Music Trade Review

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MUSIC TMDE
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PLAYER SECTON
NEW YORK, OCTOBER 25, 1919
"Those Dreadful Players"
Being a Defense of That Often Abused and Sadly Unappreciated Instrument,
the Player-Piano, in Answer to a Clever But Extremely Superficial Criticism
of the Player by Arthur Whiting, Recently Published in the Yale Review
When Mr. Arthur Whiting, in the July num-
ber of the Yale Review, put his critical lance
in rest and set off at a gallop against the player-
piano dragon, he succeeded in shedding a good
deal of ink and in writing some quite creditable
raillery. It was a clever little excursion, made
by a clever man, who is also an excellent mu-
sician. It had the slight disadvantage, of course,
that it betrayed in every paragraph its author's
desperate superficiality. Mr. Whiting is amus-
ing, witty and satirical, but his wit plays on is-
sues that have never existed; his sarcasm is ex-
pended on the thing which is not and the shafts
of his satire are aimed at thin air. In a word,
the gentleman has done a neat job, but the
dragon he so bravely attacked is made, alas!
of no more than straw, and its fiery breath is
but the reflection of the knight errant's valiant
figure seen through rose-colored glasses.
Tt did not seem good to the editor of this
player section immediately to rush to the de-
fence of our much-abused good instrument, for
this was at once and well done by others. Still,
after waiting long enough for someone to say
some good words for the Cinderella of the
player family, for the lowly foot-pedal player-
piano, for the player-piano of the masses, we
feel the call to sound the clarion and go forth in
defence. The reproducing piano has had its
able defenders. May I say some words for the
the humbler but much more numerous domestic
sister?
The Folly of Fighting Windmills
I shall not undertake the task of answering
the specific jibes made by our satirical and supe-
rior friend. There is little profit and less sat-
isfaction in fighting windmills; and musicians
who adopt the attitude of intense superiority
to vulgar facts and cast their objurgation in the
convenient form of dogmatic generality must
pardon me if I seek to be excused from assign-
ment as the Melancholy Don. I shall stick to
facts. They may be plain, even to vulgarity,
but they shall have at least the slight merit of
being true.
A Case of False Criticism
Am I too severe? One example of our satir-
ist's method shall suffice. He tells how at a re-
cent demonstration, where a reproducing piano
was taking the solo part in a concerto with the
orchestra, the solo instrment, after one of the
tutti's, failed to come in on time. A thrill of
the most exquisite horror, he tells us, suffused
the beings of the musically sensitive at this
frightful harbinger of mechanical abominations
yet to come. Which is all very pretty. But
the sad, practical truth is that the only one
bbmable was the conductor, in whose hand lay that, subject to the aforesaid limitations, the
the magic controlling button, and who was ap- player-piano possesses a range of dynamic con-
parently too fascinated to recollect his duty. If trol eminently satisfactory. It can play any tone
he had not to "nod the soloist in," he had to at a whisper or fortissimo. It can wind around
"push-button" him in. Really, this seems to among the bypaths of the tempo rubato as fan-
have been an occasion when the prized personal tastically as one may ever wish. It can alter
equation forgot to equate. But that a man should the duration of tones, hold them and hurry them,
set out to destroy the player-piano devil with at an uncanny speed and with uncanny prompt-
weapons of this quality seems pretty poor busi- ness. It can swell and diminish a trill. It can
ness.
play one tone at ppp and the next at ///. It can
To our levers and our pedals, however. What take every advantage of the damper-pedal. The
can the player-piano, the ordinary foot-pumped, tone-sustaining-pedal, even, can be utilized by the
every-day player-piano do in the way of inter- skilled player-pianist who may wish to join the
pretation? How far can you or I, by means of other six piano performers who admit they can
skill derived from practice and experience, bend actually do something with it. In a word, in
to our desires the apparently unbending material all music it can do tolerable work. Its true
of pneumatic, paper and bellows? How far can province is the classical field. As an interpreter
we produce a personal interpretation of music of the great contrapuntists it is magnificent. It
through the medium of this strange and (to Mr. does supremely well all music not predominat-
Whiting) horrific instrument? These are ques- ingly atmospheric.
tions both answerable and worth answering.
The Foot and the Pedal
Improvisations Not Practicable
And it does this mainly through the touch of
In the first place, let us admit the player-piano foot on pedal, a touch which may be educated to
does not allow of improvisatory excursions save exquisite precision and delicacy. It never heard
when its keyboard is the field of tactual com- of Mr. Whiting's "expression stop," but then he
munication. The "player-pianist" pace Mr. Whit- never really has heard of it, either. He has imag-
ing's shudders—must be content with the tones ined it.
Do you remember how Macaulay described the
written in his moving scores. Still, that is bet-
ter than "dropping handsful of notes. Again, the Christchurch reply to Bentley on the Phalaris
ordinary common or garden player-piano has controversy? "The best work ever written on the
some definite limitations as to the coloration of wrong side of question by a man who knew
tones through dynamic contrast. It cannot, of course, nothing about it?" Rven so! Vale!
sound every tone in a simultaneously-sounded
group of tones at a different and distinct degree
H. C. BEALE VISITS AMPHION CO.
of power. For that matter, the pianist cannot
either. Both are in this respect subject to de- Australian Music Merchant Inspects Plant at
Syracuse, N. Y.
fect and limitation. The pianist is better off than
the player-pianist; but that is all. It is entirely
H. C. Beale, vice-president of Beale & Co.,
a question of degree. The player-pianist can
obtain contrast in simultaneous tone-groups, to Sydney, Australia, the largest manufacturers of
a certain limited degree, which, however, depends pianos in that country, who has been spending
entirely upon how far he cares to extend well- some time in the United States following his.
known and actually existing mechanical prin- discharge from the English army, after three and
ciples already successfully applied.
It is just one-half years of service as an officer in the
like the pianist's technique—the better this is the Field Artillery, recently spent some time at the
more he can do. Yet, the great pianists are very factory of the Amphion Co., in Syracuse, N. Y.
few. So, also, complete control over every Mr. Beale was greatly interested in the construc-
separate tone of the keyboard—at the will of the tion of the Amphion reproducing action and in
performer and free fr*bm any automatic pre- the modern equipment of the plant. After leav-
determined limitations—can be had on the player- ing Syracuse, Mr. Beale plans to go to Canada,
piano. Such instruments exist, but in the present and from there to the Pacific Coast, where he
state of musical taste they are not popular. Man- will take a ship for home.
ufacturers, quite as blind as the public they serve
and from whose ranks they come, are scared to
President D. F. Summey has called a meeting
put their money in instruments which demand of the Cincinnati Association of Music Indus-
a little trouble for their mastery.
trie:;, to be held at the Chamber of Commerce in
Admitting all this, the simple fact remains that city on Thursday of this week.