Music Trade Review

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PLAYER SECTION
NEW YORK, OCTOBER 27, 1917
The Former Antagonism of the Trained Musician to the Player-Piano Has
Gradually Disappeared, and the Active Support of the Musical World Will
Do Much to Assure the Development of the Player-Piano Along Correct Lines
The fame of the player-piano has been, in
many ways, very remarkable, and its relation to
the profession and art of music in this country
even more so. When the first piano players
were put on the market, now some twenty years
ago, the manufacturers labored, by means of
the most careful and high-grade advertising, to
convert the American public to the view that
music appreciation, even among those who can-
not play by hand, is a real force and a real
accomplishment, to be cultivated for itself; and
best to be so cultivated by means of the new
piano-playing device. The program set forth
seemed plausible and attractive; nor was there
any special reason to apprehend opposition from
musicians.
Yet in point of fact such opposition did de-
velop, and develop strongly. For reasons con-
nected with the general publicity of the manu-
facturers, the impression got abroad that the
piano player was being offered as a substi-
tute for musical training of the conventional
sort. Of course, no wise manufacturer dreamed
of saying this, but unhappily all were not wise;
and for some years we were treated to silly
advertising about "a child playing like a master,"
etc., etc. Tf all the advertisers had been as
wise and far-sighted as the Aeolian Co. and
Wilcox & White, the chances are that the mu-
sicians would have been silenced, if not quite
converted; but it was not so to be. The very
considerable and quite legitimate claims of the
player-piano as an aid to music-study, and its
still more wonderful possibilities as an entirely
new musical instrument, opening up realms of
development never yet considered capable of
realization, were wholly passed by, in favor
of a wholly stupid attempt to persuade the
world that the player-piano enables the ordi-
nary unmusical person to play like an artist.
Reductio ad Absurdum
The general feeling of musicians in this re-
spect may well be imagined.
If an artist's
work is of so small account that it can be dupli-
cated and even bettered by a machine, then why
should any one desire to be an artist? The ab-
surdity of the conclusion was its own defeat;
and the musical profession found itself forced
into an attitude of hostility to the player-piano
which has never yet been entirely stilled, al-
though it is by no means so strong to-day as
it was a few years ago. In fact, this opposition
is gradually subsiding, in a process that runs
parallel with a development going on in the
player-piano itself. This development is con-
cerned with the reproducing piano, and the roll
which forms an essential part thereof.
The attitude of the musical profession towards
the player-piano is not to be dismissed with any-
thing like contempt. Those who have followed
the progress of things during the past few years
know well that the introduction of the hand-
played roll, followed by the reproducing piano,
has engaged the attention, and now the inter-
ests, of musicians very widely. The attitude
of these musical thinkers towards the player-
piano is changing; and by the same token is
changing for the better.
It is therefore perfectly proper to ask our-
selves once more whether anything can be done
at the present time to put the player-piano upon
a basis from which the musician and the manu-
facturer can alike proceed to make a valuable
and mutually advantageous compact. Is there
anything in the condition of the player-piano
to-day that both musician and manufacturer can
take advantage of together?
The Points of Contact
It seems that there are many points of con-
tact. In the first place, now that the old no-
tion of the player-piano being put forward to
substitute for piano playing has been definitely
laughed out of court, the music teachers have
largely recovered from their fright. With this
bugaboo removed, the situation becomes a good
deal clearer in every way. In the second place,
the reproducing piano provides a new literature
of pianistic records, which are certainly valu-
able for the study of style. In the third place,
the player-piano is slowly being developed tech-
nically to a point where some of the grosser
superstitions hitherto entertained by musicians
about the sacred mysteries of piano "touch" are
being exposed in all their naked absurdity.
Thus, at one and the same time, the supersti-
tions of the public about the miraculous power
of the player-piano are shown to be baseless,
and the parallel superstitions of the musicians
regarding the unspeakable mystery of their art
are exposed as equally shadowy and unsubstan-
tial. Surely, the time is ripe for a new orienta-
tion of thought on these subjects.
From whatever point of view we consider the
matter, there can be no question as to the desira-
bility of bringing the musical thought of the
country into closer contact with the player-
p'ano. Put it as pleasantly as we can, there is
no denying the fact that the player-piano is de-
veloping without this contact. A few dozen
pianists are making records, and one or two of
these are very eminent. But there is no sys-
tematic contact; and no evidence as yet that
the musical world is looking at the player-
piano with any other interest than one is likely
to bestow upon a once feared but now rather
despised enemy.
Two Views
There are two points of view. In the one
case we can see that the player-piano, develop-
ing along the lines of the reproduction of ar-
tists' interpretations, could and should be
brought to the attention of all musicians who
are interested in acquainting themselves and
their pupils with the principles of interpreta-
tion. At the present moment the attitude to-
wards the reproducing piano adopted by many-
musicians is that of a rather patronizing ap-
proval, any good effect of which is taken away
almost entirely by a desire to look at the in-
strument as an imitator of the artist and there-
fore as an imperfect substitute for him. The
attitude is wrong, but for its wrongness the
manufacturers are largely to blame. The mu-
sicians can be won to the reproducing piano by
being caused to see it as an instrument for
preserving the style and technique of great
pianists. It is not wholly above reproach. The
records are not always faultless. There are
flaws to be picked, without a doubt. But if the
manufacturers, candidly admitting so much of
the musicians' criticism as they know to be well-
founded, would nevertheless insist upon the im-
mense importance of an instrument that pre-
serves, for all future generations, the work of
the great pianists, they would overcome prej-
udice, and, by constantly striving for technical
improvement, would attain great things.
Looking at the matter from a dispassionate
point of view, it seems quite sure that the re-
producing piano will be a bit of an exotic al-
ways, since the bulk of the population is cer-
tainly not yet ready for anything so high-class,
either musically speaking or otherwise. In a
word, giving to the mob an instrument capable
of reproducing music played by great artists,
even if it could be done at a commercial price,
would be like casting the proverbial pearls be-
fore the proverbial swine.
The Co-operation of Musicians
For this very reason, we venture to submit,
the co-operation of musicians in general with
this aspect of the player-piano is highly impor-
tant. How it is to be brought about is not the
precise subject of this article. It is enough if
the manufacturers can be led to perceive that
a certain line of policy is desirable, and that
the present attempt to bring the mass of the
moneyed public into intelligent contact with
the new ideas represented by musical reproduc-
tion cannot be successfully prosecuted without
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