Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support
from namm.org
LiiiKAKi
THE
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
PRODUCING COLOR EFFECTS WITH THE PLAYER-PIANO.
How to Cause the Pneumatic to Render the Proper Service—Ascertaining What Is Desired in
the Matter of Results—Means for Securing the Graduation of Tone Quality Found in Both
The Music Roll and the Sustaining Lever Producing the Staccato Attack.
Third Article.
In the second article of the present series we re-
duced the matter of touch with its concomitant
capacities for coloration of tone to a matter of
hammer control; that is to say, to the control of
hammer velocities. We likewise pointed out that
the pneumatic of the piano player mechanism is
by no means different from the piano key in its
efficiency as a means for transferring energy to
the piano action, and that therefore we only had
to consider the question of getting the pneumatic
to do what we want. This we must now con-
sider.
Rut we must first consider what it is that we
want the pneumatic to do for us. In order to
know this, we must reduce to practical elements
the summer velocity the various kinds of touch.
And to do this, again, we must know exactly what
audible results we wish to obtain.
Beginning then, as is fitting, at the beginning,
we first see (that of all the gradations of tone
quality producible upon the .piano, two stand out
so markedly and include so many subclasses that
they may be taken as representing the two main
differences. These are the staccato and the legato
qualities. The terms staccato and legato are here
used in a somewhat general sense. By staccato
•effect is meant the production of detached tones.
Legato effect means here the production cf tones
bound together. In other words, the staccato ef-
fect is the kind of effect which we get when we
cease sounding one note before the next begins.
Legato effect is the kind of effect we get when
we keep on sounding one note until the next has
begun. One is the sensation of detached tones.
The other is lhat of tones bound together.
There are a thousand and one gradations pos-
sible in these two divisions, and, ir fact, they
shade into each other imperceptibly. Neverthe-
less, they afford the best possible division because
of their inolusiveness.
Now it is perfectly obvious that the first method
of effecting either the staccato or the legato with
the player mechanism is by manipulation of the
music-roll. Plainly, if we so manipulate the tempo
lever that the perforations are "jumped" over the
tracker-bar, with a slight interval between each,
the result will be staccato in some one of the
many variations thereof. It- is equally sure that if
we manipulate the tempo lever so that the travel
of the perforations is steady and tranquil, we shall
have a legato effect if the roll is not deliberately
cut otherwise. In ease the latter condition pre-
vails we can overcome it by so manipulating the
tempo lever as to bring the notes closer together
in time (that i: by increasing speed) and by using
the sustaining lever skilfully to bridge out the
interval.
Thus roughly we have two ways of doing things.
We can manipulate the tempo lever to give us
staccato effects or their opposite. When the roll
is cut staccato we can manipulate it so as to make
the effect legato. When the roll is cut legato we
can do something, though not so much, to avoid
the effect by manipulating the roll in a series of
jumps over the tracker. It will, of course, be
understood that there is hardly ever any require-
ment to distort the obvious reading of the music
as cut in the roll.
These two grand divisions of tone-quality are
1 hems ell ves divisible into many, sub-classes. Tn
considering methods for handling them we have
thought principally of the rough effects of detached
as against singing tone. But there are many pos-
sibilities included within these.
To consider the general effect of staccato in its
various phases, we may observe that when a single
note, a group of following notes or a series of
chords are played very shortly, with a minimum
o>f duration and a maximum of interval between
each pair, the tone-quality effect is quite different
from that which we get when the duration is
greater and the time space less, Thus, a harp ef-
iect is producible quite easily by a very staccato
manner of playing, in connection with light pedal-
ing. To get the peculiar plucking effect of the
harp strips we must separate the tones very mark-
edly, while using only a very light degree o'f force
and making the duration of each tone as short
as possible. This simply means that we must jump
the perforations very quickly over the tracker-bar,
keep a marked interval between the sounds and
pedal lightly. The sustaining device is here not
used.
Suppose again that we desire to produce the ut-
most brilliancy of tone, with a sharpness and
crispness of attack, but without any binding of the
tones to each other; the kind of tone quality we
associate with music of dramatic and dynamic
character. Then naturally we must manipulate the
tempo lever so as to detach the groups of tones
from each other, while also pedaling with energy
and omitting any use of the sustaining pedal. Here
also comes in a most valuable point. In pedaling
there is more than the mere alternate operation
of the bellows with roughly more or less energy.
