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THE
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
OuTTECHNlCAL DEPARTMENT
CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM BRAID WHITE.
"LETTERS TO THE EDITOR."
Every so often they come in a rush and 1 find it
rather hard to keep up with them. For something
like forty weeks in each year my esteemed readers
leave me quite severely alone and act as if they
supposed that to read my rot in silence and not tell
their real opinion of it were quite enough to do for
me. At long intervals, however, I see in the sky
the cloud no larger than a man's hand which
presages the coming of a deluge. For the last three
weeks I have been cooling myself off in this rain
of welcome communications, and now find it ad-
visable to devote this week's page entirely to that
well-known and never stale topic, "Letters to the
Editor."
"What Is Touch?"
"Dear Mr. White—I read with much interest your
article entitled 'What Is Touch,' and I remember no-
ticing the articles referred to as published in Lit-
erary Digest and Ladies' Home Journal. 1 cannot
dispute the argument that the control of the ham-
mer ceases before it touches the string, and cer-
tainly any school of piano playing which advocates
'wiggling' the finger on the key to prolong tone is
foolishness.
"But if velocity is the one element which we can
impart to the hammer, and since velocity and
weight (of hammer) must combine to yield the
impact of hammer on string, then a given velocity
should yield a tone of given volume as well as of
a given quality, since the weight of the hammer is
fixed.
'We are pretty sure, however, that different play-
ers get a different tone quality as well as a differ-
ent volume, or it would be more exact to say that
two or three different players striking a note so it
sounds at a given volume would yet have two or
three different tone qualities resulting, and a single
skilled pianist should be able to get them all with-
out varying the loudness of the tone. If so, how
does he do it?
"One of my friends gets a tone as dead and life-
less as if a skeleton were at the keyboard, another
—without any more or any less mere volume—gets
a beautiful singing tone with color and life and
warmth in it, and both are the merest amateurs.
Can more velocity be the secret of these differ-
ences? I do not raise an argument, I merely 'in-
quire to know'—in the language of Hasimura
Togo. Yours very truly,
E. R. PLAISTED.
"MONTPELIER, VT., July 6, 1915."
The answer is that words and things are not
identical. The confusion of thought that arises
over the use of the word "volume" is responsible
for nearly all the misunderstanding that exists on
this subject. "Volume" alone cannot be abstracted,
as a quality, from all the other qualities which
combine to make up a tone produced on the piano.
The physical causes of piano tone production are
found in the velocity of the hammer travel, the
weight of the hammer and the duration of the
string vibration, together. A loud tone may be
hollow-sounding and lifeless, or a soft tone may
be the same thing; while, vice versa, a soft tone
may be full and sonorous, just as may a loud tone.
But the difference is simply in the manner in
which the hammer is hurled at the string (which
means its velocity), in combination with the man-
ner in which the string is allowed to vibrate after
the blow; plus, of course, the relation of the suc-
cession of tones to each other and various other
details of phrase manipulation, and so on; all of
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Dear Sir—I say 'Amen' to your remarks on
"Maker and Tuner.' 1 have worked on pianos thai
were untunable. And I find that other tuners claim
that they cannot fine-tune a certain make of piano.
In this one, two complete octaves (from F 2 to
F 4) seem to defy the most painstaking efforts of
a tuner. The maker of this piano knows of the
discrepancy, and when remonstrated with for con-
tinuing to use such a mean scale, replies that Mr.
So-and-So likes it. But he fails to mention how
many disgusted customers have complained about
it. In this monstrosity F 3 will rarely remain at
pitch, and repeatedly I have tried it and found that
this note will flatten in the short space of a week.
The maker has tried the expedient of using a size
smaller wire on this one note so as to have less
tension on it. But think of it: F sharp 3 with 19
wire and F 3 with 18!
"Owners of -these instruments have often asked
me why this F would flatten so. But what reply
can a tuner give in the circumstances, when he
knows that the string tensions are all wrong and
that the faulty note is strung on the end of the
sound-board bridge, where the bridge is divided
to accommodate a section of the plate?
"I recently met a tuner's widow, whose husband
used to canvass in a State where those pianos are
numerous, and she affirms that her husband would
pass by houses that owned one of these freaks. I
have often thought I should like to have W. B. W.
caged in a room with one of these inconsistent
wire entanglements ! How it would tax his tech-
nical, theoretical and practical resources—and a
wee bit of his patience!
"I have known manufacturers absolutely incapa-
ble of discrimination regarding fine cantabile tone
quality; and they would have to take a peek at the
name on the fall-board before they would venture
an opinion on a rival make.
"I have measured the string lengths on various
pianos, and it certainly is marvelous that such a
variety of measurements have to produce tones of
the same pitch. Some scales show for middle C
22 1 /4 inches, some 30 inches. Think of it, 22^4
inches and 30 inches, with maybe only one size
difference in wire gauge, producing the same tone!
