Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
It may as well be said right at this point that
there is no salvation to be found in a determina-
tion to ignore the physical facts of musical in
tonation. The man who has learned, through
mere rule-of-thumb practice and years of plod-
Conducted and Edited by Wm. U. White.
ding, to do work that is just "not bad," and very
an extraordinary position the tuner holds in the little else, is not the sort of a man who is ever
ON VACATIONS.
average retail piano house.
going to be able to do really artistic tuning.
This is the season of vacations, and one that
Particularly, however, to the independent man For he knows nothing of causes, and has but a
should be observed by every busy man. The call is the present preachment directed. It is not my very limited view of effects. Naturally, he can-
of nature is especially insistent just now, and I intention to suggest that the average Indepen- not be considered as a master of his art, for
suppose that every one feels about this time that dent tuner is unaware of the beauties of a holi- mastery of an art implies a thorough knowl-
disinclination to work and that passion for loaf- day, or that he would not take one when he edge of the science which underlies that art; at
ing and inviting one's soul that is always so could; but simply to say that there are many least to the extent to which the science directly
marked a feature of life during the hot summer country tuners covering long routes who cannot applies.
weather.
apparently see the necessity for dropping every-
On the other hand, of course, it is as well to
But 1 am also sure that a great many men in thing and getting next to a long lazy loaf for a understand that the various physical phenomena
our profession are not in the habit of taking few weeks. Do you know, O busy and hustling that become apparent to the observer of mu-
regular vacations. In some of the large cities brother, that the human machine is not so very sical science are capable of interpretations which
it is not the custom of piano houses to allow paid different from other machines at all? Do you may severally bear more than one practical re-
holidays to the tuners, although the salesmen realize that the brain needs a stop once in awhile sult. There is no question that, while the acous-
and office force, down to the office boy himself, for a general overhauling and repair? And, tical facts of musical intonation are constant,
are permitted one or two weeks of rest at the then, do you not know that this repair and over- the results which may be gained by observation
expense of the house. Just why this discrimina- hauling is best accomplished by treating the of them are subject to considerable variation,
tion should be made is something of a mystery, mind to a complete'holiday from the sights and this depending upon the accuracy of the observer
for it cannot be supposed that the tuners do not scenes that have become wearisome to it and as well as upon his ability to reason from cause
work hard enough during the rest of the year to from the worries and flurries of daily business? to effect. In other words, there is no one uniform,
entitle themselves to a vacation. On the other Take my word for it, no one ever suffered in certain and necessary body of inferences which
hand, it may be the idea that the tuner is so pocket or temper from a holiday, and no one alone can be drawn from observation of the phe-
differently constituted from all other men that ever failed so to suffer who relentlessly drove nomena of musical acoustics. The investiga-
he does not need a rest; an idea which is not so the mental and physical machine until it per- tor continually finds that he obtains results
ridiculous as it seems, when one considers what force broke down from overwork. And so, my quite different from his colleague who has had
brother, take the advice of ore who knows and equal opportunities for deduction from similar
who has tried both prescriptions. Get out in the facts.
woods, in a camp, or somewhere away from
What does this show, if not that there is
pianos, music and business. Do not go to a grave need for some standardization of that
noisy hotel, where a man's business follows him body of knowledge which we may term the sci-
from morning to night, and where the mail, ence of pianoforte tuning? Is it not high time
telegraph and telephone continually invite one that our tuners should be able as well as willing
to make one's holiday into a sham and a farce. to employ generally a system of work which
Get out away from the wiles of civilization. may be depended upon to bring about substan-
Forget that there was ever such a thing as a tially constant results? Is it not the case that
is manufactured
tuning hammer, a piano, or a player. Get near the trouble with tuners in general, and the root
by the
some water, if possible; fish, row, swim—and of their inability so often to obtain truly satis-
just loaf. Do all this for two or three weeks, fying results, lies wholly in the fact that they
and you will be surprised at the remarkable re- are not in possession of the knowledge that the
, suits which will follow. Your health will be science of pianoforte tuning is an exact science,
much better, you will have that snap and spring and that the effects springing from a perfect
CHICAGO
in you that was so sadly lacking before you familiarity therewith may be always and at all
knocked off work, and you will re-enter the times as constant as they ought to be? Is it not
conflict with ardor and keen joy. That is what true, then, that we are gravely in need of some
you aimed at when you took your vacation, and system of standardization which may help us
if you attain to such a mental and physical con- better to collate our practical methods, and more
dition, as you easily can, your winter's business easily to apply the facts revealed to us in the
this year will be the best you ever had.
course of our daily «work? Pianoforte tuning,
as science and art, then, needs more than any-
Some Thoughts on Tuning as Science and Art. thing else a new analysis and a new synthesis.
What a remarkable thing it is, that 'although
And if such work as this is going to be done,
the practical results which are produced by good why should it not be brought forward in the
tuners all over the world are always essentially columns of this department? I confess that 1
similar, the premises whereon they base the am quite unable to see where such a work can
practice which leads to these results are often es- have a bett'er hearing.
sentially different, particularly as to the method
T h e above device on the fall-
I wish, then, to announce that beginning with
statement. It is a fact that all good tuning next week the science and art of pianoforte
board is the evidence of genuine- _ of
is substantially identical in form. It is also a tuning will again be taken up in a series of
ness and the guarantee of quality.
fact that hardly any two tuners can be found to articles of considerable comprehensiveness.
agree, either as to the scientific foundation of Every phase of the subject will be treated in a
T h e H* P . Nelson line is prov-
their art or the actual specific practice thereof. minute and careful manner that was impossible
ing itself a big factor in the business
We read continually letter after letter in the col- in the book, "Theory and Practice of Pianoforte
of some of the most progressive
umns of this and other papers, wherein the most Building." The general intention is to provide
diverse positions are desperately assaulted and a series which shall be equally valuable to the
dealers in the country.
tenaciously clung to. One man tells us that his practical tuner and the beginner; which shall
There is still some desirable
ear is the sole guide to his work; that he de- lay down the known and ascertained facts of
pends upon aural estimation of the agreeability musical acoustics, as far as these apply to the
territory open to first class dealers.
of intervals and chords, and that he has no use subject; which shall make a comprehensive at-
Write for new illustrated catalog.
or time for scientific disquisitions as to the tempt so to classify and collate these facts as to
acoustical phenomena that pertain to the ex- present a working theory of the science which
pression of musical tempered sounds. Another will be of immediate and practical value to the
with equal fervor announces the results of his student as well as to the seasoned tuner; and
observations of the physical foundations of equal finally to add such practical hints concerning
temperament, and proceeds to confound us with the practical and routine work of tuning as have
a display of learning more impressive than prac- been suggested in the course of a long experience.
tical. As a matter of fact both extrem-
ists are almost, if not quite, equally at fault.
Makers of H. P. Nelson Pianos
DEPARTMENT OF
Neither the presumptuous ignorance of the so-
called
"practical
man,"
nor
the
blatant
arrogance
Marianna and Herndon Sts. Factory Phone, North, 1069
of the soi-disant scientist, will avail to help the
University School of Music
man who wishes to obtain a rational, accurate
ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN
and useful statement of the true inwardness of
O P E N S S E P T E M B E R 23, 1907
the art of pianoforte tuning.
THE GENUINE
NELSON PIANO
H. P. NELSON Company
R R Nelson Co.
Piano and Organ Tuning
CHICAGO