Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE
taining quality of the higher tones is most re-
markable. Certainly, one must agree that the con-
trast with the thin shrillness of the same tones
on a piano will surely be most marked.
Of course, the tone quality is monotonous, as it
must always be without the rich admixture of
partials to which we are accustomed in the piano.
At the same time it will also surely be pure, sweet
and singing. For purposes where the shrillness
and choppiness of the average piano are out of
place, the Dulcitone should have a well defined
position of its own.
Readers will, ere this, have wondered whether
the forks will always remain in perfect tune. This
is, of course, questionable, for we all know that
tuning forks under the stress of use do alter in
pitch more or less. But I fear that the tuner who
depended for a living upon the tuning of Dulci-
tones would have a poor job. In all probability
any change of pitch up or down would be almost
uniform throughout the compass, and thus it may
be supposed that this instrument will remain in
good tune indefinitely.
New Year's Greeting.
To all readers of this department permit me to
offer my best wishes for a Happy and Prosperous
New Year. Three months from now this depart-
ment will have entered upon its tenth year of con-
tinuous service. It shall be, during the coming
twelve months, as ever in the past, my constant
aim to give my best energies to the further and
completer service of my friends.
Communications for this department should be
addressed to the Editor, Technical Department,
The Music Trade Review.
W. C. HEPPERLA IN NEW ENGLAND.
W. C. Hepperla, credit manager of Decker &
Son, Inc., 697-701 Bast 135th street, New York,
took a short trip through New England this week,
where he found good trade and excellent prospects
for the coming year. J. A. Krumme, Jr., sales
manager of the company, will start on an extended
trip on Monday, January 6, which will take him
through the Middle Western States.
A feature of the business of Decker & Son, Inc.,
at the present time is the new styles which are
being shown to the trade and also a small Decker
& Son player-piano, which is being manufactured
for use in small apartments and bungalows. Dur-
ing the last year the business has increased tre-
mendously and the factory force has been pushed
to meet the demand.
T. G. Baker, who has been superintendent of the
Cote plant in Fall River, Mass., has resigned and
will return to New York.
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
PIANOLAS PLAYER BY WIRELESS.
Interesting Exhibition of New Controlling
Method at the Coliseum, London.
* Raymond Philips, whose ''wireless airship'' is
well known in places of entertainment, has re-
cently invented an instrument by which a piano
and other musical instruments may be played by
wireless. He gave a demonstration of this at the
Coliseum in London some time ago, when he had
three pianos on the stage connected with a large
receiver, the working of which was visible to the
audience. The demonstrator then worked a trans-
mitter, the waves were taken up by the receiver,
communicated to a music roll as in a Pianola, and
then the three pianos began to play. During the
performance a case containing twelve tuned bells
was handed round the audience, and Mr. Phillips
selected any note of the scale required by sending
out a wave from his receiver.
The mechanism by which Mr. Phillips attains
this control is by revolving drums or cylinders,
one in the receiver and the other in the trans-
mitter. These drums are so arranged that the
wireless waves sent out hit a particular part of
the receiver drum and put it into action without
disturbing the rest of the apparatus.
Prof. Silvanus Thompson has examined Mr.
Phillips' apparatus and reports that it is a re-
markable invention. The difficulty in work of this
.
control, and to eliminate other objects from the
influence of the waves.
A STEADFASTBEHNING POLICY.
Behning Player-Pianos Contain Exclusive Behn-
ing Mechanism Found in No Other Instru-
ments—Behning Piano Co. Closes One of the
Biggest Business Years in Its History.
The Behning Piano Co., 133d street and Alexan-
der avenue, New York, has just closed the biggest
December in the history of the house. It has also
closed one of the biggest years which it has ever
experienced. A j^reat increase in the player-piano
business was most noticeable. During the last year
this instrument has come to the front because of its
artistic and reliable qualities. On account of its
many features and its mechanical excellence it has
been given a strong representation from coast to
coast by some of the biggest and most representa-
tive retail houses. Its representation with the
world-renowned Steinway in all the branch stores
of Steinway & Sons has been one of the greatest
tributes to its merits.
Another feature of the Behning progress has
been the steadfast policy of the house in refrain-
ing from making player-piano actions for any other
than the Behning player-piano. This player action
in its entirety is the product of the Behning Piano
Co. and has been worked out under the expert
supervision of Henry and Gustave Behning, the
heads of the house. The dealer who handles a
Behning player-piano lias a Behning product from
start to finish. That this policy has been appre-
ciated has been manifested in the representation
it has received throughout the country. The piano
has the Behning tone and touch and the player
has the Behning responsiveness which has always
been distinguished for its individuality.
PULLMAN COMPANY LOSES.
Appellate
Jesse French & Sons Piano Co.
NEW C A S T L E , I N D
Our Dealers May Have This
Cut Free by Asking for Cut No. 81
If You Want Double Column Cut Say No. 82
Division Holds It Must
Funds of Passengers.
Safeguard
The Appellate Division has dismissed the appeal
of the Pullman Co. from a Municipal Court judg-
ment, affirmed in the Appellate Term of the Su-
preme Court, in favor of Andrew Corrish. Cor-
rish had $250 stolen from the pocket of his
trousers, hanging in a locked stateroom on a train
between New York and Montreal in the summer
of 1911. It was shown that the thief had cut
through a wire screen shielding an open window
of the stateroom, on the opposite side from the
station platform at a way stop.
The Appellate Division holds that passengers in
Pullman cars are entitled to have funds carried
for the necessary expenses of travel safeguarded.
The Mellotona
Speaking of player pianos—
have you seen the Mellotona?
Well—it's a wonder! You'll
say so, too, if you examine it.
It has special features which
commend it to even the most
casual observer.
You can get with the Mello-
tona the most s u r p r i s i n g
musical results.
To go into all of its special
points of excellence would be
perhaps wearisome; but, it has
more than mere talking points
—it has essentials with which
to produce the finest musical
effects.
It has brass tubes—silent
traveller—an automatic loud
pedal. There is a grace and
beauty about it which you can
take pleasure in impressing
upon a customer.
The entire action is finished
in mahogany to match the
player case.
It operates with exceeding
ease and with it the most
delicately sensitive effects may
be produced.
Start the year right with
the Mellotona agency!
THE
Established I84S
NEW YORK