Classic Mode

Music Trade Review

Issue: 1887 Vol. 10 N. 14

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
Music Trade Review.
The Only Music Trade Paper in America, and the Organ of the Music Trade of this Country.
Fo-anded
VOL. X. No. 14.
1879.
NEW YORK, FEB. 20 TO MAR. 5, 1887.
and regular vibrations having a slow rate, produce
only noises.
Savart determined that the lowest note apprecia-
ble by the e.ir is produced by from seven to eight
complete vibrations per second, and the highest by
21,000 complete vibrations per second.
EDITORS AND PHOPHIFTOBB.
The zylophone and metalaphone are examples of
musical instruments employing free vibrating rods
All Check*, Drafts, Money Orders, Postal
supported at their nodes, The zylophone consists of
a series of wooden rods of different lengths, bored
Notes and Mall matter should be
transversely
at their nodes, or points of least vibra-
made to
tion , and strung together on cords. The instrument
may eilher be suspended by the cords or laid upon
BILL & CARR,
loosely twisted cords situated at the nodes. By pass-
EDITORS k PROPRIETORS.
ing the small spherical wooden mallet accompanying
the instrument over the wooden rods, very agreeable
liquid musical tones are produced by the vibration
22 EAST 17th STBEET, NEW 70BE.
of the rods, and when the rods are struck by the
SUBSCRIPTION (including postage) United States and Canada,
mallet they yield tones which are very pure, but not
$3.00 per year, in advance; Foreign Countries, $4.00.
prolonged.
The cheaper forms of zylophone are tuned by slit-
ADVERTISEMENTS, $2.00 per inch, single column, per insertion;
unless inserted upon rates made by special contract.
ting the rods transversely at their centers on the
under side, by means of a saw, to a depth required to
Entered at the JVew Fork Pott Office at Second Clou Matter.
give them the flexibility necessary to the production
of the desired tones. The rods are divided by the
SCIENCE IN TOYS.
nodes Into three vibrating parts, the parts between
the nodel points and the ends being about one-fourth
HE student of acoustics need not go beyond the of the distance between the two nodes.
The metalophone Is similar in form to the zylo
realm of toys for much of his experimental
apparatus. The various toy musical instru. phone, but, as its name suggests, the vibrating bars
ments are capable of illustrating many of the pheno- are made of metal—hardened steel. The bars rest at
mena of sound very satisfactorily, if not quite as well their nodes on soft woolen cords, secured to the up-
per edges of a resonator forming the support of the
as some of the more pretentious apparatus.
Sound is a sensation of the ear, and is produced by entire series of bars. The resonator is tapered both
sonorous vibrations of the air. It may be in the na- as to width and depth, and serves to greatly increase
ture of a mere noise, due to irregular vibrations, like the volume of sound.
The resonator has a depth equal to half the length
the noise of a wagon on the street, or it may be a
sharp crack or explosion, like the cracking of a whip of a sound wave. When a bar is struck, its downward
movement produces an air wave which moves down-
or like the sound produced by the collision of solid
bodies. The clappers, or bones, with which all boys ward, strikes the bottom of the resonator, and is re-
are familiar, are an example of a class of toys which flected upward in time to re enforce the outwardly
create sound by concussion, and the succession moving ? air wave produced by the upward bending of
of sounds produced by the clappers are irregular, »nd the ba .
The metalophone yields a sweet tone, which is
clearly distinct from musical sounds. A succession
of such sounds, although occurring with considera- quite different from that produced by the vibration of
bjy frequency and perfect regularity, will not be- wooden bars.
The music box furnishes an example of the class of
come musioal until made with sufliclent rapidity to
bring them within the perception of the ear as a prac- Instruments In which musical sounds are produced
tically continuous sound. The rattle, or cricket, pro- by the vibration of bars or tongues which are rigidly
held at one end and free to vibtate at the other end.
duces such sounds.
