Novelty piano
Encyclopedia
Genre
Genre , Greek: genos, γένος) is the term for any category of literature or other forms of art or culture, e.g. music, and in general, any type of discourse, whether written or spoken, audial or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time...
of piano music that was popular during the 1920s.
A successor to ragtime
Ragtime
Ragtime is an original musical genre which enjoyed its peak popularity between 1897 and 1918. Its main characteristic trait is its syncopated, or "ragged," rhythm. It began as dance music in the red-light districts of American cities such as St. Louis and New Orleans years before being published...
and an outgrowth of the piano roll
Piano roll
A piano roll is a music storage medium used to operate a player piano, piano player or reproducing piano. A piano roll is a continuous roll of paper with perforations punched into it. The peforations represent note control data...
music of the teens, novelty piano can be considered a pianistic cousin of jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, which appeared around the same time.
Its originators were mostly piano roll artists from the Chicago area, where two of the
largest piano roll companies, QRS and Imperial, had their headquarters. It is distinct
from stride piano
Stride piano
Harlem Stride Piano, Stride Piano, or just Stride, is a jazz piano style that was developed in the large cities of the East Coast, mainly in the New York, during 1920s and 1930s. The left hand may play a four-beat pulse with a single bass note, octave, seventh or tenth interval on the first and...
, which was developed in New York at about the same time.
The earliest composers of novelty piano were piano roll artists looking to sell piano rolls. These pieces started out as super rags with characteristic breaks, consecutive fourths, and advanced harmonies. The pioneer of this style was Charley Straight
Charley Straight
Charles Theodore Straight , better known as Charley Straight, was an American pianist, bandleader and composer. He started his career in 1909 accompanying singer Gene Greene in Vaudeville. In 1916 he began working at the Imperial Piano Roll Company in Chicago were he recorded dozens of piano rolls...
, whose compositions were issued on piano roll years before Confrey's novelty hits. Early Charley Straight
Charley Straight
Charles Theodore Straight , better known as Charley Straight, was an American pianist, bandleader and composer. He started his career in 1909 accompanying singer Gene Greene in Vaudeville. In 1916 he began working at the Imperial Piano Roll Company in Chicago were he recorded dozens of piano rolls...
novelties include S'more, Playmor, Nifty Nonsense, Rufenreddy, and Wild And Wooly.
Novelty piano came to the attention of the public in 1921 with the appearance of Zez Confrey's
Zez Confrey
Edward Elzear "Zez" Confrey was an American composer and performer of piano music. His most noted works were "Kitten on the Keys," and "Dizzy Fingers."-Life and career:...
"Kitten on the Keys". The popularity of this piece quickly led to other Confrey works including "Dizzy Fingers" and "Greenwich Witch", and inspired other artists to issue their own novelty pieces. The style remained popular through the end of the decade, at which time big bands were on the rise, player pianos were in decline, and the popularity of jazz continued unabated. Novelty piano slowly succumbed to, or was absorbed into, the new orchestral styles as the piano moved off center stage and took a support role.
Although novelty piano has structural and stylistic similarities to the earlier ragtime form, there are also distinct differences. Ragtime was generally sold in the form of sheet music, so it was important to keep it simple enough to be played by the competent amateur. By 1920, though, two new technologies had appeared which allowed the general public to hear music as performed by skilled musicians: the "hand-played" piano roll and the phonograph record. Novelty piano was developed as a vehicle to showcase the talents of these professionals, and was thus more often sold in the form of recordings and piano rolls than as sheet music. It was a new turbo-charged piano form, shorn of hackneyed Victorian-era stylings, infused with chromatic piano roll flourishes, and influenced by the "modernistic" sounds of the art-deco twenties.
Prominent artists in the novelty piano genre include Zez Confrey
Zez Confrey
Edward Elzear "Zez" Confrey was an American composer and performer of piano music. His most noted works were "Kitten on the Keys," and "Dizzy Fingers."-Life and career:...
, Charley Straight
Charley Straight
Charles Theodore Straight , better known as Charley Straight, was an American pianist, bandleader and composer. He started his career in 1909 accompanying singer Gene Greene in Vaudeville. In 1916 he began working at the Imperial Piano Roll Company in Chicago were he recorded dozens of piano rolls...
, Roy Bargy
Roy Bargy
Roy Fredrick Bargy was an American composer and pianist.Born in Newaygo, Michigan, he grew up in Toledo, Ohio, where he was exposed to the music of pianists Johnny Walters and Luckey Roberts. In 1919 he began working with Charley Straight at the Imperial Piano Roll Company in Chicago, performing,...
, Fred Elizalde
Fred Elizalde
Federico "Fred" Elizalde was a Philippines-born Spanish classical and jazz pianist, composer, conductor, and bandleader.-Biography:...
, Rube Bloom
Rube Bloom
Reuben Bloom was a Jewish American multi-faceted entertainer, and in addition to being a songwriter, pianist, arranger, band leader, recording artist, vocalist, and writer .During his career, he worked with many well-known performers, including Bix Beiderbecke, Joe Venuti, Ruth Etting,...
, Clement Doucet
Clément Doucet
Léon Clément Doucet was a Belgian pianist.Doucet studied for a time at the local Conservatoire, where his teacher Arthur De Greef had been a pupil of Liszt. Although his formal training was classical, he traveled to the USA around 1920 and by his return in 1923 had developed considerable talent as...
, Max Kortlander, and Billy Mayerl
Billy Mayerl
Billy Joseph Mayerl , was an English pianist and composer who built a career in music hall and musical theatre and became an acknowledged master of light music. Best known for his syncopated novelty piano solos, he wrote over 300 piano pieces, many of which were named after flowers and trees,...
.