"I wonder if it would be feasible to obtain the
opinion of several hundred tuners, men who have
made scales and string lengths a hobby, and pro-
duce a piano with sustained tone and that would
remain in tune; that is, remain in tune evenly and
not in sections only. How many pianos you find in
which either the bass or the treble is always consid-
erably sharper or flatter after a 9hort interval!
"It seems to me ridiculous how grand pianos
are being made shorter and shorter, returning ap-
parently to the square again. If grands are too
big, why not make better uprights and cut out the
grands entirely?
"I think you said some time ago that an Ameri-
can steel wire expert was going to experiment on
string lengths to ascertain the most ideal dimen-
sions throughout the gamut of the keyboard. Do
you think that would cause all scales at present in
guesswork. Yours, etc.,
ALEX. SCHEINERT.
"2849 North Eleventh street, Philadelphia, Pa." . use to be discarded? If not, why not?
"Sincerely yours, Just A. Cracker, Tampa, Fla..
In the "Appendix on Temperament" to Ellis'
translation of Helmholz's "Sensations of Tone" June 14, 1915."
Didn't T say the letter was too good to remain
will be found an interesting note on the use of
anonymous ?
pendulums for counting beats.
As for the "tuners' standardized piano," I do not
Maker and Tuner.
"Mr. William Braid White, the Tuner's Friend:
which are inextricably mixed up with the quality
of -volume. It is virtually impossible to render
any accurate judgment on a single tone sounded
all by itself without any relation to other tones.
Certainly it is quite impossible to hear two separate
tones sounded at the same pitch on the same piano,
separated by any perceptible interval of time, and
be sure that the loudness of one is or is not pre-
cisely as the loudness of the other. There are so
many qualities mixed up in the whole. Hammer
velocity determines so much more than mere loud-
ness. It determines within wide limits the nature
of the wave form, and hence the tone quality.
Moreover, and lastly, when abstracted from the
intermingled qualities of duration and phrase
grouping, loudness is proportionate to hardness,
and a very loud tone cannot, of and by itself, be a
mellow tone. The two terms are incommensurable
and the question finds its solution in the fact that
no one quality can possibly be entirely abstracted
from the rest.
Counting Beats.
"Dear Mr. White—Having read with great inter-
est your articles in the Technical Department,
especially those relating to the scientific method of
tuning, I herewith beg leave to offer a suggestion
which, if properly worked out and conscientiously
adhered to, will greatly facilitate the art of tuning,
by overcoming the uncertainty in counting the
beats per second for each interval of the tempera-
ment. Provided, however, that the beats in a fin-
ished interval do not change after tuning to either
a slow or a faster rate; in other words, that the
tuning is solid, as one proceeds from one interval
to another. I wondered when I read of your sug-
gestion some time ago, that one should accustom
one's self to counting the ticking of a watch,
whether this feat could be accomplished in the
manner described by you. Your description of a
revolving disc in The Review of the 10th inst,
while apparently more feasible, still seems uncer-
tain on account of its complications. It is my
desire, therefore, to suggest to you, or rather ask
you, to construct a pendulum of tape, string or
wood, with a weight at one end, and mark the best
i ate of each fourth and fifth of the tempered scale
of one octave, say from f to f, so that it can be
swung according to the notation of these intervals.
I believe my brother tuners would make such a
pendulum if they have the beat rates for the fol-
lowing fourths and fifths : F—C, F—B flat, F
sharp—C sharp, F sharp—B, G—D, G—C, G sharp
—D sharp, G sharp—C sharp, A—E, A—D, A
sharp—F, A sharp—D sharp, B—E, C—F. With
this instrument to go by, every tuner could use his
own temperament—the one he has always used.
He simply would have to swing the pendulum from
the number of beats marked that corresponds with
the interval he intends to tune; and besides, the
mode of tuning would be more uniform because
of the application of a standard table. Provided
that this table is correct, the result of the tuning
would be more perfect than when accomplished by
FAUST SCHOOL OF TUNING
Piano, Player-Piano, Pipe and Reed Organ Tuning 1 and Re-
pairing, alto Regulating, Voicing 1 , Varnishing andPoliihing
This formerly was the tuning department of the New Eng-
land Conservatory of Music, and Oliver C. Faust was head
of that department for 20 years previous to its discontinu-
ance.
Courses in mathematical piano scale construction and
draft ins; of same have been added.
Pupils have daily practise in Chickering & Sons' factory.
Year I'ook sent free upon request.
27-29 GAINSBOROUGH ST., BOSTON, MASS.
Polk's Piano Trade School
Piano,
14th YEAR
Player-Piano and Organ Tuning,
Repairing and Regulating
Most thoroughly equipped Piano Trade School in
U. S. Private instruction. Factory experience if de-
sired. Students assisted. Diplomas awarded. School
entire year. Endorsed by leading piano manufacturers
and dealers. Free catalogue.
C. C. POLK
Box 298 Valparaiso, Ind.