The wooden springs of the cricket snap from one The tongues of the music box are made by slitting the
ratchet tooth to another, as the body of the cricket edge of a steel plate, forming a comb which is ar
is rapidly swung around, making a series of regular ranged with its teeth projecting into the paths of
taps, which, taken all together, make a terrific noise, the pins of the cylinder, which are distributed around
having none of the characteristics of musical sounds. and along the cylinder in the order necessary to se-
cure the required succession of tones. The engage-
That a musioal sound may be made by a series of
taps Is illustrated by the buzz, a toy consisting of a ment of one of the pins of the cylinder with one of
disk of tin having notched edges, and provided with the tongues raises the tongue, which, when liberated,
two holes on diametrically opposite sides <>f the cen- yields the note due to Its position in the comb.
The tongues are tuned by filing or scraping them
ter, and furnished with an endless cord passing
through the holes. The disk is rotated by pulling in at their free or fixed ends, or by loading them at their
opposite directions on the twisted endleas cord, al- free ends. In this instrument the sonorous vibra-
tions are produced by the tongue, which itself has
lowing the disk to twist the cord in the reverse di
the desired pitch.
rection, then again pulling the cord, and so on.
In reed instruments the case is different. The
If, while the disk isrevolvlng rapidly, its periphery
is brought into light contact with the edge of a piece sound is not emitted by the reed, but sonorous vi-
of paper, the successive taps of the teeth of the disk brations are produced by air pulsations, controlled
upon the paper produce a shrill musical sound, which by the reed, which acts as a rapidly operating valve.
varies in pitch according to the speed of the disk. The mouth organ, or harmonica, is a familiar exam-
Such a disk mounted on a shaft and revolved rapid- ple of a simple reed instrument.
When reeds are employed in connection with re-
ly is known as Savart's wheel.
It is ascertained by these experiments that regular sonating pipes, as in the case of the reed pipes of an
vibrations of sufficient frequency produce musical organ, the pipe synchronizes with the reed, and re-
sounds, and that concussions, irregular vibrations, enforces the sound. When the reed is very stiff, it
PUBLISHED • TWICE * EACH * MONTH.
BILL & CARR,
T
$3.00 PER YEAR.
SINGLE COPIES. 15 CENTS.
commands the vibrations of the air column, and when
it is very flexible, it is controlled by the air column.
The horn is a reed instrument in which the lips *ct
as reeds, and the tapering tube serves as a resona-
tor.
The ancient Pandean pipes present an example of
an instrument formed of a series of stopped pipes of
different lengths. These pipes are tuned by moving
the corks by which their lower ends are stopped, and
the air if? agitated by blowing across the end of the
tubes.
The flageolet is an open pipe in which the air is Bet
in vibration by blowing a hin sheet of air through
the air slit of the mouthpiece against the this edge of
the opposite side of the embouchure. The rate of the
fluttering produced by the air striking upon the thin
edge is determined by the length of the pipe of the
instrument, the length being varied to produce the
different notes, by opening or closing the finger holes.
By comparing the flageolet with the Pandean pipes,
it is found that for a given note the open flageolet
pipe muet be about twice as long as the Pan pipe.
When all the finger holes of the flageolet are closed,
it is then a simple open pipe, like an organ pipe, and,
if compared with the Pan pipe yielding the same
note, it is found to be just twice ae long as the closed
pipe. If, while the holes are closed, the open end of
the flageolet pipe be stopped, the instrument will
yield a note an octave lower. These experiments
show that the note produced by a stopped pipe is an
octave below the note yielded by an open pipe of the
same length, and the same as that obtained from an
open pipe of double the length.
The ocorina is a curious modern instrument, of
much the same nature as the flageolet. It is, how-
eqer, a stopped pipe, and shows how tones are mod-
ified by form and material, the material being clay.
It produces a mellow tone, something like that of a
flute.
The Zither, now made in the form of an inexpen-
sive and really servicable toy, originated in Tyrol.
It consists of a trapezoidal sounding board, provided
with bridges, and having 24 wire strings.
