Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE
JUNE 25, 1921
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
iifliiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii^
The Art of the Player-Pianist
The following is the eighth in a series of articles by Wil-
liam Braid White. The aim of the series is to teach the
salesman and the music lover the secret of playing the
player-piano artistically, a secret apparently known to few,
but which can readily be imparted to anyone who is inter-
ested in music and is willing to give the player-piano a
fair trial. At the present time, when it is more than ever
necessary to attack the selling problem from the stand-
point of demonstration, this series should be extremely
valuable.
THE SECRET OF THE DAMPERS
What pianists call "the pedal," and the art of
manipulating the same, comprise one of the
most frequently discussed and certainly one of
the most important elements in the whole art
of piano playing. When pianists speak of "the
pedal" they mean the right-hand or damper-
lifting pedal of the ordinary piano. This is
often called the "loud pedal," but, of course, it
ought to be called almost anything but this.
The function of this pedal in the ordinary piano
is to control the position of the line of dampers
which press against the strings when the keys
are at rest. But there is so very much misap-
prehension and downright ignorance, even
among musicians, concerning the true function
of the dampers in a piano, and the possible re-
sults from manipulating them skillfully, that
only the exceptional pianist may be regarded
as a master of the pedal. Most pianists have
only a faint idea of what to do with the dampers
of the piano, and most amateur players simply
don't understand them at all.
The "Loud Pedal"
Perhaps it is this universal misunderstanding
which has produced the name "loud pedal."
When it is unskillfully used this pedal produces
a most horrid jangling of tone, which indeed
is "loud" enough, but which in every other way
is too awful for words.
Let me also remind the reader that the play-
er-piano contains always an additional button
or lever designed to do the same thing (i. e., lift
the dampers) when the player is in use, and the
feet are occupied with the bellows, as is done
by the right foot of the pianist whose hands
are on the keyboard. This button or lever is
usually controlled from in front of the keyboard
by the left hand of the player-pianist.
What Are the Dampers?
Now, if all this much is plain, let us go a step
further and discover the function and use of
the dampers in the piano action.
The sounds which proceed from the piano
are produced by the blows of hammers against
the strings. There are eighty-eight string-uni-
sons in every piano, with a hammer and key to
each. Between the hammer and the key, in each
case, is a movement called the "action." Now,
the sound is produced from the string by a
blow, and the hammer is hurled at the string to
produce this blow: "hurled" being an accu-
rately descriptive verb. Immediately upon con-
tact with the string the hammer rebounds and
falls back by its own weight. But so long as
the key remains pressed down by the pianist's
finger (or, what comes to the same thing, so
long as a perforation in the music roll of the
player-piano remains opposite a duct in the
tracker-bar) the string will continue to vibrate,
although, of course, in a few seconds its motion
is brought to a close by atmospheric friction
and other causes. But when the key is re-
leased a strip of soft felt, called a "damper," is
allowed to fall down on the string, effectively
and instantly "damping" (smothering) the vi-
brations and stopping the sound. That is why
(within the time limit of the ability of the string
to maintain its vibratory motion after it has
been struck) the sound continues as long as
the key is pressed or the pneumatic of the
player is closed, stopping instantly when either
of these operations ceases.
' The Complexity of Piano Tone
Understanding this much, let us now call to
mind the fact that the strings of the piano are
tuned according to the requirements of the
musical scale, so that the sound of each bears
a definite harmonic relation to each of the
others. This relation may be concordant or dis-
cordant, agreeable or disagreeable, but a definite
relation it is. And this is not all. If the sound
produced by any single string be analyzed with
the aid of the necessary acoustical instru-
ments it is found to be not a single sound, but
a complex of sounds, consisting of one strong,
powerful sound and a number of weak and al-
most unheard incidental sounds, bearing definite
harmonic relations to the string sound and
modifying its quality though not its pitch. For
instance, if we press the key "C" on the piano
and then listen very closely we shall hear, if
our ears are good, the C one octave higher
emerging from the sound-mass almost as soon
as the first powerful sound has been voiced.
Then, if we still listen very closely, we shall
hear the G, a fifth above the second C, gradu-
ally emerge from the tone-mass, and then the
C an octave higher again, and, perhaps, if the
(Continued on page 6)
The Player Your Customers Want
Is the instrument which meets the need
of the large majority. That is the
HENRY a JOHNSON
Player-Piano
It's a fine, full-toned piano containing what we believe
to be the best player action on the market. It's the
"Player of the Hour"
because it can be easily sold (at a fair profit to the
dealer) at a price the people want to and can pay.
HENRY G. JOHNSON PIANO CO., Bellevue, Iowa