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THE
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
11
then seeing what kind of unisons he has? He
will find he is more than one-tenth of a vibration
oft. The facts are that the temperament is a
compromise anyway you take it, and painstaking
is no more "hair-splitting" than the blending of
Conducted and Edited by Wm, B. White.
colors in a painting, and it is my humble opinion
action makers, who put out the continuous brass that an equal distribution can better be obtained
TECHNICAL EDUCATION.
flange action. If you write to the firm that made with the tests of sixths and thirds than without
That the technical education question does not the broken action they will be able to supply you them.
languish is indicated by the following contribu- with a brass flange adapted to be placed over the
In trying the temperament by chords after 1
tion from a well-known Philadelphia tuner, Geo. broken one.
am through I think I prefer the 6-4 chord to the
Li. Maitland, whose trenchant opinions have often
triad (as for example, G, C, E), since it contains
been expressed on this page. He takes a view Editor Technical Department:
the sixth, G to E; the third, C to E, and the
Dear Sir—As I am a regular reader of your fourth, G to C. The latter, however, is not a
diametrically opposite to that held by Mr. Del-
articles in the Technical Department, I have test, as you have laid it; but if the sixth and
fraisse, as will be seen by the following:
Editor of Technical Department, Music Trade been moved at times by the impulse to reply to third blend smoothly with it, with satisfying
some of them, but since the obituary of last "life" in their rapidity, it is safe to say you
Review:
It seems to me that the position that Mr. Del- week I am now glad that I postponed writing. I have a good temperament, and if carried out will
fraisse has taken in regard to the piano tech- feel impelled, however, still to say this much in have a satisfactory piano in all the modulations
nical school is owing to his lack of knowledge of reference to the late Mr. Weeks' first letter m as well as in a portion of them. Pardon me for
tue modern piano factory. He speaks of a boy the department, in which he spoke of his ad- drawing this out to a length not intended at first.
entering a piano factory and working his way mirable methods for obtaining business, and the
Topeka, Kan.
GEORGE N. NEWTOX.
from bench to bench till he gets through the fac- fact that during the preceding week he had made
What
Mr.
Newton
says
regarding
personality
tory. Now will Mr. Delfraisse tell us where the $93. Right here, then, is a good place to sound in the tuning profession, and the impossibility
factory is that will permit a boy to go from a warning to tuners who work at such high pres- of continual expansion, is truly apt and timely,
bench to bench till he gets through it, and even sure. Their ambition is to be admired and and deserves careful attention from thoughtful
if such factories could be found willing to take praised, for one in our profession has certainly readers. Concerning his criticisms of Mr. Miller's
a boy from bench to bench, how long would it as just a reason to desire to see his business methods of tuning, I respectfully decline the of-
take that boy to get through, provided he serves, grow as a merchant or any other kind of a busi- fice of innocent bystander, and refer the matter
say, six months at each bench? With the excep- ness man. But there is this difference, namely, to Lincoln, Neb., for adjustment.
tion of one or two factories where they train that the merchant can expand practically with-
boys on the old apprenticeship system for their out limit, having simply to broaden his system
Communications for the department should be
own benefit, I know of no piano factory where to correspond. He does this by the employment addressed to the Editor Technical Department,
a boy would be permitted to go from one branch of more help under able lieutenants; by liberal The Music Trade Review.
to the other till he was through every depart- salaries, employing the brains of others, using
ment. If this method were in force the modern nis own to direct. But the tuner should remem-
DEPARTMENT OF PATENTS.
piano factory would have to be run on different ber he has only his time, skill, energy and nerve
lines than it is to-day. As a superintendent once iorce to sell, with accent on the "his." For there
MUSICAL INSTRUMENT. Issued to T. A. and
said to me: "We make pianos in this factory, and is a personality in this business which alone ac- J. B. Conolly, of Washington, D. C, April 23,
not men. We have found that by dividing up counts for his success.
1907. Patent No. 851,634.
He is not even permitted to organize a force
piano making into a great many branches and
This invention comprises a keyboard attach-
naving every man stick to his branch, we can and fill the orders by sending a tuner, however ment to a modified form of phonograph, whereby
make more and better pianos than if we were to competent, but must come himself.
the tones of the musical scale are produced by
So, unless he husbands his resources of nerv- the depression of keys, which actuate sound-pro-
permit one man to learn all the branches."