Its tones are harp-like, and with It a proficient
player can produce agreeable music. Much of the
nature of the vibration of strings may be exhibited
by means of this instrument. By damping one of
the strings by placing the finger or a pencil lightly
against its center, and vibrating the string, at the
same time removing the pencil, the string will yield
a note which is an octave higher than its fundamen-
tal note. By examining the string closely, it will be
ascertained that at the center of the string there
is apparently no vibration, while between the cen-
ter and the ends it vibrates. The place of least
vibration at the center of the string is the
node, and between the node and the ends of the
strings are the venters. It will thus be seen that
the string is practically divided into two equal vi-
brating segments, each of which produces a note
an octave higher. That the note is an octave higher
than the fundamental note may be determined by
comparing it with the note of the string which is an
octave above in the scale of the zither.
By damping the string at the end of one-fourth of
its length, the remaining portion of the string divides
itself into three ventral segments, with two nodes
between.
The division of the string into nodes and venters
occurs whenever the string is vibrated, and all of
the notes other than the fundamental are known as
harmonics, and impart to the sound of the string
its quality.
By tuning the first two strings in unison, the vibra-
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW.
2IO
tion of one string by sympathy with the other string
may be shown.
The string telephone, although not a musical In-
strument, nor even a sound producer, exhibits an
interesting feature in the conduction of sounds. It
consists of two short tubes or mouthpieces, each
covered at one end with a taut parchment dia-
phragm, the two diaphragms being connected with
a stout thread. By stretching the thread so as to
render it taut, a conversation may be carried on
over quite a long distance, by talking in one instru-
ment and listening at the other. The vibration of
one diaphragm, due to the impact of sound waves, is
transmitted to the other diaphragm by the thread.
In the toys illustrated we have a representative of
the Savarfs wheel in the buz/.; of the pipe organ in
the Pan pipes, the flageolet, and the mouth organ;
of band instruments in the bugle; and of the piano,
harp, and other stringed instruments in the zither. —
G. M. H. in Scientific American.
GRAND RAPIDS CORRESPONDENCE.
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., Feb
16, 1887.
News of any particular interest from our city Is
very scarce at present. The theatres present but
few attractions, the attendance being only mod-
erate, with the exception of the " Wonderland." This
place of amusement is open afternoon and evening,
and is well patronized. The excellent orchestra
adds considerably to the attractions, and is made
quite a feature. With the exception of the coming
opera to be given by the Schubert club, music too is
at a standstill. A chat with Mr. Brooks, represent-
ing the W. W. KimballCo., of Chicago, and Julius
Frledrlch, of Friedrich Bros., disclosed the fact that
business, since the Holidays, is quite dull, but look
for a better trade with opening of spring.
Chase Bros. Piano Co. report city business only
fair, but in the wholesale department trade is excel-
lent. They are rushed to keep pace with orders,
which fact speaks well for their pianos. This fine
instrument gives perfect satisfaction wherever sold.
Large additions will be made to their factory in
spring, to be able to meet the increasing demand for
their pianos.
Will probably have some important changes in the
piano business to chronicle in my next.
value of an agency for a manufacturer who can be
relied upon to keep always in advance of the time,
or fully abreast of it; whose goods bear a distinct in-
dividuality; who can supply them with anything in
their line that is produced anywhere, by anybody;
whose goods have the plain impress of superiority,
and who have been long enough in the business to
have adopted a policy, or line of action understand-
ingly, and having once adopted it, hav firmness
enough to stand by it.
"Ou: policy has been a winning one. For ten years
we have stemmed the 'cheap'organ tide, which has,
at times, been so strong as to threaten the destruc-
tion of the legitimate trade. Yet we have not faltered
nor changed our course. Our aim has steadily been
to see how well we could make our organs not how
cheaply. Within the last two years the wisdom of
that policy has been satisfactorily proven. Our trade
has constantly increased, and it is a well known fact
in the trade, that those dealers who have sold the
PalaceOrgans for years have been the most prosper-
ous in the business, and their trade the most steady
and reliable.
