Music Trade Review
Issue: 1919 Vol. 69 N. 9 - Page 3
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
MUSIC TRADE
1
^Z=zz>l
PLAYER SECTION
NEW YORK, AUGUST 30, 1919
fl^
The Matter of Standardizing the Expression Equipment of the Player-Piano
Should Receive the Careful Attention of Player Manufacturers in Order
That the Player-Piano May Take Its Rightful Place as a Musical Instrument
Readers of The Review are well aware that
at intervals during the last few years we have
ventilated many questions which in due course
have traversed the entire path of progress from
the status of mere dreams to that of practical
and sometimes burning questions. That an
idea is not yet generally recognized proves noth-
ing more than the bare fact itself, and we have
no reason for any feeling other than pleasure
at having so often championed causes, not lost,
but undiscovered.
At the moment we are hearing a great deal
about standardization and there is no doubt that
much of it is all to the good. But it is a rather
lamentable fact that the discussions we have
so far been privileged to hear concerning the
standardization of player-piano manufacture
have invariably stopped short before reaching
the most interesting part of the whole ques-
tion. This is of course the matter of standard-
izing the expression equipment of the player-
piano so as to make the control of the instru-
ment as much a matter of standard practice as
the manipulation of the manual keyboard.
The time has surely come when the trade
can bear to discuss questions of general policy
upon a basis broader than private prejudice can
furnish. We are surely ready now to ask our-
selves how a question like standardization of ex-
pression devices strikes the ultimate consumer.
After all, it is he who has to use. the player-
piano. Is it not about time to begin finding
out what he wants, as a preliminary to seeing
that he gets it?
Mr. Singer's Views
The view of the user has most ably been
put in the following short statement submitted
to The Review by Lester C. Singer, of Chicago,
a well-known tuner and salesman who has had
unexcelled opportunities for studying this ques-
tion from the point of view of the private owner.
Says he:—
"When a pianist is invited to play he does not
find it necessary to first examine the keys and
the pedals in order to ascertain their arrange-
ment. The piano is built to standard in these
universal respects. The pianist, therefore, can
play any make of piano built in any country
without any preliminary preparation.
"On the contrary, when a player-pianist is
invited to play an unfamiliar make of instru-
ment he often finds the expression devices so dif-
ferently arranged that he is unable to get any-
thing like the results he has a right to expect.
Naturally he will be almost certain to declare,
in his own mind at least, that this player does
not compare with his own instrument.
"No two makes of player actions operate
nearly enough the same to set a standard. There
are great differences in bellows pressure and the
pedal resistance under the feet varies so much in
different makes of players that even the expert
player-pianist who goes from one make to an-
other has difficulty in getting anything like equal
results in playing until he becomes familiar
with the new one by practice.
"In addition to these differences in foot con-
trol the expression devices furnish an equally
wide scope for variation in design. Sometimes
the pedals are operated by buttons and some-
times by levers, sometimes the loud pedal but-
ton or lever is placed in a most inconvenient
position, making it most difficult to control in
connection with the other levers. Even an ex-
pert player-pianist, to say nothing of others,
becomes exasperated by the finger contortions
necessary to operate these confusing combina-
tions.
"Sometimes there are levers (talking points)
that are of no practical use. They only serve
to confuse the operator, who in many cases is so
innocent of player construction that he believes
they are put there for some purpose.
Doing the Player Justice
"When the player-pianist is invited to show
his skill on an unfamiliar player he does not
want to do either himself or the player an in-
justice by making it appear that after all he
cannot play it well. Neither does he want to
spend an hour or two in practice in order to
vindicate himself. This all militates against the
player-piano and prevents it from taking its
place beside the straight piano as a musical in-
strument. It prevents musicians from giving the
player-piano any serious consideration and is a
drawback to teaching the player as it should
be taught. This short-sighted policy should be
discouraged by those whose well-being depends
on the future production of the player-piano.
"The general plan of expression devices
should be nearly enough uniform to enable any
player-pianist to play any make of player with-
out first having to familiarize himself with its
peculiarities. It is time that the player-piano
should take its place as a musical instrument.
It has gained quantity production against many
odds, but it will take its rightful place in the
musical world only when the musican finds in
it an instrument suited to his purpose.
