What Happened to Sheet Music

Dominic Vautier 2/7/2012

The End Came Fast

Piano sales had been strong for a number of years beginning around 1885 and many people knew how to play. Not only that, but popular sheet music was purposely “dumbed-down”, designed to be easy to play and sing to. Simplicity in chord structure, notation, or tempo was present and it was easy stuff to handle. One or two years of piano practice provided enough skill to handle most of the popular music of that time.

More Complicated

But as the new century came along, it brought more sophisticated types of music. The newer material was of a different thing, and talent came up short when confronted with fast rags and syncopated cakewalks. Piano music started becoming more specialized, and this drove out the many so-so piano players, leaving room for just the good ones. As piano playing became more difficult, sheet music started to lose some of its clientele. The market was being abandoned to the professionals.

Involvement

Sheet music also required a degree of involvement. There was a fundamental difference between those who sang in a choir or barbershop quartet and those who merely listen. One role is active and obligatory, while the other is passive and optional. In one case, there is a creative goal which requires effort and sometimes talent. In the other case, attention is purely coincidental and the only requirement is working ears. The more intricate sheet music became, the more time it demanded, which was contrary to lifestyles that was developing. Sheet music and pianos just didn’t fit in with the faster pace of life that began to appear after 1910.

Investment

The Sheet music industry also needed a large indirect investment, namely a piano. A good piano was needed as part of the sheet music experience. The piano also needed a parlor. There had to be someone who could play, and singers were also needed. So this type of music did not come spontaneously, easily, or quickly. It was not something that could happen at the turn of switch. It had to be invested in.

Portability

Sheet music was not portable. By 1915 America had cars and was becoming a nation on wheels. People wanted to just pick up and go to the beech, the ocean, the mountains, the park, and bring their music with them. The record industry was able to satisfy this need. Portable music was not just a sales gimmick or marketing device. It was a whole new technology replacing an older, obsolete one. Portable music represented what this younger, on-the-go society really wanted. Sheet music was part of the old, tired, effete parlor culture.

Blue Notes

Another reason why sheet music died was that it could not handle the new forms of music, Blues and Jazz. Records could. The Blues and Jazz both rely on the blue note, usually a quarter-step flattened third or fifth, which can’t be done on a piano. Blue notes can be represented in music, sung, and played on many instruments, including clarinets, trombones, and any other of the various horns, but it can't be reproduced on a fixed-scale instrument. It falls between the piano keys, and the sheet music industry was first and foremost a supplier of piano music. By 1915 Memphis Blues became quite popular. By 1917 the Original Dixieland Jazz Band began recording Jazz for Victor, and the sale of these first Jazz recordings was brisk. But the Jazz sheet music did not do well at all, an ominous sign of the dwindling interest in sheet music.