Music Trade Review

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THE
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
11
tion of struck strings. Through what agent those
strings are struck is a matter of little importance.
What are the results of the striking is the only
Critical Analysis and Exposure of the Absurdities Alleged in the Objection to the Piano-Play-
ing Capacities of the Player—Arguments Which Salesmen Will Find Effective in Combat- thing that need be considered.
If we undertake to analyze the physical proc-
ing Assertions of Would-Be Musical People in Their Attitude Toward t h e Player.
esses that take place when the hammer of the
Part I.
Now it will be observed that this argument is
piano strikes the strings, or if, reversing this
The history of public opinion has been largely by no means trivial in looks. It has all the ele- order, we attempt to reason backwards and find
the history of fallacies enthusiastically adopted
ments of plausibility. Such a quality is alone
out just what it is, physically speaking, that pro-
and held. The most obstinate of men are those who sufficient, in most cases, to convince the unthink-
duces a certain tone-quality • when certain piano
hold obviously absurd views of things. In very
ing. And the unthinking are something like a
strings are agitated hammerwise, we shall find
truth, all history tells us the same story of delu-
three-quarters' majority. Nevertheless, the judi-
out a great many things that the pianist generally
sion, of fallacy and of the subversion of the human
cious mind will at once perceive the enormity of
either blissfully ignores or else has never con-
intellect to wrong ideas, opinions, beliefs. Nor
the fallacy which lies at the bottom of this im-
sidered. One of the first things we find is that,
are matters so much better to-day. We have our pressive argument.
physically speaking, ninety per cent, of all the
religious, metaphysical and scientific delusions as
Misconception of the Term Piano Playing.
teachings that have regard to finger manipula-
much in the twentieth as had our ancestors in
The thing is so simple that it is scarcely neces-
tion of the keyboard really lead nowhere. This
the fifteenth century. The differences are largely
sary to point it out. For the convenience, how- does not mean that current finger technic is
of degree and little of kind.
ever, of those who may not have perceived the wrong. On the' contrary, that technic was never
glaring delusion, let us make it plain. The great
Artistic delusions, or delusions in the field of
better, in fact, never so good. But it does mean
fallacy lies in the wrong use of the word "ma-
the fine arts, have ever been prolific sources of
that finger technic is only a means to an end.
obscurantism and error. Painting, sculpture, chine," or rather in the wrong significance to that
Finger technic is the means whereby we attain,
word; and likewise in the entire misconception of through the fingers, the physical end required.
music, poetry and the drama alike have suffered
from the persistence among their votaries of one the real meaning of the term "piano playing."
But any other process that will reproduce the
or another opinion that has since been shown to In order to silence any possible objection, let us physical actions taking place between the hammer
be a wild absurdity. There have always been ' examine the propositions advanced, in a some-
and the string will have precisely the same result.
what critical manner.
two camps in the fine arts. Everybody is either
The keyboard may be entirely ignored. The
a conservative or a liberal. The liberals, in the
As soon as one considers the matter critically hammer-operating mechanism alone need be con-
end, always win; and then they become the con- it is easy to see that the production of piano sidered.
servatives in their turn. And so the eternal cycle music is not necessarily the same thing as the
How an Analysis Illuminates.
revolves.
playing of the piano in one special way. The The point becomes obvious as soon as we un-
Music has ever been a conservative, tradition-
keyboard is at best a singularly inefficient engine
dertake the analysis spoken of above. Sweep
clinging sort of art, and its professors famous for
for the human fingers, and these latter are almost
away all the nonsense that is talked about this,
holding, opinions which time and history have
equally ill-fitted for the purpose of making the that or the other method of fingering, and get
finally pronounced to be absurd. Did not even most of whatever possibilities the piano possesses. down to an examination of the piano action itself.
great Father Bach think that the newly invented
The plain fact is that the piano always has had a You find that the piano is an instrument of per-
piano would never have any musical importance?
great deal more in the way of capacity than the cussion. Its hammers strike blows. They are
Did not a learned professor of the Paris Con- human hands could translate into practice. But—
propelled towards the strings. Before they actu-
servatory say that Cesar Franck's wonderful sym-
and here is the germ of the whole delusion—
ally come in contact with the latter they are re-
phony was no symphony at all—because it has a until the appearance of the player-piano the hands
leased from the control of the piano action en-
part for English horn, and "no one had ever had to act as the only possible means for piano
tirely, their own momentum carrying them the
heard of writing for English horn in a sym- playing. There grew up, after the development
rest of the distance. The strings are set in vibra-
phony before"? Shades of Tschaikowsky and of the piano, a means for playing it by hand.
tion by this percussive action. The blow is in-
Mahler!
