Music Trade Review

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Automatic
Dealing with the Various Types of Musical Instruments Intended for Public Places, Pneumatically or Electrically Controlled
THE AUTOMATIC ORGAN AND ITS MUSIC ROLL PROBLEM
Weil-Known Organ Builder Points Out in an Interesting Communication the Need for Providing
Music Rolls That Shall Be Readily Adaptable for Use on Automatic Organs
The following remarks are commended to the
attention of all who are interesting themselves
in the development of the automatic organ, or,
in other words, the modern pipe organ, large or
small, developed especially for the residence or
the theatre and adapted to be played by music
roll as well as by hand. They are written by a
well-known organ builder in the Eastern States,
who prefers that his name should not be used.
The point involved refers to the music roll dif-
ficulty and to the question of providing auto-
matic stop control. The solution proposed is in-
teresting and ingenious. The letter follows:
"To the Editor of The Music Trade Review.
Dear Sir—I often wonder whether such a scheme
as the following is not possible and feel that the
solution can be obtained through the co-opera-
tion of the music roll manufacturers with the
organ builder.
"There is no doubt that we are entering upon
an era of wonderful advancement of the music
trades. The small self-contained automatic or-
gan, however, has not yet reached the state of
perfection reached by the player-piano.
"We feel that the question of obtaining suit-
able music rolls, with stop control, is one of the
greatest handicaps to this development, and that
it is holding back the small automatic organ
from being successfully placed on the market.
Take the situation to-day. Every city, town or
village has a local music store where you can
go and purchase an 88-note roll; and what a
vast amount of enjoyment this has brought to
the world!
"Now many organ builders are desirous of
placing on the market a self-contained automatic
organ, at a price within the reach of the aver-
age purse, but when the question of suitable
music rolls arises there is nothing to fill the
want of easily obtainable rolls for such an in-
strument. When the organ builder takes up
the question of getting out his own music roll
library, he finds this out of his reach, because it
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involves expenditures larger than he can af-
ford.
"It is true that rolls exist which play the swell
organ, solo, accompaniment and pedal organ,
but they are for large organs and a millionaire's
income. There are also rolls for the piano or-
gan, but without stop control. But it would
seem that if the music roll manufacturer would
take some of his master rolls and study their
possibilities this difficulty would be removed
and we should achieve the desired result.
"The rolls made for the piano are 88-note in
scale, but how often do we strike a roll where
the lowest or highest six notes are used? The
organ compass is sixty-one notes and with the
modern extensions the compass is seventy-three
notes.
"Now, suppose we get the services of a good
organist and let him set out the suitable registra-
tion of stops for rolls now being played on the
player-piano, and which can readily be used for
the small automatic organ. Let the manufac-
turer take the space allotted to the highest six
or even eight perforations, and the same for the
lowest, and use this space for automatic stop
control perforations. This would give possibly
as many as sixteen perforations available. The
first could control a soft organ stop, the second,
one a little louder, and so on. Allow three or
four perforations on the top of the scale for
the expression devices. There are to-day thou-
sands of 88-note rolls which could thus be used
with the twelve extreme perforations, for regis-
tering stop combinations with expression unlim-
ited.
"In the player-piano catalogs there are rolls
without number suitable for the small organ,
which with a little rearranging for cutting the
stop control in the master roll would place an
untold advantage in the hands of the organ
manufacturer and an additional market within
those of the rpll manufacturer. With such co-
operation from the roll manufacturer there
could be placed on the market a small organ of
beautiful tonal qualities at a price ranging from
$1,000, and there are certainly thousands of pur-
chasers for such an instrument. We feel thai
the grand piano has demonstrated the possi-
bility of placing such instruments in the home
of the average music-lover. The present-day
organ builder is just as anxious to do the same
with his own article, but he cannot stand the
cost of organizing his own music roll library,
which is necessary for the completion of the
idea. This is one of the greatest difficulties he
has to face. We want to get down to a basis
where it is possible to buy an organ roll in
the same manner as we can buy the player-
piano roll.
"The small automatic organ is coming and will
ccver a wide field. The organ builder is de-
sirous of placing his business in the position it
should occupy, for he has seen the wonderful
advance of the piano industry through the clean
aggressive action of its members.
"We request consideration of this matter and
the co-operation of the music roll manufactur-
ers in overcoming the existing difficulty; also
the assistance of the organ builders. We be-
lieve the organ end of the music trade will take
a wonderful advance. Yours musically, 'Inter-
ested.' "
The point is well taken, for the music difficulty
is indeed the special and most formidable ob-
stacle to the development of the player organ.
We believe firmly that this organ is capable of
very great development for domestic use at a
reasonable price, but it is quite clear that some
standardized music will have to be provided for
it. This fact alone militates against any idea
of having independent music roll libraries
worked out for each make of organ. The music
must be interchangeable, that is sure.
Now it is also true that a great deal of the
88-note player music has plenty of space left
at its right and left margins for extra expres-
sion perforations, and this simply means that
new or duplicate master rolls would have to be
made for such numbers, so that the stop and
expression perforations might be arranged.
These altered master rolls would then be avail-
able for organs, provided that the manufactur-
ers would agree upon a standard form of track-
er bar.
The necessities of the case may compel the
organ manufacturer to use the automatic stop-
control, but it seems to us that there is another
side to the question. Apart from the commercial
convenience of having the roll do the whole
thing, which is important no doubt for a the-
atre or public place, one may question the de-
sirability of eliminating the personal control en-
tirely from the residence organ. It would seem
that much more interest would be developed if
the automatic stop control and speed control
were so devised that they might be eliminated
when desired by the drawing of a knob, so that
the player organist might register the stops him-
self and control all the expressive mechanism of
the organ to suit his own whim. Why not at
least have this alternative made possible?
One other point must not be forgotten. Quite
a lot of 88-note music does have low notes ex-
tending beyond the 73-note compass. It would
be necessary to go over the list and eliminate
all such or rearrange them. But when we re-
member that the new master rolls would have to
be made anyway, this should not be so difficult.
Anyway, the idea seems well worth thinking
about, and is therefore laid before the readers
of this page in the hope that they will put their
ideas down on paper also and send them in.
ROBBERS VISIT LOCAL WAREROOMS
Schleicher & Son, Inc., piano dealers of 105
East Fourteenth street, this city, were victims
of thieves on Monday evening of this week. The
police found the store door open, and upon in-
vestigation discovered that the safe had been
opened, and a metal drawer for valuables re-
moved therefrom. Detectives are of the opin-
ion that the robbery was perpetrated by some-
one who had a key to the store. The loss to
the piano company is not revealed.