Music Trade Review

Issue: 1952 Vol. 111 N. 6

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
PRACTICAL PIANO TUNING
By ALEXANDER HART
Formerly with Steinway & Sons Tuning Department, Instructor in
Piano Tuning, Teachers College, Columbia University, N. Y.
Registered Member of the
National Association of Piano Tuners
Notes of Interest on Tuning
ONALITY is the keynote for those
wishing to advance along the road
to become better tuners.
To understand this all-important
means of scale building, tonality is the
principle of organization which subor-
dinates the other degrees of the scale to
the tonic or keynote, and assigns to
each a functional importance.
An interesting phase relative to the
musical side of tuning is to know what
key stands for, and is thus explained.
A diatonic scale of which the notes
bear certain relations to one principle
note, from which they are all, in some
respects, derived, and upon which they
all depend, is termed a key; and the
principle note is called the keynote or
tonic.
T
MIDDLE
c
Important
Every scale in which the two diatonic
semi-tones are found between the third
and fourth degrees, and between the
seventh and eighth degrees, ascending
from the tonic, is termed the major
mode of that key; because the interval
between the tonic and its third (or
mediant) consists of two tones; that is
of the greater third.
The only series of this mode among
the natural notes is that which com-
mences with C; and hence, the key must
be taken as an example of all the major
scales. Before we leave our musical
terminal—C Major.
If we want to have a fine balanced
temperament each tonic must serve har-
moniously for any key, as we proceed
for example on C-, it must serve,
whether in the major or minor mode)
in the key of C major and C minor, B b
major and B b minor, also A b major and
A minor, G major and G minor, like-
wise F major and F minor and E b ma-
jor and E minor, also D b major and C#
minor. If you try to memorize these
primary beginnings, half the battle is
won.
Sometimes we act as if we were alone
in the world fighting a solitary battle
against an immovable foe; as a matter
of fact, there is no unseen foe. and the
24
CHORDS CAN BE CLOSELY MATCHED, THUS FORMING A GOOD BRIDGE BETWEEN
THE AUGMENTED CHORDS. THE TUNING CAN BE CHECKED CLOSELY AT EVERY
POINT AND THE CONSTANT ENHARMONIC CHECKS WILL NOT ALLOW THE ERRORS
OF JUDGMENT TO ACCUMULATE
only battle is with ourselves.
To avoid a lot of puzzlement in the
second procedure is to lower A b a ma-
jor third from middle C and listen for
the tremolos or beats. I prefer the use
of the word tremolo, one can imagine a
sparkle in the interval.
The test can be proved with the use
of various intervals apart, viz—let us
try out what we have just mentioned
about "C" serving in other keys; A b -C-
E b is a test, and a good one.
Remembering that we have a minor
third to the right of C, and a major
third to the left, another major third
A b -C- and testing C-E-G to the right of
our basic triad of C major we can ex-
tend the rest to C-E-G below middle C
because the inversions have already
(Turn to Page 25, Col. 3)
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW, JUNE, 1952
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
I OBITUARIES j
Henry D. Hewitt, Kimball Co.
Passes Away at 66
Henry D. Hewitt, for many years an
executive in the wholesale sales divi-
sion of W. W. Kimball Co. in Chicago,
passed away on
Wednesday, May
28th, in the Illi-
nois Masonic Hos-
pital after an ill-
ness of t h r e e
weeks.
Mr. Hewitt, who
was 66 years of
age, joined the W.
W. Kimball Co. in
February, 1932.
Previous to that
H. D. HEWITT
time he was sales
manger of the M. Schulz Co.
He has had a long successful career
in the piano business, and was an active
member of the National Piano Travel-
ers Association, being one of its past
presidents.
Mr. Hewitt is survived by a widow,
Mabel, two daughters, Mrs. Kennett
Cowan, Jr., Evanston, 111., and Mrs.
Sam Hicks, St. Petersburg, Fla., and
two sons, Robert and Franklin D.
Hewitt.
Memorial services were held at 1:30
p.m. on May 29th in Evanston, 111., and
interment was private.
E. P. VAN HARLINGEN
Word has been received of the death
of E. P. Van Harlingen, which occurred
about the middle of May in Los An-
geles, Calif. Mr. Van Harlingen, who
was 81 years of age at the time of his
