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14
THE MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
O U T T E C H N I C A L DEPAKLMENT
CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM BRAID WHITE
AN OLD QUESTION
I do not pretend to know why it is that the
elementary principles which lie beneath the art
of piano tuning should be so little understood
by tuners in general. The longer I deal with
the profession, the plainer it becomes that a
knowledge of what may be called the rationale
ot the Equal Temperament is positively un-
usual. Yet, goodness knows, enough time,
enough trouble and enough expense have been
put into the task of teaching the science of our
art! When one stops to consider how this
paper, for instance, has for so many years
held weekly discussions of technical subjects,
when one thinks of the books that have been
written, the schools that have been opened by
eminent tuners, the interminable debates on
every petty detail of the tuner's art which have
decorated the pages of musical trade journals;
we are compelled to ask ourselves how it comes
about that if one throws a stone into a group
of tuners anywhere, the chances are over-
whelmingly in favor of that stone hitting one
who is technically ignorant of the very founda-
tion of his art and who has modeled his career
entirely on the principle of "work away until
you get some passable result and then stick to
that."
I know how easy it is to criticize and how
hard to suggest; at least anything that shall
have practical interest and importance. But I
also know that the conditions of which I speak,
conditions fairly describable as scandalous and
disastrous, furnish the main causes for the pres-
ent relatively low condition of the profession in
this country. Yet, in fact, an explanation may
be found, and one which is neither impractical
nor even improbable.
That explanation rests upon the simple con-
sideration that the territory of the United States
is enormous in extent, and that the machinery
at present existing for the technical education
of tuners is hopelessly inadequate to meet the
legitimate demand. The experience of those
who have undertaken to offer free tuition in
player construction to the members of the pro-
fession is sufficiently significant. The Danquard
School is in New York. Therefore it is too far
away for the greater number of those who
would take advantage of it. A man west of
Chicago has to consider seriously the expense
of going to New York and living there while
he studies. A man west of Denver must make
up his mind to still greater expenditures. A
man west of the Great Divide is still worse off.
It is a serious question.
A Solution to the Problem Must be Found
But it is a still more serious question when
the general interests of the profession are con-
sidered, and not merely one special interest.
I have more than once stated that the manifest
duty of the piano trade is to seek and find a
solution for the whole problem of supplying
VALPARAISO SCHOOL
OF PIANO TUNING
Offers a $15.00 reduction from the regular
tuition of $90.00
DURING MAY AND JUNE
Send for Circulars
FAUST
VALPARAISO, INDIANA
SCHOOL OF TUNING
Piano, Player-Piano, Pipe and Reed Organ Tuning and Re-
pairing, also Regulating, Voicing, Varnishing and Polishing
This formerly was the tuning department of the New
England Conservatory of Music, and Oliver C. Faust was
head of the department for 20 years previous to its dis-
continuance.
Courses in mathematical piano scale construction and
drafting of same have been added.
Pupils have daily practise in Chickering & Sons' factory.
Year Book sent free upon request.
27-29 GAINSBOROUGH ST., BOSTON, MASS.
skilled tuners and repairmen. Whether the trade
in general recognizes the necessities of the situa-
tion, I cannot say; but that these are deserving
of their attention, no one who has studied the
questions involved will deny.
Let me put the matter as clearly and as briefly
as I can. Moreover, let me put it from the
standpoint of the tuner himself. The matter
is that the man who is now making his living
from the legitimate practice of piano tuning,
cannot afford to neglect the problem of pro-
viding a generation of equally skilled tuners to
come after him. Even to-day, the legitimate
tuner, who knows his business and has acquired
a reasonable skill in its practice, finds that
others, who have neither his skill nor the desire
to obtain it, are able to pursue the same occupa-
tion, and to compete directly with him in doing
so. Of course, I am not going to be so foolish
as to suggest that the relatively unskilled man
does not improve as time goes on, or that he
can always compete on equal terms with his
better-equipped rival. I simply mean to say
that the mere existence of a condition of virtual
public indifference to all the finer parts of the
tuner's work indicates of itself how far the
poison of incompetence has been assimilated,
how inferior the public taste has become and
how plainly the tuner finds himself less and
less an artist, more and more simply a mechanic,
in public estimation.