Dealers who are disposed to uphold a high stand-
ard in the organ busines and who believe in selling
first-class goods, as well as those who desire to ex-
tend their trade among the better class of customers
—those who can best afford to buy and pay for what
they buy—are invited to correspond with us. We will
gladly furnish any desired information respecting
our goods, and will, if favored with their orders,
furnish them with organs that are not surpassed in
the world for either actual merit or selling capacity."
WORDS OF PRAISE FOR THE NEWMAN
BROS. ORGANS.
PORTLAND, ME., Feb 2, 18«7.
MR. J. HAYNES:
DEAR S I R : Please find enclosed Mr. Thurston's
check for organ. It is a very fine organ and after
business starts a little shall give you more orders.
Yours truly,
A. W. AYER.
RAHWAY, N. J., Feb. 11, 1887.
J. HAYNES, Esq.:
DEAR SIR : The organ has arrived in good condi-
tion and fully comes up to my expectations and is
much admired. Enclosed please find check for same.
Yours truly,
THRFE DOORS FROM MAIN STREET.
At Music Bazaar, 21 Asylum street, you will find
E are in receipt of the Spring illustrated cata-
logue of the Loring & Blake Organ Co.,
Worcester, Mass., and it is without a doubt
one of the handsomest and most instructive ever is-
sued by an organ house. Like the organ manufac-
tured by this firm it is of the very best material and
no pains or money spared in producing it. Every
page in this catalogue from the first to the last, con-
tains material of much interest to the dealer, and aids
him very materially in selling the instrument. In
fact the book seems to be the acme of perfection,
and the line of instruments shown therein is greater
in number and variety, and wider in range than can
be found in most any other catalogue published in
the world. Below we give a part of the introductory
address of the firm, and which wo are free to say is
no more than the truth.
" Nobody who has been in the trade, or who has
been familiar with the reed-organ business during the
last twenty years, will fail to bear testimony to the
fact that our house has been one of the few that
has preserved a distinct and creditable originality
in its own product, and has given to the trade, and
to the world, many valuable improvements In the
development of tone, the mechanical principles, and
the designs of oases of reed organs. Our cata-
logue could scarcely be ought else than representa-
tive when it i9 considered that, for years, the Palace
Organs have been representatives of ail that is best
in the art of American organ-building. If any proof
were needed of this, other than that found in an ex-
amination of the organs themselves, it would be
found in the fact that they are sold and acknowledged
as leaders by the representative men of the trade
throughout the United States nd the world.
" Dealers who have not yet favored us with their
trade are requested to consider these facts. Remem-
ber, that there has been no year, during the last twenty
years, that the Palace Organs have not been better
than during the year that preceded it. The record
of the organ, and of our house, is one of progress and
success. So we intend it to be in the future. Those
who have been longest in the trade recognize the
W
We are inexpressibly pained to announce the
death of William H. Alfring, of the firm of Horace
Waters & Co., which occurred on February 4th, on
board the steamer Oronoco, on which he was a
passenger bound for the Island of Bermuda.
For a year past Mr. Alfring had been in poor
health, but his relatives and friends had no appre-
hension that his death was so close at hand, and
the shock which the announcement of his death
caused was a severe one.
He was found unconscious in his stateroom and
three hours afterward expired, the direct cause of
his death being Bright's disease of the kidneys.
He leaves a widow and two children, one of whom,
a boy of twelve years, was accompanying his father
on his voyage in quest of health.
The funeral took place on the afternoon of the 17th
inst., from the residence of the deceased, No. 343
West 23d St., the remains being interred in the
family vault in Greenwood Cemetery. The religious
services were conducted at the house by the Rev. F.
Hughes, of the Memorial Baptist Church.
A large number of friends, and the employees of
the firm, followed the remains to the cemetery.
William H. Alfring was born in New York city and
had reached his thirty-seventh year. He was in the
music trade twenty years, and it was due to his good
common sense, his application to business and the
devotion to the house with which he was interested,
that he secured the position occupied by him at the
time of his death. After having been employed by
the firm many yeais, he became in 1880 a partner of
Horace Waters, and when the copartnership between
the various members of the firm was changed into a
stock company in 1886, Alfring became treasurer.
