Presto

August 8, 1925.
PRESTO
12
ARCHITECTS IGNORE
PIANO REQUISITES
^msmmms.
Tone
Men Who Design and Build Homes and Apart-
ments Too Often Give No Consideration to
Indispensable Requirements for Proper
Placing of Instrument.
^ ^ ^
TUNER UNJUSTLY BLAMED
Usually Victim of Errors of Architect in Whose Con-
struction Idea Is No Thought of Tuneless
Piano Causes.
"SHardman
By THOMAS M. WISE.
The science and art of architecture in America is
admittedly of a higher degree than elsewhere in the
world, but there is one particular in the designing of
homes and apartments where the American architects
are woefully at fault. That is in providing a suitable
and easily accessible location in buildings for pianos.
The shortcomings of the structures and the failure of
the designers to consider the "health" of the piano
were well presented to the tuners' convention in De-
troit this week by Thomas M. Wise, Detroit, a mem-
ber of the National Association of Piano Tuners:
They are daily discovering and incorporating new
ideas in the building of homes and public buildings
which add to the comfort and welfare of the people.
However, it must be remembered that the buildings
they design must not only be conducive to the health
and comfort of the folks who live in them, but must
also be designed to provide as favorable a housing
for the thousand and one household necessities and
equipments found in the modern home.
Many of these equipments are in themselves the
result of a life work and it is impossible for the archi-
tect to know much about their delicate construction,
unless informed by those who have made them a
study and a profession, just as the architect has in
the designing of buildings.
Since the piano happens to be the one article in the
equipment of the home in which we, as a body of
professional tuners and technicians, are most inter-
ested we propose to make available some of the
knowledge we have acquired by practical experience,
and to show how the environment of the piano is
related to its proper care and maintenance.
Tuners' Suggestions Valuable.
We shall claim and defend the right to be the
one body of men best qualified to offer suggestions,
having been schooled by practical experience under
all conditions of environment. Not even the piano
makers themselves have the opportunity to see the
real test in the life of the piano as the tuners see and
know it. It would be well if they could. Perhaps
then the piano would be fortified and made immune
from many of the ills to which it is subject.
We covet the day when full co-operation shall exist
among the manufacturer, the tuner and the architect.
How can we educate the piano owner on the proper
care of his piano when conditions are such that no
amount of care will make it satisfactory? Surely,
there is a limit to educating the piano owner; and
we must turn our attention also to the source of a
great deal of our trouble—the location and environ-
ment of the piano itself and the architect who de-
signed its environment.
For Architects' Consideration.
There are many things in the music room for the
architects to consider and incorporate in his plans.
Briefly, they may be classed under four heads,
namely, temperature, humidity, ventilation and acous-
tics. Each of these bears a very important part in
the service a piano is expected to give, regardless of
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These four vital features of the music room, so im-
portant to the welfare of the piano, have heretofore
been left to the fancy of the architect, who knows
very little of the delicate nature of the piano. He
gives more thought to the breakfast room, the built-
in ironing board and bed, and to a convenient place
for the refrigerator and the stove than he does to a
suitable place for the piano. Very often the piano
cannot be passed through the small vestibule or up
the stairway but must be hoisted and taken up on the
outside and passed through a window, all because
the architect did not consider the piano in his plans.
Why should the tuner be blamed and have to suffer
because the architect failed to consider the impor-
tance of incorporating favorable conditions in the
plans? It is not our purpose to criticize or censure
the architect, but to bring about co-operation in the
promotion of better homes by offering our knowledge
gained by practical experience, and thereby help to
create the ideal environment for the piano.
Piano's Location.
First, the piano must be well located, not too close
to outside doors and windows, nor where it will be
subjected to direct draft or currents of untempered
atmosphere, especially in low altitudes near rivers,
lakes or where the atmosphere is saturated with mois-
ture. In high altitudes, where the atmosphere is dry,
the injurious effect is not so great.
Exposure to dampness causes the highly seasoned
wood used in the construction of pianos to swell,
which forces the bridges upward, increases the ten-
sion of the strings, raises the pitch and thereby places
an unnecessary strain upon the instrument beyond
that intended by its maker.
Exposure to the concentrated rays of the sun
through windows is detrimental to the fine finish of
the case of a piano. If the finish is to be preserved
it must be protected against sudden changes of ex-
treme heat and cold.
The piano must not be placed too near to the heat
supply; in fact, it should be as far from it as possible
to maintain a comfortable degree of temperature.
Extreme heat is as injurious, if not more so, than
extreme cold.
Humidity in Room.
The life of a piano subjected to dampness in sum-
mer and extreme heat in winter is of short dura-
tion and full of trouble. In summer its pitch goeth
up and in winter it goeth down, expressed in biblical
form.
As even a temperature as possible should be main-
tained in the music room at all times and sudden
changes should be avoided.
The heating system is a very important factor in
the care and maintenance of the piano. It is impos-
sible to keep a piano in tune for any length of time
with some of the heating systems now in use. Some
systems supply extreme heat at the top of the room,
while the floor remains cold.
The pipeless furnace system, for instance, is noted
for this condition. It heats the top of the room
quickly and allows it to cool quickly. This is disas-
trous to the staying-in-tune qualities of any piano.
Upright pianos suffer more under such conditions, as
because of their vertical construction they are more
exposed to the ever changing temperature than grand
pianos, which lie horizontally between the two ex-
tremes of temperature.
Lack of Ventilation.
The lack of proper ventilation, combined with ex-
treme heat, reduces the humidity of the atmosphere,
and causes every part of the instrument to rattle or
vibrate. The tension and stress on the bridges are
soon lost as the sound board flattens, and harmonics
and after-tones develop, greatly to the annoyance of
the pianist and service men.
To prevent or cure a condition of this kind it has
been customary to increase the humidity of the at-
mosphere by the vaporizing of water or the placing
of an open vessel of water in the bottom of the piano.
Pianos
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