Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
by the advantages which the manipulation of
the dampers gives in playing may be had auto-
(Continued from page 5)
matically. Slots are cut in the music roll at
per pedal must not be used in such passages if the proper places and control the pneumatic
they are to be rendered correctly.
valve of the damper-lifting pneumatic, raising
Sustaining Simple Harmonies
and lowering the damper lever accordingly. Un-
If we take an old-time, simple tune, such as, fortunately, a good many rolls so provided have
for instance, "Home, Sweet Home," we shall been carelessly edited, and the effects are often
find that the harmonies which group themselves no good. But if the player-pianist wishes to
around the tune are very simple. Each chord know for himself what good damper work does
is nearly related to its predecessors and suc- to playing let him go through any good hand-
cessors, and the dampers could be left up through played roll with the automatic damper-control
several measures of music without hurting the cut off. He will at once notice the hard, dry,
effect, until gradually the accumulation of sym- wooden effect of the music. If he will then go
pathetic sustained tone would become too over the roll with the device on, taking a few
powerful. There would be no difficulty whatever measures or any recognizable collection of
in knowing how to manipulate the dampers in phrases in the music, at one time, he will soon
a piece of this sort because one's ear instantly be able to observe what good pedaling does.
tells one what to do. Take such a piece and Then he can try to reproduce with the button
run it through without the dampers being lifted or lever for himself the effects of tone-color he
once from end to end and the result is terribly has noticed. If he perseveres he will find in a
dry and "chippy."
very short time that he can do much better for
A good many music rolls to-day, and most himself than the automatic can do for him.
player-pianos, are provided with devices where-
If I were asked to sum up in a sentence what
THE ART OF THE PLAYER=PIANIST
The Player the People Will
Buy Is the Player the
People Can Play
And "playing" these days is coming
to mean "playing well"
Which is another way of saying that the player-piano
the people will always buy is a player-piano like the
M. Schulz Co.
Player-Piano
now in its twelfth year of unexampled technical progress and
commercial success.
JULY 30,
1921
the musician tries to do in his use of damper-
controlling pedal I should say: "He tries to
make the piano sing." That is the whole thing.
The player-pianist can do nothing better than
this: make the piano sing. If he or she possesses
any feeling at all for beauty of tone and will
take care to listen all the time to the effects
which are being produced rapid progress to-
wards mastery will be made. It is all a matter
of taking the music passage by passage and com-
paring the effect with and without the dampers
lifted. The ear will do the rest if the player-
pianist simply trusts his own taste.
That Word "Loud"
It is really too bad that the universal mis-
take should be made of calling the damper-
pedal the loud pedal, and still worse that this
mistake should have been carried on with the
player-piano. How many thousands of wretches
have taken the words in their literal sense and
used the damper-pedal for loudness only I do not
know, but the torture they have inflicted has
been incalculable. With the player-pianists, of
course, the horrors have been vastly greater.
May every reader of the present paragraphs here
and now resolve that the use of the damper-
control is to make the piano a singing and not
a thumping instrument. If he is still in doubt
he may obtain a practical view of this truth
by playing a piece extremely softly, using the
damper-control as usual. The effect will be de-
cidedly revelatory.
Lastly, may I, before going on to another
branch of our main subject, say to every player-
pianist that a great protest is needed from them
all to induce manufacturers of player-pianos to
restore the hand-lever control of the dampers,
now so largely superseded by the much less ef-
ficient power-wasting pneumatic button. The
art of the damper can only be mastered when
the control is mechanically direct.
(To be continued)
MATHIAS P. MOLLER HONORED
Started Building Organs More Than Forty
Years Ago—Has Scored Great Success
HAGERSTOWN, Mi)., July 26.—In the course of a
series of articles on prominent business men the
Morning Herald, of this city, recently paid hom-
age to Mathias P. Moller, who started in the
organ business here over forty years ago, by
publishing a brief biography of his life and
an account of the rapid growth of the Moller
Organ Works. The Moller plant, which is con-
sidered one of the largest in the country, has
produced over 32,000 pipe organs, which are in
use in every State of the Union and in six for-
eign countries.
Those who care to know more can obtain the information they
need from THE SCHULZ PLAYER BOOK, an unique
treatise for dealer and prospect. Here they will find proofs of
our claims that the S C H U L Z player-piano excels in
Ease of Playing
Air-tightness
Musical Efficiency
Responsiveness
Simplicity
Mechanical Reliability
More pointed and personal contact between this
remarkable product and keen retailers may be had
by simply addressing
M. SCHULZ COMPANY
General Office*
Schulz Building
711 Milwaukee Ave.
CHICAGO
Founded 1869
Southern Wholesale Branch
1530 Candler Bldg.
ATLANTA, GA.
sense of beau&u has been
developed Go arv exftrcordincru
decree.
"|ne exouisifce
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plctjer-piano
appeals do ell lovers of *ne
becufliful. so bbcb far-cojau 1
t)opon demends end buqs
these superb instruments.
IJou luill be proud of tHHjr
fcscirpcOincj Stirnphortolfe, ona
id toil) moke uour house
c home.
PRICE & TEEPLE PIANO CO.
CHICAGO. U. S. A.