Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW.
sion, smiled radiantly on the audience, said
something to the members of the band,
raised his baton, and the strains of the once
familiar "After the Ball" burst on the
waiting audience. The enthusiasts beat a
hasty retreat.
.••.:..•
E had a pleasant call this week from
Charles H. MacDonald, vice president
and Western manager of the Pease Piano
Co., Chicago, who was accompanied by his
talented young son, Charles Wilbur Mac*
Donald—two gentlemen of whom Chicago
has a right to feel proud. The junior Mac-
Donald has been extending his acquaintance
among our celebrated musicians during his
stay in the metropolis. In a lengthy inter-
view with Mr. Mason, a few days ago, that
gentleman became quite enthusiastic about
Mr. MacDonald's technique and musical
ability, and predicted for him a brilliant
future. Charles Wilbur MacDonald possess*
es that charm of manner so peculiar to his
father, who has a "legion of friends in the
East, as well as in in the West.
W
In the course of a chat with Byron Mauzy,
of San Francisco, who is visiting the city
this week, he spoke hopefully of the im-
proved outlook for the piano business on the
Pacific Slope during 1896.
"We have left the 'bad times'behind us,"
said Mr. Mauzy, "and Californians are
working like Trojans to add to the wealth
and prosperity of their State. We are doing
a splendid trade with the Sohmer instru-
ment—in fact, the Sohmer is a favorite out
our way. The new styles particularly are
great favorites, and we hope to sell more
this year than ever before."
Mr. Mauzy will journey home by way of
the South, taking in New Orleans and Los
Angeles.
* *
It happened at an uptown music hall.
The Hungarian string band had rendered
a half dozen high-class selections. In the
rear of the hall were seated two enthusiasts^
The elder of the two called a waiter and
instructed him to serve drinks at his ex-
pense to every member of the orchestra.
"And ask the leader to play this," he
added, as he slipped a piece of paper in his
hand. The paper bore the words: "Love's
Dream After the Ball." The waiter fol-
lowed out his instructions, but the leader
couldn't read English. The paper was re-
turned to the enthusiast, and he, thinking
the Hungarian would probably understand
French, translated it into "La Reve
d'Amour Apres le Bal." To make matters
more certain he added the name of the
composer, Czibulka. The orchestra leader
seemed utterly at sea when the paper was
again handed to him.
He called two
waiters in consultation, and after a discus-
— , : • • : • : .
• . % ' . . ; . . . : . • , V ' \ \ v
tempered one is not so plain to the average
ear as it is in the thirds; so we will use
thirds for our illustration.
Start from the C one octave below middle
C and the E above it, and strike, slowly,
each major third as you ascend the chro-
matic scale. If your piano has been pro-
perly tempered, the waver will appear in
the first third about six times per second,
and in each succeeding third a little faster,
until the octave (C and E) is reached; this
should vibrate twice as fast as the first.
This waver is, in reality, a series of silent
intervals, caused by the interference of one
tone with the other. According to the
sound-wave theory, the waves cross each
other and are thus momentarily destroyed.
Whereas, in a perfect scale, the waves of
consonant tones do not interfere and the
effect on the ear is soothing and without
any jar or tremolo.
Only those imperfections that are most
glaring and easily heard have been pointed
out, but they are enough, we thmk, to prove
your recently-tuned piano to be out of tune.
A writer in a London paper relates that
while traveling by rail recently he fell into
conversation with a fellow passenger who
had just returned home from South Africa.
In the course of a chat, the latter informed
his companion that he was the sole repre-
sentative of his trade in the country, and
found the monopoly a very profitable one.
He was a piano tuner, and spent his days in
traveling up and down the country tuning
the pianos with which the miners and the
settlers, when the day's work is done, be-
guile their leisure moments. It is not a
difficult matter to make money fast when
the charge for tuning is, as the writer's
friend in the train told him, five guineas.
The number of pianos, of course, is limited,
so that those who happen to be tuners will
be well advised to think twice before they
throw up their certain, though it may be
Haines Bros, will have further surprises
small, income here for the possibly large
for the trade in the spring. In fact, judg-
income that may be obtained in the latest
ing from what I have seen recently in case
El Dorado.
development in the Haines factory, I am
* *
convinced that 1896 will be a record-break-
"How did your business for 1895 com- ing year for them. William P. Haines is
pare with that of 1894?" asked THE REVIEW giving incontrovertible evidence of the fact
that he not only has a good executive head
man of F. G. Smith, Sr., a few days ago.
"It exceeded my greatest expectations," for business, but is an originator of radical
replied Mr. Smith, "and was much better departures in piano case architecture as well.
than '94 in the combined orders for Brad-
bury, Webster, Henning and Rogers pianos.
A musician who was at the Opera House
"My piano-case factory was run to its
fullest extent, and at the close of '95 we the other night at the performance of "Die
had a large number of orders on hand, not Walklire," made a remarkable discovery
only for our own use, but for other manu- during the sirging of "Wotan's Farewell."
"Don't think me sacrilegious," he said.
facturers as well.
"In fact, our business in this line has been "But do you know that masterpiece of
so extensive that I have purchased fourteen Wagner's is responsible for one of the
acres of land adjoining my case factory, in most popular songs that has been written
Leominster, Mass., to build an extensive re- in years? Every bar of this song is to be
Listen, and
servoir, which, when finished, will thribble found in Wagner's score.
you'll
hear
it
for
yourself."
my water power, and enable me to turn
Two minutes later the other man croke
out from 150 to 200 cases per week.
out:
"I find I am greatly behind in my orders
"By Jove, you're right. Wagner is a
from Northwestern houses for pianos. Be-
sides doing well with my own makes of plagiarist, after all. He's sto'en that motif
pianos in the West, I have done a good from 'Little Annie Rooney.'"
* *
'<.
business with the Steinway in Kansas, for
which State I have the agency. If the
The Musician is the title of a new musical
year 1896 ends as well as 1895 I shall be monthly which has just reached this office.
abundantly satisfied."
It is published by the Hatch Music Co.,
Did you ever desire to know the differ-
ence between a true scale and a tempered
one? asks Euwin C. Hall in the Musician.
Well, it is easy to learn, and in order to
know what is true it is necessary to know
what is tempered as well, and how it is tem-
pered. All major thirds on a piano, or any
instrument using a similar key-board, are
tuned too sharp, so much so as to produce a
very perceptible waver or jarring—a sort of
tremolo effect. The fourths are also tuned
sharp, and the fifths are flattened, but the
difference between a perfect fifth and a
Philadelphia, and ably edited by A. L. Man-
chester. It contains much of interest to
singers and musicians in general.,
* *
*
THE A. M. McPhail Piano Co,, Boston,
have made a new departure in piano adver-
tising by getting out a poster that is quaint
and artistic—somewhat after the Beardsley
style—in which the merits of the McPhail
piano are proclaimed to the world by five
antique types of the feminine gender. The
McPhail poster should be prized by collec-
tors who are making a fad of this style of
advertising.