death, was western representative for
THE REVIEW many years ago and will
be remembered by the older members
of the middle western music industry.
Since 1940, he had been living in Los
Angeles with his son, Irving. It was in
the early twenties that he retired as
western manager of THE REVIEW and
was later succeeded by the late Frank
W. Kirk. He is survived by a widow,
one son and one daughter.
WILLIAM V. SWORDS
William V. Swords, retired New
York broker, died on May 21st at his
summer home on Great Island, Mass.
He was 77 years of age.
Mr. Swords will be remembered as
having at one time been Vice-President
of the Aeolian Co., New York. He was
also a member of the firm Toby & Kirk,
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW, JUNE, 1952
stock brokers, and had been a resident
of West Yarmouth, Mass., for thirty
years, and had a winter home in Palm
Beach, Fla. He is survived by his wife,
Hazel.
Dampp-Chaser Units Now
Made for Drums and Tympani
The drum industry has been quick
to voice its approval of the first success-
ful drum heater of its kind . . . the
new model Dampp-Chaser for Drums
and Tympani . . . recently introduced
by Dampp-Chaser, Inc., of Henderson-
ville, N. C.
The new Dampp-Chasers have already
proven that they can keep drum heads
Midwest Piano Co. Moves
Into Chicago Loop Site
Midwest Piano Co., wholesale suppli-
ers of used pianos, has moved into new,
larger quarters at 171-173 West Lake
Street, Chicago 1, 111. The company,
long known to the piano trade, was
formerly located at 534 North Wells
Street in Chicago.
The new sales and display rooms will
occupy the entire second floor of the
building, conveniently located in the
Loop. This June 1st move, which brings
Midwest right into the heart of Chicago,
was made "to accommodate our con-
stantly increasing business and offer our
customers the added convenience of a
Loop location," said Alvin Rubin, own-
er of the firm.
DAMPP-CHASER FOR KETTLE DRUM, BASS DRUM AND TYMPANI.
tight regardless of dampness, humidity
and sudden weather changes. Even when
a drum is being used outdoors, the
Dampp-Chaser is effective in maintain-
ing constant temperature. In fact, ac-
cording to the manufacturer, these new
heating units will keep a tympani in
tune during an entire performance. Gen-
erally, the tympani must be tuned dur-
ing a performance.
As shown in the accompanying photo-
graphs, the Drum Model Dampp-Chas-
ers are heating units enclosed in a
polished aluminum tube shaped into a
12-inch circle. They operate on 117 volt
AC or DC current . . . and can heat a
drum for playing in about 15 mintues.
The Dampp-Chaser unit fastens rigid-
ly to inside of drum with a special
mounting bracket which requires only
one quarter-inch hole and a few eighth-
inch holes for the bolts. The unit comes
complete and ready for installation with
an electric cord set which may be de-
tached as needed. A permanent installa-
tion takes only a few minutes. The sat-
isfaction to performers is complete, for
with the Dampp-Chaser on, the artist
is sure that the temperature and humid-
ity will not vary. The drum head re-
mains stretched to a constant tension
and the drum tone gains in quality,
and the pitch is held. It is safe to leave
the Drum Dampp-Chaser on during an
entire performance.
HART
(Continued from Page 24)
been taken care of.
The octave above middle "C" can
come next—so you keep the three C's
intact—perfect, no beats.
The tonal distance between A h C-3,
an octave above middle C is an impor-
tant test, because the same brilliancy or
sparkle exists when they are sounded
together.
It is good practice to tune the octave
below A b and E b , then you can relate B
below E b with a test corresponding to
-C-E.
B, however, is associated with G a
major third in the key of G major, and
G is a fourth from C and serving in the
same key.
The test resolves into hearing differ-
ent qualities of sounds in the various
tonalities.
Third procedure—K-B-C, harmonize
G-B- and D#-E b two major thirds, com-
pare them with the proceeding triad
G# C-E-.
Tune octaves—then you have har-
monized the key of G major. G-B-D.
The D of course must be balanced to
fit another keynote and must harmonize
as a tempered fourth and fifth, other-
wise the D would not fit musically its
associates F# and A # .
Next article will explain this.

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