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THE
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
"IMPROVING" THE PIANO.
LEASE FINE LOCATION.
Ernest Schelling's Remarks on the Curved
Keyboard Introduced in G:rmany Seme Time
Ago and Some Pertinent Editorial Comments
Thereon—The Piano Keyboard Coird and
Should Be Improved but It Is Doubtful if
It Will Be, Judging from Past History.
Montenegro-Riehm Co., of Louisville. Ky., Sign
Eleven Years' Lease for Atherton B u i l d i n g —
May Move May 1, 1911,
A hundred times, more or less, has the piano
heeii "revolutionized." We have had everything
from the "violin sound-hoard" of Driggs, famous
in the middle of the nineteenth century, to the
Janko keyhoard of later date and greater fame.
And still the inventors come and go, departing
with hardly a visihle trace of their activities he-
hind them. The piano goes on from age to age,
neither changing nor heing changed.
Still, one might feel more complacent about
these things if really there were no need for im-
provement. But there is sad need for much bet-
tering, unfortunately. The present accepted key-
board is about the most astonishing example ex-
tant of a mechanism singularly unfitted for the
purpose assigned to it, which yet persists from
year to year without eliciting an audible protest
anywhere. The Janko keyboard was a tremen-
dous step forward. It enabled the doing of things
utterly impossible with the ordinary clavier, while
everything at present possible was easier when
done through its means. The one thing the Janko
keyboard could not manage—a glissando in C ma-
jor (on the white keys only)—is surely no loss.
And yet the Janko clavier could not survive the
dead wall of bigoted conservatism which the piano
teachers presented against it.
These remarks are suggested by some recent
words of Ernest Schelling, the American com-
poser-pianist, uttered in the course of a talk with
an Kuropean representative of Musical America.
Mr. Schelling voiced his opinion of the curved
radial keyboard which was introduced in Ger-
many some time ago, and which certainly deserved
appreciation and a fair trial. Yet Mr. Schelling
could say nothing better of it than this:
"Its advantages are comparatively small, and,
considering the advance made in piano technic
these days, I see no necessity for the small advan-
tage which it endeavors to provide. Contrary to
what one might expect owing to the angle between
the keys, the action of the thing is not more diffi-
cult than that of an ordinary instrument. But its
fate will probably be like that of the piano with
the series of superimposed keyboards, invented
many years ago. That was devised so that in
playing a scale you would have to move diagon-
ally upward instead of in a straight line. No, it
will not be in any direction of this kind that fu-
ture advances in piano construction will be made."
Now, when one considers the very plain fact
that the conventional piano keyboard renders the
grasp of any interval larger than an octave quite
difficult, and anything more than a tenth almost
impossible, it does seem that there was something
to be said for the proposal to arrange the keys in
such a way as to permit of a longer reach and
more rapid progress from one to another remote
point. Certainly what has been found good for
the pedal clavier of the organ might be supposed,
by analogy, if for no other reason, to be equally
advantageous for the fingers. But apparently pian-
its don't think so. x^nd there you are!
Seriously, it is a pity that so little thought is ever
taken in this direction. The piano keyloarl is a
most shining example of how not to design a
mechanism for a specific purpose. It v/as oi'g-
inally no more nor less than a reduction to the
clavichord of the enormous and cumbersome ba-
tons of the ancient pipe organ, which were struck
by the fist of the player. It was never thought out
from any definite standpoint or with any specific
intention in view. Tt stands to-day an hetero-
geneous development of incoherent principles.
Of course, the piano keyboard could and should
be improved.
But it is exceedingly doubtful
whether it ever will be.
A. E. Van Bogart has purchased the interests
of his partner in the music house of Rhoadamer
& Van Bogart, Grinncll, la.
(Special to The Review.)
Louisville, Ky., Aug. 8, 1010.