"Every owner of a player-piano has in his
possession means of entertainment far beyond
his dreams and he should be encouraged to use
it in this way. He can be made to realize this
by a little intelligent and well-directed instruc-
tion. Under the direction of a musician he will
gain an appreciation of the beauty and wonder-
ful transforming power of music, especially
when he becomes his own interpreter. Any per-
son with a love for music can thus in a short
time become a good, true music lover, who will
find his hobby to be the finest indoor sport in
the world."
Results of Chaotic Conditions
So says Mr. Singer, and there can be no doubt
that his general thesis is quite sound. The main-
tenance of artificial differences in the arrange-
ment of devices which perform the same func-
tions has one lamentable but perfectly natural
result. It tends to maintain, and in fact does
maintain, the false belief that the player-piano
is not a standard musical instrument, but a sort
of freak. It tends to obscure general public
recognition of the player-piano as an element in
musical life; a recognition very much needed.
It blocks the road towards public interests in,
and public mastery of, the music-making means
which the player-piano provides, and by em-
phasizing a multiplicity of useless talking points
it postpones the day when the selling of player-
pianos shall be permanently settled on a basis
of merit.
A Question of Policy
All foot-driven player-pianos—which form
and will always probably form the vastly
greater body of player instruments—are to-day
controlled for expression by means virtually
identical. There is not a reason of general
trade policy, as against the private policy of
individual groups, to cause the legitimate post-
ponement of standardization in these respects.
A standardization lay-out for tempo-lever, ham-
mer-lifts and sustaining pedal device could easily
be worked out. Incidentally, one result would
surely be to place all these devices in the posi-
tions most comfortable and convenient to the
hands of the player-pianist. At present, to be
candid about it, many of the lay-outs we have
seen appear as if they had been arranged quite
at random.
With reference to the matter of bellows pres-
sure and the many questions therewith bound
up Mr. Singer opens out a wide field of inquiry.
It must be remembered that these matters are
essentially connected with the designer's ideas
as to power, attack and accent and the part
played therein by the foot-stroke. No unanimity
of opinion is likely to be found here in the pres-
ent state of the art, nor should we be sorry for
this, since agreement at the present moment in
the conditions now existing would be simply
acquiescence in error.
MUSIC TRADE
1
^Z=zz>l
PLAYER SECTION
NEW YORK, AUGUST 30, 1919
fl^
The Matter of Standardizing the Expression Equipment of the Player-Piano
Should Receive the Careful Attention of Player Manufacturers in Order
That the Player-Piano May Take Its Rightful Place as a Musical Instrument
Readers of The Review are well aware that
at intervals during the last few years we have
ventilated many questions which in due course
have traversed the entire path of progress from
the status of mere dreams to that of practical
and sometimes burning questions. That an
idea is not yet generally recognized proves noth-
ing more than the bare fact itself, and we have
no reason for any feeling other than pleasure
at having so often championed causes, not lost,
but undiscovered.
At the moment we are hearing a great deal
about standardization and there is no doubt that
much of it is all to the good. But it is a rather
lamentable fact that the discussions we have
so far been privileged to hear concerning the
standardization of player-piano manufacture
have invariably stopped short before reaching
the most interesting part of the whole ques-
tion. This is of course the matter of standard-
izing the expression equipment of the player-
piano so as to make the control of the instru-
ment as much a matter of standard practice as
the manipulation of the manual keyboard.
The time has surely come when the trade
can bear to discuss questions of general policy
upon a basis broader than private prejudice can
furnish. We are surely ready now to ask our-
selves how a question like standardization of ex-
pression devices strikes the ultimate consumer.
After all, it is he who has to use. the player-
piano. Is it not about time to begin finding
out what he wants, as a preliminary to seeing
that he gets it?
Mr. Singer's Views
The view of the user has most ably been
put in the following short statement submitted
to The Review by Lester C. Singer, of Chicago,
a well-known tuner and salesman who has had
unexcelled opportunities for studying this ques-
tion from the point of view of the private owner.
Says he:—
"When a pianist is invited to play he does not
find it necessary to first examine the keys and
the pedals in order to ascertain their arrange-
ment. The piano is built to standard in these
universal respects. The pianist, therefore, can
play any make of piano built in any country
without any preliminary preparation.