Shall we never see the obvious solution? If
we who tune pianos with some skill and on the
basis of some real knowledge, will not take the
matter in our own hands and press the whole
question, of technical education to a final solu-
tion, then we must expect to see our business,
our social position and our monetary rewards
alike decline, and our profession become no
more or less than a mere cheap house-trade!
It is for us to see the fact and to take into our
own hands the solution of the question.
TWO TUNING METHODS
In the course of some recent studies in ad-
vanced tuning, undertaken in company with
gentlemen who were consulting me on their
personal technical problems, the rival virtues of
the Circle of Fourths and Fifths and of the
Circle of Major Thirds, came up for discussion.
Now, as is probably well known, I am an advo-
cate of the first method and have used it for
many years. On the other hand, the eminent
teacher Faust of Boston has consistently used
the method by Thirds and has taught a very
large number of tuners to work according to
this system. There is no sense in arguing that
either one is plainly superior, since although
the method I use -is generally used in the best
New York shops and by all the warerooms,
the Boston system has been in use for many
years and has numerous advocates among suc-
cessful tuners.
Now, in listening critically to the work of
tuners who use the system of laying the bear-
ings by three sets of Thirds, joined up by Oc-
taves and Fifths, I have been conscious of a
certain want of accuracy and refinement. It
has seemed to me that the tempering of the
Fourths and Fifths suffers. Of course it is
plain that if this be the case, the tempering of
Professional Tuners
who feel the need of improving their technical
and practical knowledge in advanced tuning,
grand piano work and general player work, are
invited to correspond with me. I am prepared to
take a few such gentlemen for short coaching
courses in these subjects. I do not teach by cor-
respondence. Address, for particulars,
WILLIAM BRAID WHITE
6949 Harper Avanue
Chicago, Ills.
the Thirds will suffer likewise, since the Tem-
perament is circular. But the point is that the
tuner who works directly by Thirds, seems to
satisfy himself too easily, and too complacently
to pass as finished work that lacks refinement.
This fault, if I am right in assuming its exist-
ence, would seem to derive from the obvious
fact that Thirds are less easily estimated as to
beat-rate than are Fourths and Fifths.
To this criticism it may of course be objected
that there is. no difference between a Major
Third tuned directly and the same interval
brought into being as the result of tuning two
Fifths up and two Fourths down. The state-
ment is true, but does not alter the fact that
when the actual work is done by tuning Fourths
and Fifths, the resulting Thirds being used for
comparison and check, there is greater ease in
detecting small errors. Now this ease in de-
tecting small errors is vital, since the Fourths
and Fifths are the principal sufferers therefrom;
a small aural error being more serious in a slow-
beating than in a fast-beating interval.
It would not perhaps be profitable to get up
an elaborate controversy between advocates of
the two systems, nor do I for a moment wish
to suggest that I am necessarily right and the
others necessarily wrong. But it would be a
very good thing, I think, if the opinions could
be had of some tuners who have tried both
methods and have finally adopted one. If such
information could be gained, accompanied by a
statement of the conditions which governed the
acquirement of either system and its abandon-
ment in favor of the other, some valuable facts
might be adduced. I invite any reader who has
anything to tell to answer these questions:
Which system of laying the bearings do you
prefer; the Circle of Fourths and Fifths or the
Circle of Major Thirds?
Which did you learn first?
Why did you change and how?
What, in your opinion, are the points of su-
periority of the system you finally adopted?
Meanwhile, I shall be willing to discuss the
questions with those who differ. I have no wish
to propose anything dogmatic. On the con-
trary, I am very ready to be converted and am
wholly open to conviction on what is really a
very important question.
It would be very admirable if we could get
Mr. Faust to tell us something of his experi-
ences in this respect. In any case, as one who
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