It was the writer's pleasure to know Mr. Alfring
well, and it can truthfully be said of him that he
was a whole-souled genial man, who had endeared
himself to a host of friends by his beautiful charac-
ter. He was one of the brightest lights in the piano
trade of this city, and his many friends as well as
his business associates will feel his loss keenly.
Lou is S. HYER.
BESCHEB.
A PROSPEROUS AND HIGHLY RESPECTED
FIRM.
WILLIAM H. ALFRING.
the CELKHRATED NEWMAN BROTHERS' cabinet organ.
These organs are looked upon as the " COMING OR-
(SAN " of the day by all who know and have seen
them, and by all unprejudiced musicians. Everybody
that has heard the Newman Brothers' organs say :
" That is the finest organ I have ever heard." And
well they may, for the PUKE QUALITY and the POWER,
together with the great purity in TONE, VARIETY and
STOP, surprises everybody that hears these organs.
Call at Music BAZAAR and see them, No. 21 Asylum
street, three doors Jrom Main street. W. E. Barker,
Pianoforte proprietor.—Hartford Conn. Telegram.
KOCHMANN IN THE WEST.
R. REINHARD KOCHMANN, traveling rep-
resentative of Behning & Son, the well
known piano manufacturers of New York, is
in the city. He reports an excellent trade amongst
the agents of the celebrated "Behning," particularly
in Northern Ohio, and is very enthusiastic as to the
general outlook of business. Mr. St. Burkley, who
is Behning & Sons' agent for the southern portions of
this State completes to-day the 30th year of married
life and has persuaded Mr. Kochruann to attend the
festivities given on this auspicious occasion at the
formers house this evening.—Chillicothe, (Ohio) News,
Feb.ICth.
M
ORIGIN OF THE VIOLIN.
PATENTS AND INVENTIONS.
A hoisting and lowering apparatus has been pat-
ented by Mr Augustus Use, of Evanston, Wyoming
Ter. It has a pulley block, a top pulley to run upon a
horizontal line or rail, a central pulley, Rnd two
guide pulleys, with other novel features, being de-
signed more especially for elevating and lowering
goods, but also adapted for use as a fire escape or
for transferring goods and persons from one place to
another in a building.
Organ Reed, No. 356,700, J. W. Trainer.
Music Boxes, Governor for, No. 356,702, J.F. Brown.
' Musical Instrument, Mechanical, No. 356,61K), G.B.
Kelly.
Musical Instrument, Mechanical, No. 356,599, R. W.
Pain.
A duplex music box has been patented by Mr. Al-
fred Junod, ofSte.Croix.Vaud, Switzerland. It has two
independent cylinders and two independent combs or
groups of combs, one comb or group of combs for
each cylinder, so that a melody can be played by one
cylinder on one comb, and the accompaniment by
the other on the other comb, or each cylinder can
play a melody alone.
A tambourine has been patented by Mr. Henry Ho
sens, of Brooklyn, N. Y. Combined with the rim,
head, jingles, and their pins, is a second rim and
spacing tubular washers, whereby many more jingles
can be used than is possible with the usual construc-
tion.
Music leaf-turner, No. 356,983, P. L. Carden.
Music leaf-turner, No. 356,959, S. Rathbun.
HE natives of Hindoostan have long had an in-
strument called the "ravanastron," at first
Stringed musical instruments, No. 356,971, C. A.
constructed in a rude manner out of a hollow Ahlstrom.
piece of sycamore wood, but afterward developed in-
Octave coupler, No 356,939, J. A. Hendrick.
to a practical violin. The rudest of these has two
or three strings, and it is played with a bow. This
Key frame for pianofortes, No. 356,759, P. Gmehlin.
was undoubtedly the origin of the violin. Its inven-
Pedal reed organ attachment for pianos, No. 350,-
tion is attributed by Hindoo tradition to King Rava-
815, A Ailm-uth.
na, who reigned In Ceylon.
T

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