"On the contrary, when a player-pianist is
invited to play an unfamiliar make of instru-
ment he often finds the expression devices so dif-
ferently arranged that he is unable to get any-
thing like the results he has a right to expect.
Naturally he will be almost certain to declare,
in his own mind at least, that this player does
not compare with his own instrument.
"No two makes of player actions operate
nearly enough the same to set a standard. There
are great differences in bellows pressure and the
pedal resistance under the feet varies so much in
different makes of players that even the expert
player-pianist who goes from one make to an-
other has difficulty in getting anything like equal
results in playing until he becomes familiar
with the new one by practice.
"In addition to these differences in foot con-
trol the expression devices furnish an equally
wide scope for variation in design. Sometimes
the pedals are operated by buttons and some-
times by levers, sometimes the loud pedal but-
ton or lever is placed in a most inconvenient
position, making it most difficult to control in
connection with the other levers. Even an ex-
pert player-pianist, to say nothing of others,
becomes exasperated by the finger contortions
necessary to operate these confusing combina-
tions.
"Sometimes there are levers (talking points)
that are of no practical use. They only serve
to confuse the operator, who in many cases is so
innocent of player construction that he believes
they are put there for some purpose.
Doing the Player Justice
"When the player-pianist is invited to show
his skill on an unfamiliar player he does not
want to do either himself or the player an in-
justice by making it appear that after all he
cannot play it well. Neither does he want to
spend an hour or two in practice in order to
vindicate himself. This all militates against the
player-piano and prevents it from taking its
place beside the straight piano as a musical in-
strument. It prevents musicians from giving the
player-piano any serious consideration and is a
drawback to teaching the player as it should
be taught. This short-sighted policy should be
discouraged by those whose well-being depends
on the future production of the player-piano.
"The general plan of expression devices
should be nearly enough uniform to enable any
player-pianist to play any make of player with-
out first having to familiarize himself with its
peculiarities. It is time that the player-piano
should take its place as a musical instrument.
It has gained quantity production against many
odds, but it will take its rightful place in the
musical world only when the musican finds in
it an instrument suited to his purpose.
"Every owner of a player-piano has in his
possession means of entertainment far beyond
his dreams and he should be encouraged to use
it in this way. He can be made to realize this
by a little intelligent and well-directed instruc-
tion. Under the direction of a musician he will
gain an appreciation of the beauty and wonder-
ful transforming power of music, especially
when he becomes his own interpreter. Any per-
son with a love for music can thus in a short
time become a good, true music lover, who will
find his hobby to be the finest indoor sport in
the world."
Results of Chaotic Conditions
So says Mr. Singer, and there can be no doubt
that his general thesis is quite sound. The main-
tenance of artificial differences in the arrange-
ment of devices which perform the same func-
tions has one lamentable but perfectly natural
result. It tends to maintain, and in fact does
maintain, the false belief that the player-piano
is not a standard musical instrument, but a sort
of freak. It tends to obscure general public
recognition of the player-piano as an element in
musical life; a recognition very much needed.
It blocks the road towards public interests in,
and public mastery of, the music-making means
which the player-piano provides, and by em-
phasizing a multiplicity of useless talking points
it postpones the day when the selling of player-
pianos shall be permanently settled on a basis
of merit.
A Question of Policy
All foot-driven player-pianos—which form
and will always probably form the vastly
greater body of player instruments—are to-day
controlled for expression by means virtually
identical. There is not a reason of general
trade policy, as against the private policy of
individual groups, to cause the legitimate post-
ponement of standardization in these respects.
A standardization lay-out for tempo-lever, ham-
mer-lifts and sustaining pedal device could easily
be worked out. Incidentally, one result would
surely be to place all these devices in the posi-
tions most comfortable and convenient to the
hands of the player-pianist. At present, to be
candid about it, many of the lay-outs we have
seen appear as if they had been arranged quite
at random.
With reference to the matter of bellows pres-
sure and the many questions therewith bound
up Mr. Singer opens out a wide field of inquiry.
It must be remembered that these matters are
essentially connected with the designer's ideas
as to power, attack and accent and the part
played therein by the foot-stroke. No unanimity
of opinion is likely to be found here in the pres-
ent state of the art, nor should we be sorry for
this, since agreement at the present moment in
the conditions now existing would be simply
acquiescence in error.
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