The Montencgro-Riehm Piano Co. have leased
the Atherton building, at the corner of Fourth ave-
nue and Walnut street, this city, the lease running
for eleven years and calling for a total rental of
$:{DO,nO0. The location is considered one of the
best in the city, and it is expected that the piano
company will occupy the new quarters about May
1, 1!U1, when the lease becomes effective. The
building is five stories high and it is likely that
the piano company will rent out the upper floors
not needed for their business.
TRADE NEAR JOME GROWS.
Our Exports to North and South America Show
Good Gains.
(Special to The Review.)
Washington, D. C, Aug. 8, 1910.
The export trade of the United States to South
America, North America and Africa during the
last fiscal year increased over the exports of the
previous year, while exports to Europe and Asia
declined, according to statistics furnished by the
Department of Commerce and Labor.
The increase in exports to North American
countries over the preceding year was 24% per
cent.; the increase to South America, 22 per cent.,
and to Africa, 9 per cent., while to Europe the de-
cline was about 1 per cent, and to xAsia and Ocean-
ica a little more than 1 per cent.
Detailed figures show the value of 1910 exports
to South America to be $93,250,000, as compared
with $70,500,000 in 1909; to North America, $385,-
500,000 in 1910, as compared with $300,500,000 in
1909; to Africa, $18,500,000, as compared with $17,-
000,000 in 1909; to Europe, $1,136,000,000, against
$1,140,750,000 in 1909, to Oceanica $111,750,000 in
1910, against $113,000,000 in the preceding year.
The chief growth in the exports of the country,
it is shown, has been with the near neighbors. To
Canada the value of exports in 1910 was $216,000,-
000, as against $163,500,000 in 1909; to Mexico,
$58,000,000, as against $49,750,000; to Cuba, $52,-
750,000, as compared with $44,000,000; to Central
America, $30,250,000, as against $25,125,000; to Ar-
gentina, $40,750,000, as compared with $33,750,000,
and to Brazil $22,750,000, as against $17,500,000.
AN INTERESTING DECISION.
Pennsylvania Judge Holds That Purchaser of
Piano on Lease Agreement Is Not Re-
sponsible if Instrument Is Destroyed by Fire
—Details of the Case.
A new ruling as to the responsibility of the pur-
chase of a piano on the lease plan when said in
strument is destroyed by fire and is uninsured has
just been handed down by Judge (larman. Wilkes-
Barre, Pa.
Dallas C. Shobert, who sold a piano to C. B.
Johnson on a lease agreement, sought to have the
latter continue payments on the piano after it had
been destroyed by fire, the instrument being un-
insured, and claimed that it was the duty of the
purchaser to insure the instrument while in his
possession.
The court held that the defendant, being in no
way to blame for the fire, which originated in an-
other building, occupied by another person, could
not be held responsible for the loss. He also held
that, according to the terms of the lease, said de-
fendant had not been negligent in not insuring the
piano, as the lease held no clause regarding the
condition in which it was to be returned, the final
payment completing the sale. Decision was there-
fore handed down for the defendant, and the deal-
ers of the State are wondering whether the case
will be appealed or what will the final result be.
Milroy & Nelson have moved into their hand-
some new double store in Hopkinton, la.
Add the Victor to
your piano business
and get a share of the
millions of dollars that
are spent yearly for
Victor goods.
Easy business to
handle and you don't
need nearly so much
capital as for pianos.
Victor goods are always
on the move and turn
profits quickly.
Less competition than
in pianos, and every
dealer who handles the
Victor is on an equal
fo o t i n g — fixed prices
with liberal assured
profits.
The amount of money
you make d e p e n d s
largely on yourself.
Some of the leading
piano dealers are making
more money on the
Victor than on all their
pianos put together.
Doesn't that make
you want to know all
about the Victor?
Write us to-day.
Victor Talking Machine Co.
Camden, N. J., U. S. A.
Berliner Gramophone Co., Montreal,
Canadian Distributor*.
To get best results, use only Victor Needles
on Victor Records.