Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
12
OuTTECHNlCAL DEPARTMENT
CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM BRAID WHITE.
THE FUTURE OF THE PIANO.
I suppose that every practical piano man who
happens to possess the faculty of discriminating
between one and another quality of tone, and who
besides is interested in the general tonal aspects
of the piano, must have asked himself why it is
that no real improvement has yet been made in the
fundamental sound apparatus of this instrument.
For quite 200 years the principle of percussion has
been understood and applied to stretched strings
through special key-board mechanism, and yet in
all that time there has been scarcely a promise of
refining out of existence the defects which the per-
cussion system necessarily involves. These defects,
of course, lie in the unmalleability of the tone, its
incapacity for swelling or diminution and its short-
ness of duration.
Now, before we undertake to look at a question
like this, we should remember that the piano is, as
I remarked above, an instrument of percussion.
Its strings are struck. Struck strings vibrate in
constantly diminishing amplitude from the moment
of the stroke, and in consequence their sound
quickly dies away. Hence the necessity for elabo-
rate machinery of sound-board and high-tension
wire, whereby the evanescence of the tone may be
at least in part checked. Still, it is to be kept in
mind that a struck string" cannot and will not sus-
tain its tone adequately, and that all the elaborate
intensification of construction that we can devise
will never overcome fundamental difficulties aris-
ing from the percussive origin of the tone.
Sound-board and string improvements sometimes
give us a partial remedy through encouraging
stronger sympathetic vibrations and greater ca-
pacity of each string to continue in audible vibra-
tion after being struck. But it can never be forgot-
ten that so long as the piano remains a purely per-
cussive instrument it can never do what a piano
ought to do, namely, serve as a musically adequate
performer of all musical literature.
When the piano action was first devised the in-
ventor (we need scarcely bother about the claims
of Marius, Schroeter, or any other would-be rivals
of Cristofori) had in mind two ideas, so far as
we can judge by critical examination of all data
relating to the facts. He seems to have desired
(!) to produce a new form of action for the harp-
sichord in which the excitation of the strings
should be more powerful and involve less frequent
replacement of the contact points, and (2) to be
able to graduate the dynamic strength of the tone
by graduating the force of the finger pressure on
the digital. In Cristofori's day the harpsichord
and its kindred were the only keyed stringed in-
struments ; and they each suffered from one or
other of the defects which Cristofori desired to
remedy. The clavichord was dynamically express-
ive but extremely feeble in tone power. The
harpsichord was tonally stronger but incapable of
graduation in dynamics. Cristofori therefore could
have had no conception of the possibilities of string
vibration as we know them, or of how to take ad-
vantage of the peculiar color which the vibrating
string is now known to possess. His requirements
were purely dynamic. He wanted power and
gradation of power. The piano action is a devel-
opment of his idea, uncontaminated with any other.
The fact that the piano remained almost un-
known for half a century after Cristofori's death,
and that for a still further fifty years it was vir-
tually only available to the rich, accounts sufficient-
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ly for its having remained till now in popular es-
teem without its peculiar defects becoming intol-
erable. The truth is that the piano has been a
popular possession for only about sixty, and has
been nationally distributed for only about thirty-
five, years. Thus it is that not till recently have
we come seriously to see—largely by the light
which the invention of the player action has thrown
on the subject—that the piano is an instrument of
very definite and very narrow limitations, that its
very principle of being is the cause of its main
deficiency, and that it must sooner or later be
vastly improved if indeed it is to survive perma-
nently. I am not so foolish as to suppose that our
recently awakened consciousness of the piano's
loosening hold on the affections of the public is
due to any recognition by them of the facts set
forth above. That would be ridiculous, but it
would not be ridiculous to remark that the coming
of the player-piano has thrown into sharp relief
each and every tonal defect in the percussive
stringed apparatus. To what extent this revelation
has produced a feeling of indifference towards the
piano is not for me to say; the reader may draw
his own conclusions.
Some change must come before long, and it is
for us to consider what the nature of that change
should be. It is plain that we cannot afford to
sacrifice one iota of the string qualities which we
have come to associate with the piano. The little
"bite" in the tone, the immediate dynamic response
to varied pressure on the digital, the sympathetic
harmonious vibration of the sound-board and other
strings in response to the damper pedal; these and
other characteristics of the piano we must retain
because they are irreplaceable as well as musically
worthy. But while retaining these qualities we
must recognize the need of doing something fur-
ther ; something that perhaps cannot be done for
a long time yet, but which is altogether necessary.
We must think of some way for giving the piano
the power to swell and diminish its tones under
the control of the finger, and we must find some
way of sustaining the tones. We must do this
without sacrificing anything of the piano's per-
cussive advantages, without substituting any other
control for that of key action and hammer
The Choralcelo and the Lyrachord have shown
us that it is possible to sustain string tone by using
the string as the armature of an electro-magnet.