There are, in fact, various kinds of touch on the
pedals, each of which has its uses. In the case
to which we now have reference, a minimum of
tension should he preserved by one foot acting
regularly and slowly on the corresponding bellows,
while the other foot makes a sharp, short, ener-
getic push at each staccato note or chord. If in-
stead of this we were to push regularly, steadily
and with the machine-like precision, we should
never get a satisfactory crispness of tone, no mat-
ter how well the tempo lever were manipulated.
This staccato attack on the pedals is very neces-
BIG DEMAND FOR PLAYERS.
The Call for the Chase-Hackley Player Product
Is Insistent from All Parts of the Country.
The reports from Muskegon show a steadily in-
creasing demand for the products of the Chase-
Hackley factory. The player-pianos made by this
corporation are meeting with trade favor in all
parts of the country. In fact, the percentage of
sary, and its technic should be cultivated until it
can easily be obtained. In working out the prac-
tical method of doing this, one generally finds it
best to use the toe of the foot and to keep the
heel off the pedal entirely while making the stroke.
If- the vacuum tension maintained by the other
foot's steady, gentle work is enough to run the
motor, then the staccato effect can easily be ob-
tained with a characteristic tone-color therewith
included.
This staccato pedal work can be varied in differ-
ent ways and will be found a most useful weapon
for the player-pianist.
But crispness of attack and brilliancy are not to
be had without careful seeking. Anyone can pro-
duce the hard hammering tone of the player-piano
without going to any special trouble. The dif-
ficulty is to get 'brilliancy without hardness and
bang-banginess. To do this we must carefully re-
member that the necessary short, sharp pedal work
must be studied out. as the temptation is always
to make it too strong, with the natural result of
bringing about the very evils one would flee from.
The player-piano always has a surplus of power
on light work, and we should therefore cultivate
from the start the habit of gentle pedaling.
Rut this is not all. The varieties of staccato are
still more in number. It should be known that
we are dealing with just the same hammer veloci-
ties to which we devoted so much space before.
Let us not forget that staccato means mechanically
a quicker operation of the pneumatic, a more rapid
performance of the whole cycle of operations,
while the legato means a rapid performance of the
same cycle. Fundamentally that is all there is
to it.
However, there is much more to say yet, and
we must consider the matter further in the next
article.
(To be continued.)
factured by this house. The Chase Bros, grand
occupies a strong position in musical circles which
is steadily being augmented with the passing of
the years.
Braton S. Chase, who is conceded to be one of
the best factory men in the trade, gives his undi-
vided attention to the operation of the enterprise
over which he presides, and as a result the Chase-
Hackley output has been steadily maintained. Mr.
Chase believes in doing business along regular and
persistent lines, and as a consequence he has won
an enviable reputation for the instruments created
in the big plant at Muskegon.
Dealers who have visited the Chase-Hackley plant
have invariably been much impressed with the sys-
tem in vogue throughout the factory, and the care
and close attention paid to details is in evidence
everywhere. The splendid'Chase-Hackley factory
system has resulted in producing a line of instru-
ments which have been found to measure up in a
most satisfactory manner with the varied trade
requirements.
~
. ,
The fall business of this house is assuredly large,
and orders are coming in from the various sec-
t ; ons of the country which indicate that the Chase-
Hackley dealers appreciate the advantage of order-
ing stock early.
ARTISTS VISIT WILCOX & WHITE.
Miss Ethel Leginska Calls at Meriden Factory
to Listen to Her Latest Rolls and Ruth St.
Denis Entertains with an Exhibition of Her
Talent as a Dancer.
Braton S. Chase.
increase in the player-piano line has been some-
what larger than Braton S. Chase, the general-
manager of the corporation, had anticipated at the
beginning of the year.
Certainly this product is growing steadily in the
estimation of critical dealers, who have found it
reliable in every respect. And, too, there has been
an increased demand for the grand pianos manu-
The Wilcox & White Co.. Meriden, Conn., was
honored recently by the visits of Miss Ethel
leginska, the renowned pianiste, and Miss Ruth
St. Denis, the well-known dancer. The party while
on a motoring trip to Bar Harbor, Me., called at
the Wilcox & White studio to hear the Voltem
records made by Miss Leginska. The pianiste was
delighted with the perfection of her records, and
while Liszt's Second Rhapsody was being played
on the Angelus—this, by the way, is one of Miss
Leginska's recent records—Miss St. Denis danced '
to the beautiful theme. After a visit of some few
hours the party again took up its motoring tour,