Music Trade Review
Issue: 1916 Vol. 63 N. 27 - Page 9
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
9
An Opportunity and an Excuse to Get Away from Tradition in the Arrange-
ment of the Tracker-Box and Parts on Player-Pianos Offered by the
Development of the Word-Roll—Possibilities of a New Vertical Position
Because a thing is traditional it is not neces-
sarily good. Truly, in the world of historical
research, it is often found that "tradition has an
awkward way of turning out to be true"; but in
the world of mechanics what is traditional is
quite as often what is decidedly not true. We
are everlastingly doing things in a certain way
because some one else did them that way. The
repetitions grow in number till a vested interest
has arrived; and the would-be-pioneer is gravely
informed that to lay hands on the sacred idol is
an impiety that will surely be punished by the
great twin gods, Apathy and Self-Satisfaction.
The new song roll, for instance, is particu-
larly interesting because of what it suggests
rather than for any other reason. It does sug-
gest the idea of operating the music roll more
sanely. For instance, suppose that the tracker-
bar were turned up on edge vertically with the
take up spool to its left also vertical and the
music-roll chucks to its right. In short, im-
agine the present spool box taken off, given
half a turn to the right and then set down again.
Now, arrange the transmission gear accordingly
and you have an arrangement whereby the
tracker-bar stands vertical with its bass perfora-
tions towards the top and those of the
treble towards the bottom. If the roll passes
over this from right to left, the eye will natural-
ly take any words as they come along, and if
it is desired to read ahead, the reading will be
done naturally from left to right. Moreover
with such a scheme as this, why could not a
roll be made up with the staff of musical nota-
tion engraved or stencilled over the perfora-
tions so that each one could be read right off
exactly like music? There would be some slight
technical peculiarities, due to the impossibility
of writing in key-signatures, as the position
of a perforation is fixed, whether it is A flat or
G sharp. But this could be obviated by omitting
the key-signatures and treating the staff chro-
matically, as containing twelve semi-tones to
the octave. A six-line staff for treble and a
six-line staff for bass, with auxiliary lines to
join the two would take care of three octaves
nicely, and the remainder would be above and
below the staff.
There are in fact several old patents on this
general idea, ( most of which however are now
expired. The idea has never been put to prac-
tical use, but educationally it would be a wonder-
ful improvement over all methods of teaching-
music yet devised and might in time lead to
the supplementing of the present hash of mus-
ical notation by a simple equal temperament
system; thus putting the theory of music on
the same basis with its practice.
That the method hitherto adopted, of a trans-
verse horizontal tracker-bar crossed by a down-
wardly winding roll, is purely traditional, may
be seen at once in comparing the earliest illus-
trations of self-playing organs, with those of
the most modern player-pianos. In the early
reed-organ players, such as those of MacTam-
many, and in the later organs of the Aeolian
Co., Wilcox & White and Melville Clark, the
tracker-bar was settled in its horizontal position
above the keys, mainly because that was the
most convenient place to put it and the most
convenient position in that place. The question
of whether it were best for the musician was
never considered. Having once been found con-
venient, the horizontal position was continued,
and nothing more was thought of it.
About the Horizontal Tracker-Bar
Nevertheless, upon examination it will be
observed that to put the tracker-bar parallel
instead of perpendicular to the line of the key-
board is a very serious technical error. The
music-roll, whatever may have been said of it at
an earlier date, is now universally recognized as
a form of written musical notation. The hand-
played roll—not to mention the complete repro-
ducing sheet with entire automatic expression—
may be regarded as beyond this pale; but the
fact remains that the mass of music-rolls are still
the straight-cut and that the great libraries of
standard music already arranged and published
are entirely of this latter type; straight-cut rolls
which are in effect .written music.
Now, the horizontal tracker-bar has grave
technical disadvantages. In the first place it
upsets the customary method of reading music,
where the bass notes are below and the treble
notes above in regular succession. In the second
place it gains nothing important by doing this,
from the mechanical point of view. The point is
that if the roll were made to travel from right to
left vertically, and if a sheet of etched glass were
laid over or in front of it, the notation of the
musical stave, reduced to a chromatic basis with
two six-line divisions, could be used perfectly to
render the roll readable, and readable in the nat-
ural way. It would be much easier to note the
crossing of the perforations over the tracker-bar
and easier to put an indicating line on the glass
to show the division of the expression devices.
It would render the roll real music, it would
entirely do away with the objection made by
musicians to the roll, by rendering it possible to
use it in connection with regular sheet-music.
And one could read it without trouble.
The musical advantages of such a reform
being so obvious, it remains to be seen whether
there are any technical reasons really important
enough for discussion, which might be urged
against its adoption.
The only really important objection, it would
seem, would have to do with the gearing be-
twen spools and motor. It would be necessary,
if the motor were left in its present position, to
have an additional gear wheel between the motor
and the driving pinion of the spool.
This
would not in itself be very serious, surely.
Arranging for Automatic Tracking
There is of course the further objection that
the automatic tracking arrangement would be
unusable in its present condition because of the
weight of the music-roll, when resting on the
lower chucks. In this case, it would be neces-
sary, no doubt, to work the automatic tracking
device directly on the tracker-bar itself—which
is already done by some—or to abandon it
altogether in favor of a manual control of the
movement of the tracker-bar, which is fast
becoming a general practice.
(Continued on page 10)
tntub?
