Classic Mode

Music Trade Review

Issue: 1926 Vol. 82 N. 8

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE
FEBRUARY 20, 1926
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
41
THE For theMenWhoMake
TECHNICAL
DEPARTMENT
Pianos andtheMenWho Serve Them
William Braid White , Technical Editor
Why All Musical Instrument Makers
Should Adhere to New Pitch Standard
which must be proved now that it has been
made.
I am saying that the establishment of a stand-
ard pitch was a matter of vital importance, and
that its faithful maintenance is equally impor-
The Question of Pitch Is Not Only a Mere Ideal But a Problem of Actual and Realistic Impor- tant and equally vital in the most practical and
tance to Every Section of the Music Industries—Some of the Manufacturing Problems Which
business-like senses of those words.
a Change of Pitch Has Entailed in the Past—Real Difficulty in the Problem
History
Thirty-three years ago the piano-makers of
HE trade will not have forgotten that
standard forks will be on hand, and the 1925 the United States met and agreed to accept and
action was taken at the 1925 convention
standard pitch will 1 hen bo in a fair way to adhere to a standard of musical pitch. They
towards the establishment of a standard
establishment.
accepted the report painstakingly drawn up af-
pilch, to be common to all branches of the
More Than An Ideal
ter long research by Lcvi K. Fuller and adopt-
music industries represented in the Music In-
ll is, however, necessary to do much more
ed his recommended standard pitch of A 435;
dustries Chamber of Commerce.
than merely obtain standard forks if the dream
meaning thereby that they agreed henceforth to
A committee which investigated the subject
ot a single pitch universally known, accepted
design their pianos so that each should leave the
was composed of representatives of the piano,
and maintained, is ever to be realized. The co- factories always with its A above middle C,
organ, band instrument, and small goods in-
operation is required of every maker of pitch
tuned exactly to a tuning fork giving a sound
dustries, with the piano tuners. A distinguished
musical instruments, of every tuner, of every
made up of 435 double vibrations per second.
expert on acoustical matters was also one of its
musician. Factories will have to rate their forks
This pitch thus adopted was equivalent to the
members. This committee worked hard, in-
according to the master forks; and after having
well-known French Normal Diapason, which
vestigated its subject with much care and settled
them rated will have to see that the pitch ob-
had been adopted by the Paris Conservatoire
upon a plan which it presented to the direc-
tained is enforced. There must be a definite
which is supported by the French Government
tors of the Chamber at the convention meet-
understanding on the part of superintendents
and by the Government-subventioned opera. To
ings last June. As everybody knows, the gist
and manufacturing executives that this question
this accepted standard was now given the name
of the report was that the industries should in
of pitch is much more than a mere amiable
"International Pitch."
common consent to the establishment of a new ideal, set forth by some theoretical persons
To appreciate what this meant as a step in
pitch standard at A 440 or its equivalent, as
whose perceptions are irritated by the failure
advancement it is only necessary to remind the
given by a standard tuning fork at a tempera-
of the musical instrument industries to stay
reader that the important band instrument in-
ture of 68 degrees Fahrenheit. Moreover, a
up to the level of excellence satisfactory to
dustry is compelled to make expensive and ex-
plait was outlined whereby the established pitch, them. Men who delight in insisting that they
tremely inconvenient changes, involving new
once accepted, might be maintained without that
are "practical and nothing else" must be brought
machinery and a vast amount of labor, to say
danger of constant change usually in an upward
to realize that this thing of vibrations, of tem- nothing of business stoppage, whenever it is
direction, which has been the bane of the mu- peratures, of wave lengths, of ratings and of
necessary to go to a new pitch level. When
sical world for a century.
scales is a thing of immediate vital importance
the 435 pitch was adopted only the piano-mak-
to the prosperity of every man who has aught
It is well that we should all remember these
ers officially set the seal of their approval upon
to do with the making, the selling, or even
facts, for the practical steps towards translat-
it; but the band instrument men and the organ-
the use, of musical instruments. And when we
ing them into practice are now being taken, and
builders soon followed in their practice, if not
say "musical instruments" we mean everything
it is probable that much more will soon be
through formal official action. Moreover, these
from
a mouth organ to a pipe organ, everything
heard on the subject.
1 am particularly anx-
men did their very best to maintain the adopted
from a piano to a saxophone.
ious to impress upon all concerned that this
standard, realizing clearly that their business
T
matter is not to be permitted to drop, that the
new effort to establish a standard pitch is not
a mere beating of the air, that the proposals
made and adopted must and shall now be car-
ried out. What has been started is taking time
for its due execution; but the work of establish-
ing the recommended pitch is being carried oul
steadily. The standard tuning forks are being
manufactured and rated. This delicate work,
soon now to be completed, has been placed in
the hands of an eminent maker of scientific
apparatus, whose reputation for exquisite ac-
curacy is international. The rating will be done
by the acoustical master who serves as the chief
technical member of the committee and whose
facilities and skill in this extremely difficult
process are unsurpassed. In a few weeks the
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A PIANO TUNING COURSE
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Whereby each two weeks' technical training
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CO-OPERATIVE PIANO TUNING SCHOOL
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Does any one doubt this? Then attend to
what follows. This is a serious statement
William Braid White
Associate, American Society of Mechanical Engi-
neers; Chairman, Wood Industries Division, A. S.
M. E.; Member, American Physical Society; Mem-
ber, National Piano Technicians' Association.
Consulting Engineer to
the Piano Industry
Tonally and Mechanically Correct Scales
Tonal and Technical Surveys of Product
Tonal Betterment Work in Factories
interests demanded it quite as much as did the
musical interests of the nation. Yet they found
that they could not stay on the level of that
pitch.
