Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
JULY 31, 1920
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The Fundamental Principles Involved
in the Composing and Arranging of
Music for the Player-Piano
BY DR. EDWARD SCHAAF
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(Editor's Note. Doctor Schaaf is a musician who has
given much attention to the problem of arranging music
tor the player-piano in such a way as to bring out the
instrument's true voice and real musical value. As he
says, "there is only one way to unlock the magic of the
player-piano keyboard and that is to treat the instrument
as a new voice in music." Doctor Schaaf has self-sac-
riricingly devoted much of his time, without thought of
material reward, to the rewriting of music for the special
purpose of making it truly suitable for the player-piano
and has achieved some astounding results. l i e has also
composed a number of special pieces for the player-piano
only, conceived in the most modern style of what he calls
"plastic music"; and altogether wonderful. Doctor Schaaf
has already published in The Music Trade Review the re-
sults of some earlier researches into this subject, and the
present series of extremely interesting and fascinating ar-
ticles, of which this is the fifteenth, represents the latest
fruit of his studies.)
STYLE
In all the arts the word style is customarily
employed to denote the measure of appropri-
ateness. An artist's style is said to be good
when he expresses himself in a manner which
conveys conviction and makes us instinctively
feel, as it were, that he has said exactly the
right thing in exactly the right way. Rvery-
body will understand what I mean by the re-
marks which follow, once this fundamental fact
is grasped, namely, that good style is simply
perfect harmony between the thing which is
to be done and the manner of doing it.
Applying this statement to the art of musi-
cal composition we may say that there is only
one possible best style of writing for any musi-
cal instrument and that comprises whatever
method most perfectly brings out the indi-
vidual strength of the given instrument.
Naturally, therefore, when we come to com-
pose for the player-piano we find that we can
only attain to good and expressive style when
we enable this instrument to utter musi-cal
thought in a language suited to itself. All ar-
ranging of music for the player-piano should
therefore be carried out in the light of a com-
plete understanding of the instrument's char-
acter and peculiarities.
Merely to transfer
piano music to the player-piano is to do one's
work in a very amateurish style.
Now there is no doubt that the public likes
best of all what may be called florid music.
Musicians do not usually agree with the pub-
lic, but that does not affect the facts. The fame
of Chopin and Liszt mainly rests upon their
ability to write in this style, and just at this
place the player-piano is at its very best. That
is to say, the player-piano shines in brilliancy
of execution rather than in soulful expression.
The- arranger, of course, must always remem-
ber that brilliant passage work is illegitimate
unless it is appropriately and integrally a part
of the composition. Unless this is constantly
remembered and practiced the style of the
transcription will not be good. Nor will it be
good unless the arranger also remembers that
musical thought must always be uttered by any
given instrument in a manner completely char-
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acteristic of it, if it is to be appropriate and
convincing; in a word, if it is to be in good
style.
Now, although the player-piano most skill-
fully reveals the construction of a composi-
tion and what may be termed its purely for-
mal beauty, it has its difficulties and decided
limitations in respect of the emotional element.
Yet this defect, so called, has its compensa-
tions, for the player-piano cannot by any pos-
sibility degenerate into sentimentalism and for
this very reason it must be treated in an
opposite manner, which will bring out its mani-
fold powers to the best advantage.
The production of individual tone color is,
of course, the principal end of ordinary piano
playing, but it is decidedly not the end of the
player-piano.
The latter instrument is de-
signed mainly for obtaining and expressing an
intellectual grasp of a composition and in this
respect it has much in common with the or-
chestra. Indeed, the most outstanding qualities
of player-piano performance at its best are
closely akin to the excellences of orchestral
direction. Seated at his instrument, thernaster
player-pianist is in absolute control of his musi-
cal material, and with a very slight expenditure
of physical effort can make his instrument re-
spond to every intellectual need.
