to them that, in times of national crisis, the
best plan for spending one's surplus is that
which contemplates investment, not future ex-
pense. We can draw an instructive parallel be-
tween the luxurious expense which is an auto-
mobile and the solid investment which is a piano
or especially a player-piano.
We can show
how the first, with all its value in business, in
the general service of mankind, is neither neces-
sary nor even advantageous to those who must
count the future cost. We can show the cul-
tural value of music and the domestic family
value of a musical instrument that keeps the
family in, as opposed to the automobile that
keeps them out. That is one thing we can do.
Adopt The Review Slogan
In the second place, we can adopt The Re-
view's motto, "Let's Have Patriotic Music in
Every Home," and can work up the idea of
using the player-piano for that purpose, besides
advertising rolls of patriotic music, giving sug-
gestions for patriotic concerts and perhaps even
running series of advertisements featuring In-
dividual patriotic numbers such as "The Star
Spangled Banner," "Glory, Glory, Hallelujah,"
"When Johnny Conies Marching Home," and
hosts of others; describing the history of each,
its author, how it came to be written; and so on.
Similar series could be written around the Mar-
seillaise, the British National Anthem, the Rus-
sian hymn; etc. In all these the point to be
made should always be the use of the player-
piano to teach patriotism, respect for the flag,
willingness to do for one's country, through the
medium of the songs which have become sacred
to the nation; and the superiority of the player-
piano above all other instruments because of its
permitting the children and the grown-ups alike
to interpret the music as their feelings dictate,
instead of merely passively listening.
This
point of the active value of the player-piano
should never be neglected.
In the third place, we can point out that, of
all possible duties which the citizen has, the duty
of keeping the business of the nation going is
that of prime importance. We can show that
the citizen's economy should be shown by the
use he makes of what he buys, not by refusing
to purchase good things, but by purchasing noth-
ing else. We can show that just as every kind
of musical instrument that can be carried by the
soldier has found its way into the trenches, so
also the charm, the appeal, the inspiration of
music is as necessary to the citizen who does
his bit at home.
No Reason to Allow Business to Languish
These suggestions are not made at random,
but represent ideas that have come to mind nat-
urally and spontaneously. It is, of course, plain
enough that we are not only at liberty to push
{Continued on page 5)