What Happened
Why was that? Mainly because musicians of
a certain type insisted upon having individual
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STANDARD TUNING FORK
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Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
42
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
FEBRUARY 20,
1926
The Technical Department—(Continued from page 41)
instruments of a higher pitch than the standard,
because they wanted greater brilliancy or to
stand out from their fellows in band and or-
chestra. Again, violinists were always asking
for higher pitch because they too thought that
their fiddles could thus be made to sound more
brilliant. And lastly, the constant though not
very large stream of cheap foreign instruments
was composed always of high-pitch stock, main-
ly because the German makers refused to adopt
the French pitch which the American piano men
had adopted. These, of course, were only some
of the causes, and undoubtedly the lack of any
united effort among the trades concerned was
at the bottom most to blame. There was then
no way in fact of bringing to a head the desires
of the trade, indeed no way of getting those
desires expressed. The protests, if any were
made, were, of course, in these circumstances,
confused, feeble and unavailing. The standard
pitch was violated first by one and then by an-
other maker, who felt that he could not resist
the pressure. So it came about in due course
that the orchestras were one day all found to
be using a pitch notably higher than 435 A.
Concert grand pianos then had to be tuned at
this higher pitch—which was very close in gen-
eral to the new 440 standard—and in due time
this simply meant that all pianos were being
brought to the same level. The organ-builders,
too, felt the pressure and had to trim their
course accordingly.
Organ-builders had to re-design their organs,
piano-makers to re-calculate their stresses and
strains. Band instrument men had to re-design
everything, as one by one they fell into line.
To them the task was not only difficult but
terribly expensive, and it is perfectly certain
that no one of them wishes to have before him
the same prospect again.
In a word, since 1892 the music trades have
been constantly haunted by this spectre. They
have tried to cajole it, threaten it, defy it; yet
it lias refused to down. Finally they have had
to capitulate at no matter what cost of time,
labor and money.
And now, in consequence, the associations
which represent these instrument-making indus-
tries, have co-operated heartily in the formation
and working of the committee which last year
investigated the whole question anew. The con-
clusions of this committee were unanimous, and
they found that the 440 pitch or something very
close to it had become, in effect, within the
last thirty years the standard of the United
States, and for that matter the standard of a
good part of the civilized world. They felt that
they could do no less than set the seal of ap-
proval upon what was already the practice of
virtually all the American makers of brass in-
struments, wood instruments and organs, and
of the great majority of the makes of pianos
too.
The Real Difficulty
But they also recognized that the real diffi-
culty is not in the establishment of a pitch, but
in anchoring that pitch at the fixed point se-
lected. It is one thing to say the trades shall
do this or that. It is another thing to get
their consent and still another thing to keep
them at a level of interest and enthusiasm suf-
ficiently high to ensure their maintaining
any standard they do accept. And precisely
here was what the committee recognized as the
point of difficulty. How to get the manufac-
turers of musical instruments to stand together,
to resist any pressure in favor of still further
change, and to keep their own practice strictly
FAUST SCHOOL
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up to the standards they have set—these were
and are the big questions.
The suggestions made were excellent so far
as they went. The principal one was that each
individual or firm belonging to the trade asso-
ciations represented in the Music Industries
Chamber of Commerce should be asked to sign
a pledge not to make any change in the ac-
cepted standard pitch of A 440 for at least ten
years, and then only after obtaining the consent
of the other assenting manufacturers. This
pledge has been circulated, and most of the men
affected have had no hesitation in signing it.
So far so good; but this is not all. I have
hardly to say, I suppose, that the consequences
of another slow process of upward creeping will
be even more disastrous in the future than simi-
lar processes have been in the past. For one
thing, the American piano as at present de-
signed and constructed will not sound well or
stand well in tune at a pitch higher than 440.
In the second place the band instrument indus-
try within the last ten years has been compelled
to make the change once from 435 to 440 and
certainly does not want to go up again ten
years from now, at still greater expense, to 445.
Thirdly, the organ men do not want another
change, for that means more re-designing, with-
out the slightest additional return otherwise.
Fourthly, the singers do not want a higher
pitch. Many of them would prefer 435 as it is.
And the singers constitute a powerful body in
the aggregate.
Keep the Pledge!
Need I say more? Every consideration of in-
terest and advantage urges the music industries,
especially the piano men, who are the worst sin-
ners, to resolve strongly that they will really
make an attempt to carry out the letter and the
spirit of the pledge. I urge every piano super-
intendent, every piano manufacturer, every sup-
ply man and every tuner to keep these facts in
mind, to insist upon carrying out the provisions
(if the pitch committee's report, and, above all,
to see that the forks they use are correct in the
first place and periodically re-rated. Only by
dint of just so much care and labor as this shall
we be able to maintain our standard. We sim-
ply cannot afford to have another upset in a
few years; and it is the clear interest as well as
the clear duty of every man to see that nothing
done by him shall contribute to the coming of
such an obvious disaster.
Correspondence
is solicited and may be sent to William Braid
White, 5149 Agatite avenue, Chicago.
Wool Auctions at an End
The first series of the Colonial wool auctions
in London have been closed, with the best tone
of the series prevailing at the close. With-
drawals amounted to about 41,000 bales out of
a total offering of just under 190,000 bales.
America bought about 8,000 bales, while Eng-
land took something over 70,000 bales and the
Continent something over 60,000 bales. Prices
had recovered nearly all ground lost since the
opening.
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