Style in Cantabile Music
The player-piano will not do justice to music
of the general class known as cantabile; that
is to say, to music which simulates the sus-
tained tones of the voice, unless the arranger
very carefully manipulates his material. Can-
tabile movements are composed usually in
lyrical form with slow, sustained melodies. The
slow movements of most of Beethoven's so-
natas represent cases in point. Attention may
be especially drawn to the slow movements of
the Pathetic Sonata, Op. 13, of the Hammer-
clavier Sonata, Op. 106, and of the last Sonata,
Op. 111. The difficulty of rendering such music
properly by means of the player-piano is mani-
fest whenever the experiment is tried, although
a masterly player-pianist can do wonders.
Epic Style
In spite of all the above, the fact remains
that the player-piano is a great and very suc-
cessful exponent of every other form of ele-
vated musical sentiment. Indeed, it fully meas-
ures up to the epical requirements of the great-
est absolute music. This is especially true in
respect of polyphonic writing, such as is found
in the works of the classic masters, and for that
matter in all good modern writing, too. At the
same time it applies to the romantic style, so
called, mainly on account of the wonderful
powers of rhythmical variation and of extend-
ed harmony which the instrument possesses.
Indeed, extended harmonies and rhythmical
variety furnish the keynote, as it were, to mod-
ern musical style and that is why I proclaim
so plainly that the player-piano is the modern
instrument par excellence.
Let the player-
pianist realize that if he has not the command
of emotional powers with which the pianist
rules his audiences, he has something far more
important, namely, an unlimited scope for in-
tellectual expression and harmonic richness far
surpassing in its true musical value the glitter-
ing superficialities which make up so large a
part of the pianist's equipment.
The Guiding Principle
Since the style of the player-piano is so char-
acteristic as I have described it, and since the
very basis of good style is obedience to the
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After all, the most ravishing effects are pos-
sible without the element of individual and canta-
bile tone. Exquisite adjustments of the various
elements in musical expression are quite within
the powers of the musician who writes for the
player-piano.
Therefore, the achievement of
good style in player-piano music is quite possible
and practical.
Therefore, again, the player-
piano is a legitimate and wonderful medium of
musical expression.
A Last Note
Let me add one last line as a foot-note to
what has gone before. Any player-piano ar-
rangement which does not satisfy has prob-
ably violated some one of the principles I have
set forth. In all likelihood the trouble will be
found to be due to one of the following defects:
A.—Neglect of the middle register.
B.—Poverty of rhythmical treatment.
C.—Lack of rhythmical variety.
D.—Lack of courage in extending harmonies.
K.—Failure to rehandle piano copy.
F.—Deficiency of contrapuntal treatment.
G.—Poverty of appropriate ornamentation.
H.—Insufficient use of animating devices.
I.—General failure to grasp the novel pur-
pose and design of the player-piano.
FOTOPLAYER
for the finest
Motion Picture
Theatres
AMERICAN PHOTO
PLAYER CO.
San Francisco
New York
Chicago
P 1 A TM O
AND
FOR TONE, BEAUTY
AND LASTING
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ACCOMPLISHMENT
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nature of the instrument for which the writing
is done, it follows that the arranger should be
permitted the fullest scope for his skill in tran-
scribing for the player-piano. If a piano piece is
written in a manner inappropriate to.the player-
piano, the arranger should not hesitate to alter
it accordingly. No matter how well the piano
piece may be written, it can never be appro-
priately reproduced on the player-piano until it
lias been rehandled in the right manner.
Compensations
In concluding my remarks on style, may I be
permitted to point out once more that the amaz-
ing ability of the player-piano to sound, with-
out error and at any rate of speed, all the notes
which the composer or transcriber desires to
set down constitutes a feature of quite unique
potency. All technical difficulties disappear and
consequently the composer is left free to use the
most elaborate methods, confident that they can
be interpreted with complete precision. In place
of the nuance of the artist's touch, the perfect
control of the player-piano provides a power dif-
ferent, but equally valuable, not forgetting that
there is an unique beauty in the smooth progres-
sion of perfectly ordered tones set down by a
skilled arranger and interpreted by the com-
bination of the player-piano's wonderful powers
with the skill of a master player-pianist.
The WERNER INDUSTRIES CO.
Cincinnati
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