Wishes You
A Happy and Most Prosperous New Year
AND
Assures Dealers of a Confident Belief That
THE YEAR 1917 WILL EXCEL THE WON-
DERFUL STRAUBE RECORDS OF 1916
Your participation in the profits of the coming year is invited
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
9
An Opportunity and an Excuse to Get Away from Tradition in the Arrange-
ment of the Tracker-Box and Parts on Player-Pianos Offered by the
Development of the Word-Roll—Possibilities of a New Vertical Position
Because a thing is traditional it is not neces-
sarily good. Truly, in the world of historical
research, it is often found that "tradition has an
awkward way of turning out to be true"; but in
the world of mechanics what is traditional is
quite as often what is decidedly not true. We
are everlastingly doing things in a certain way
because some one else did them that way. The
repetitions grow in number till a vested interest
has arrived; and the would-be-pioneer is gravely
informed that to lay hands on the sacred idol is
an impiety that will surely be punished by the
great twin gods, Apathy and Self-Satisfaction.
The new song roll, for instance, is particu-
larly interesting because of what it suggests
rather than for any other reason. It does sug-
gest the idea of operating the music roll more
sanely. For instance, suppose that the tracker-
bar were turned up on edge vertically with the
take up spool to its left also vertical and the
music-roll chucks to its right. In short, im-
agine the present spool box taken off, given
half a turn to the right and then set down again.
Now, arrange the transmission gear accordingly
and you have an arrangement whereby the
tracker-bar stands vertical with its bass perfora-
tions towards the top and those of the
treble towards the bottom. If the roll passes
over this from right to left, the eye will natural-
ly take any words as they come along, and if
it is desired to read ahead, the reading will be
done naturally from left to right. Moreover
with such a scheme as this, why could not a
roll be made up with the staff of musical nota-
tion engraved or stencilled over the perfora-
tions so that each one could be read right off
exactly like music? There would be some slight
technical peculiarities, due to the impossibility
of writing in key-signatures, as the position
of a perforation is fixed, whether it is A flat or
G sharp. But this could be obviated by omitting
the key-signatures and treating the staff chro-
matically, as containing twelve semi-tones to
the octave. A six-line staff for treble and a
six-line staff for bass, with auxiliary lines to
join the two would take care of three octaves
nicely, and the remainder would be above and
below the staff.
There are in fact several old patents on this
general idea, ( most of which however are now
expired. The idea has never been put to prac-
tical use, but educationally it would be a wonder-
ful improvement over all methods of teaching-
music yet devised and might in time lead to
the supplementing of the present hash of mus-
ical notation by a simple equal temperament
system; thus putting the theory of music on
the same basis with its practice.
That the method hitherto adopted, of a trans-
verse horizontal tracker-bar crossed by a down-
wardly winding roll, is purely traditional, may
be seen at once in comparing the earliest illus-
trations of self-playing organs, with those of
the most modern player-pianos. In the early
reed-organ players, such as those of MacTam-
many, and in the later organs of the Aeolian
Co., Wilcox & White and Melville Clark, the
tracker-bar was settled in its horizontal position
above the keys, mainly because that was the
most convenient place to put it and the most
convenient position in that place. The question
of whether it were best for the musician was
never considered. Having once been found con-
venient, the horizontal position was continued,
and nothing more was thought of it.
About the Horizontal Tracker-Bar
Nevertheless, upon examination it will be
observed that to put the tracker-bar parallel
instead of perpendicular to the line of the key-
board is a very serious technical error. The
music-roll, whatever may have been said of it at
an earlier date, is now universally recognized as
a form of written musical notation. The hand-
played roll—not to mention the complete repro-
ducing sheet with entire automatic expression—
may be regarded as beyond this pale; but the
fact remains that the mass of music-rolls are still
the straight-cut and that the great libraries of
standard music already arranged and published
are entirely of this latter type; straight-cut rolls
which are in effect .written music.
Now, the horizontal tracker-bar has grave
technical disadvantages. In the first place it
upsets the customary method of reading music,
where the bass notes are below and the treble
notes above in regular succession. In the second
place it gains nothing important by doing this,
from the mechanical point of view. The point is
that if the roll were made to travel from right to
left vertically, and if a sheet of etched glass were
laid over or in front of it, the notation of the
musical stave, reduced to a chromatic basis with
two six-line divisions, could be used perfectly to
render the roll readable, and readable in the nat-
ural way. It would be much easier to note the
crossing of the perforations over the tracker-bar
and easier to put an indicating line on the glass
to show the division of the expression devices.
It would render the roll real music, it would
entirely do away with the objection made by
musicians to the roll, by rendering it possible to
use it in connection with regular sheet-music.
And one could read it without trouble.
The musical advantages of such a reform
being so obvious, it remains to be seen whether
there are any technical reasons really important
enough for discussion, which might be urged
against its adoption.
The only really important objection, it would
seem, would have to do with the gearing be-
twen spools and motor. It would be necessary,
if the motor were left in its present position, to
have an additional gear wheel between the motor
and the driving pinion of the spool.
This
would not in itself be very serious, surely.
Arranging for Automatic Tracking
There is of course the further objection that
the automatic tracking arrangement would be
unusable in its present condition because of the
weight of the music-roll, when resting on the
lower chucks. In this case, it would be neces-
sary, no doubt, to work the automatic tracking
device directly on the tracker-bar itself—which
is already done by some—or to abandon it
altogether in favor of a manual control of the
movement of the tracker-bar, which is fast
becoming a general practice.
(Continued on page 10)
tntub?
Wishes You
A Happy and Most Prosperous New Year
AND
Assures Dealers of a Confident Belief That
THE YEAR 1917 WILL EXCEL THE WON-
DERFUL STRAUBE RECORDS OF 1916
Your participation in the profits of the coming year is invited
Future scanning projects are planned by the International Arcade Museum Library (IAML).