This method was itself developed from the tech-
stantaneous and followed by an immediate retrac-
Refuting an Absurd Delusion.
nic of the earlier keyboard instruments from
tion of the hammer. This being the case, the
possible variations in the hammer stroke become
Ope might go on almost forever in the same which the piano itself arose. And gradually, in
variations of intensity and of nothing else. And
way, bringing forward instance after instance. the minds of nearly all musicians, there came
about a sort of transformation of ideas whereby
that means, in plain language of physics, velocity.
But the object of the'present article is more
specific. It is to expose and refute one of the the matter of piano playing and the matter of the The blow is delivered in a greater or less time
technic which they were obliged to conquer in
from the moment when the piano action begins to
greatest, most generally hald and most thoroughly
function. Every sort of performance of the ham-
absurd of all the fallacies that have ever disfig- order to do that playing became entirely con-
fused. From thinking only of playing the musi-
mer is a question of more or less relative velocity.
ured the collective intelligence of the musical
cians came to think about the means thereof;
The hammer travels through the air at so many
world. This delusion may be termed "the great
feet per minute or at so much more or less than
machine fallacy." Briefly described, it is an opin- simply because they had to master the means first.
this speed.
ion, based upon an argument which appears to Hence, the means and the end became mixed,
and musicians got into the habit, not of thinking
be very plausible and has been held conclusive by
To bring this matter down to plain, brutally
thousands, but which nevertheless actually rests this or that thing about the playing of the piano,
simple truth, that is all there is to the hammer
abstractly considered, but about that playing con-
upon a tissue of nonsensical absurdity. That
functions. And when this is combined with the
sidered as a matter of this or that finger manipula-
argument may thus be put:
relative duration of time occupied before the
tion.
1. The secret of artistic piano playing lies in
string is silenced by the fall of the damper, we
the right combination of tone, phrasing and color.
Precisely for this reason, we have the basis of have the complete physical explanation of every
the argument above set forth. The musicians
2. Immense labor, long years of drudgery and
sort of string vibration as produced by the ham-
infinite patience combined with great talent are tell us that the player-piano cannot produce good
mer. The permutations and combinations of these
required in one who would master the art of touch, tone and color, because it does not have
elements may be—and are—almost innumerable.
human fingers. In actual fact, the human fingers But of the facts there is no more to be said.
piano playing.
do nothing to assist the production of these ele-
3. Hence none but such a person as is described
Quite a Different Aspect of Affairs.
ments, but rather retard their development and
in (2) can conquer the secret of artistic piano
Now it will at once be seen that this new view
production until thq§r have been trained in a man-
playing.
introduces a quite different aspect of affairs. The
4. The piano-playing mechanism is a "ma- ner which is highly artificial and specialized. In
human finger is at once dispossessed from its
short, the fingers become fitted for piano playing
chine."
throne, and is revealed as merely one among
many possible rulers of the piano action and ham-
ft. Hence, by (3), the piano-playing mechanism only when they cease to be normal fingers.
cannot be made to produce tone, phrasing or color Piano Playing Not Necessarily Finger Playing. mer. The question is not as to whether we can
This very fact—which cannot be denied—tends
imitate the pressure of the human finger, but
comparable with that which is the result of human
to give us an insight into the great fallacy. Piano
rather as to whether we can reproduce the re-
finger pressure on a keyboard.
quired velocity and duration complex. And this
6. The argument herein adduced applies even to playing is not necessarily finger-playing. There
we can do with the player mechanism or with
such piano-playing mechanisms and music rolls as i.5 not the slightest physical or musical reason why
the playing of the piano through a keyboard with
the human finger or with both.
actually reproduce the playing of an artist.
Be it noted, too, that any player mechanism
7. Hence, finally, the player-piano is no good, the fingers should be confused with the produc-
tion of music by means of the piano. The piano may be included in this assumption. The matter
artistically speaking, and all the claims made for
is an instrument which sounds through the vibra-
(Continued on page 12.)
it are fallacious.
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