But even when the piano's ordinary percussive ac-
tion is used simultaneously with the electro-mag-
nets the electrically produced tones do not blend
well with the others. The tone of a piano string
excited by an electro-magnet, which vibrates it as
a whole, loses its partial tone complexity, and pro-
duces a tone very much similar to that of an open
diapason organ pipe. The tone, in short, tends to
become an imitation of something else. It is beau-
tiful, but it is not what we are thinking of in the
present discussion.
There are, I think, two ways in which we may
look at this idea without falling into the pits which
are digged for the unwary inquirer. One of these
relates to the present system of the piano action.
As it stands, the piano touch mechanism is as near
perfection as machinery can be. It fulfills almost
quite perfectly its functions. The principle which
governs it is the accepted principle of the piano,
the principle that the string must be struck a rela-
tively violent blow after a method which deprives
the finger of any hammer control for a definite
time before and after the moment of contact with
the string. Unless I am much in error, this fact
provides us with a possible outlook towards some-
thing better. Some of my readers may remember
the Steinertone, a form of piano action devised by
the late Morris Steinert, of New Haven, Conn,
who left his priceless collection of musical instru-
ments to Yale University. The intention of this
action was to give the finger a more extended con-
trol over the movement of the piano hammer
through the medium of an action in which an ar-
ticulated lever was introduced between the repeti-
tion lever and the hammer butt. Mr. Steinert's
experiment was not commercially profitable and in
time was abandoned; but it served to demonstrate
to the satisfaction of many musicians that a change
in the system of hammer control is not alone pos-
sible but possesses distinct advantages. The Stein-
ertone touch was wonderfully elastic and respons-
ive. It permitted the infliction upon the string of
a variety of blows much more nicely graduated
with respect to velocity than is ordinarily possible.
It permitted the infliction of a much slower stroke
on the string. It kept the hammer within one-
sixteenth inch of the string as long as the key
was depressed and permitted instant repetition
with a very slight key rise, equivalent to the old
"bebung" effect of the clavichord. But it had me-
chanical disadvantages, and it was impossible for
Mr. Steinert to promote it successfully, for reasons
not at all discreditable \o him. Nevertheless, I
am of the opinion that f.ie Steinert ideas could
and should be further analyzed by somebody who
might combine mechanical talent with pianistic
knowledge If these ideas are again worked out
and improved it will mean that one-half of the in-
dictment against the piano will fall flat. It will
mean elimination of the "throwing" idea in favor
of a manipulation of the hammer by the finger
directly; at least it will mean the beginning of an
art which will not reach perfection till this goal
has been attained. I have always felt that the final
step in piano perfection will not be in sight till
somebody has found a way of bringing the hammer
and the hand into more intimate connection. I
do not think that Mr. Steinert quite solved the
problem, but I am sure that he took a long step in
the right direction. The point to be remembered
is that as things stand at present the necessities of
repetition and escapement deprive the finger of its,
control over the hammer except in a very limited
sense. The aim is, therefore, not to provide an
action of the present type which shall perhaps re-
peat more quickly, but to produce an action which
shall push the hammer at the string rather than
hurl it, and which shall enable the performer to
reproduce, in principle at least, the old "bebung"
effect whereby the clavichordist could make a sus-
tained tone by the mere vibration of his finger
on the key. I believe that this can be done.
There is another direction in which I think the
character of the piano may in time be revolution-
Tuners and Repairmen
Can make good money installing Jenkin-
lon'i Player-Action into used Pianos. Writ*
for catalogue.
JENKINSON PLAYER CO.
912 Elm Street, Cincinnati, Ohio.
FAUST SCHOOL OF TUNING
Polk's Piano Trade School
Piano, Player-Piano, Pipe and Reed Or fan Tnnfnrand Re-
pairing, alio R e l a t i n g , Voicing, Vamlihlnr andPollihlnf
Piano,
This formrrlv was the tiininp department of the New Kne-
land Conservatory of Music, and Oliver C. Faust was head
of that department for 20 years previous to its discontinu-
ance.
Courses in mathematical piano scale construction and
drafting of tame hive been added.
Pupils hare daily practise in Chickering ft Sam' factory.
Year Book »ent free tioon request.
27-39 QAIN5BOROUGH ST., BOSTON. MASS.
14th YEAR
Player-Piano and Organ Tuning,
Repairing and Regulating
Most thoroughly equipped Piano Trade School in
U. S. Private instruction. Factory experience if de-
sired. Students assisted. Diplomas awarded. School
entire year. Endorsed by leading piano manufacturers
and dealers. Free catalogue.
C C POLK
Bos 2»t Valparaiso, lmJL