I once asked a superintendent of a piano fac- ous energy, and gives his tired nerves and brain ducing devices of the phonograph type. A re-
tory how long it would take a boy to go through an opportunity each day to recuperate and build cording cylinder is provided, on which are im-
every department, provided this boy entered at up the waste of the day, he will be soon drawing pressed, as usual, sound grooves, through the ac-
sixteen years of age and spent six months on each on his nervous capital and a breakdown is in- tion of the usual needles. These sound grooves
branch. After calculating a moment he answered: evitable, the date of its final settlement being may be indented through the action of any single
"Well, on a rough estimate, about fifty years." only deferred in proportion to his primary musical instrument, as the piano, and are made
Another point that Mr. Delfraisse has over- strength and inherited vitality. But nature is in closed circles, each groove extending once
looked: At the present time the majority of piano an inexorable creditor, and collects to the last around the circumference of the cylinder. In the
factories of this country are owned and run by fraction the debt incurred by overdrafts on our above case there will be eighty-eight equidistant
business men—men who never served a day at resources.
grooves on the cylinder, produced through the
Is it not better, then, for us to strive fqr excel- successive sounding of the eighty-eight tones of
piano making in their lives. These men put
their money in and direct the business end of lence rather than quantity, and when we have in- the piano, and actuated at pleasure by manipula-
the thing. They hire their superintendent and dustriously employed our time at a pace which tion of the keyboard, whereby the grooves are
hold him responsible for the quality of work his may tire but not exhaust, be content with the brought into connection with their respective
men turn out. Now, if the trade school could results of the day?
sound-producing needles.
Now, while on this subject of rapidity, may I
equip a superintendent or a foreman better than
There is no limit to the number of grooves
the modern piano factory, what does the factory refer to our friend from Lincoln, Neb., who sets that may be impressed with the same tone; all
owner care whether his superintendent has his temperament in eleven minutes, scorning such that is necessary being the provision pf means
learned his trade in a trade school or a piano trivial matters as tests of thirds and sixths, major for connecting each key of the clavier with the
factory, so long as the trade has been well or otherwise? Let us see. It is reasonable to requisite number of needles. So that the sound
learned in all its branches? When Mr. Del- suppose that an octave outside the temperament records of several instruments may be impressed
fraisse says the piano factories would give the can be tuned ten per cent, quicker than the tem- on the cylinder the respective grooves for any
preference to factory-trained men he errs. Yes, perament, so the rest of the plain wires should given tone of all the different instruments be-
the trade school would be the best place to learn, be tuned in about thirty minutes.
ing side by side, operated by an appropriate
The bass, while having a few more wires than number of needles, adapted to be simultaneously
and the factory the best place to work in after
the temperament, should be tuned in about the
you have learned.
same time. So I judge about fifty minutes are
GEORGE L. MAITLAND.
consumed by Mr. Miller on an average to tune
Philadelphia, Pa., May 4, 1907.
It would seem better to let this letter stand a piano. Now, the only thing which discourages
THE BEST IN THE WORLD
quite by itself, without editorial comment. Mr. the man of only ordinary attainments is that
Simple, Durable and Absolutely Noiseless
Maitland is known to readers as a strong advo- most of these articles are written by thofee who
cate of the old apprenticeship system of training, so far outclass us. Personally, I am free to con-
NOT AFFECTED BY CLIMATE
ana he naturally looks with regret at our pres- fess that I am not so infallibly correct in tun-
ent specialist regime. I am bound to say that I ing an interval, which it is conceded should be
heartily agree with the entire spirit of his letter. imperfect, with the precise amount of imperfec-
tion each time, but that I find thirds and sixths
to be very welcome intruders as I go along; and
Answers to Correspondence.
I make it a point to introduce them at the
Editor of Technical Department
earliest
opportunity. Is it not a fact that, for
Dear Sir—Will you kindly inform me where I
Annoyance and Expense '
can obtain the brass individual flange used for instance, the fourths and fifths in lower part of
Saved Dealer and Purchaser
repairing a broken one—the continuous brass temperament should be slower than the upper
flange rails. I think it is the Weber patent, or ones and in concert pitch more rapid than In
Manufactured and told only by
patented by a man by the name of Weber, international, from the fact that they are a half
Thanking you in advance, I am very truly yours, tone higher?
Has our friend ever tried the experiment of
G. FRED WHITTEMORE.
ALBERT r. NORRIS
CLIFTON H. NORRIS
I do not know of any individual brass flange laying the temperament with one wire only of
5 Appleton Street, Boston, Mass.
used for repairing in the manner you describe, each note and then beginning again and laying it
except one, which I have had furnished to me by with one of the other wires, without proofs, and
The Standard of America
ORRISDATENT
OlSELESSf EDALAGTIOH
Norris Noiseless Pedal lotion Go.