Music Trade Review
Issue: 1920 Vol. 70 N. 5 - Page 61
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE
JANUARY 31, 1920
HOW TO REPAIR THE VIOLIN BOW
MUSIC
TRADE
53
REVIEW
PUBLIC BAND CONCERTS PROMISED
Some Interesting Facts Concerning Horse Hair
and Its Proper Use in the Violin Bow—Pecu-
liar Structure of Horse Hair
Members of Army Bands From Eastern Depart-
ment to Give Series of Concerts in New York
and Vicinity to Arouse Public Interest
Some people may not understand why horse
hair is used in their violin bows, but a single
horse hair drawn through the thumb and finger
will demonstrate to you very thoroughly why
horse hair is the ideal bow material.
Each hair has two ends—the "root" and the
"point."
If you draw the hair through the fingers, be-
ginning with the root, it will glide smoothly and
offer no resistance. But if you draw it through
iu the opposite direction—from the point to the
root—a marked roughness will be apparent.
If you have a magnifying glass with a power
of 380 you can learn just why the hair glides
smoothly in going one way and goes very
"jerky" when traveling the opposite way.
Under the glass the hair is seen to be nearly
perfectly cylindrical in form, and to be com-
posed of three "layers"—the central layer is
called the pith, then comes the rind, and the
outer covering of cuticle.
When the hair is run through the finger it is
the outer cuticle which is felt. This must be
scraped away before the inner layers can be
seen with the glass.
The outer cuticle is very scaly in appearance,
the scales overlapping one another like the scales
of a fish or the tiles or shingles on the roof of a
house—all pointing one way.
These scales—"barbs," the violin makers call
them—are very hard and horny, and each has a
saw-tooth edge.
When a bow is being haired or rehaired alter-
nate hairs are laid "barbs" up. Were the bow
hairs all pointed one way there would be no
gripping of the string as the bow went up, and
the down stroke would be very strong, while
t"he up stroke would be decidedly weak.
Many times persons who rehair their own
bows will get too many of the hairs pointed one
way—too many "point" ends in the tip; too many
"root" ends in the frog. Half-and-half is the
rule. And unless you are well acquainted with
the peculiarities of horse hair you'll get bettei
results from your bow if you leave its rehair-
ing to an experienced violin maker.
If you must do the job yourself be sure to
test the hairs by running them through thumb
and forefinger, to make sure you will get an
equal number "barbs up" and "barbs down."
The practice of putting away the bow, after
playing, without first relaxing the tension on
the hair, proves injurious to both hair and stick.
There's considerable "nature" or life in horse
hair which continued high tension will take out,
making the bow a very stiff and unyielding one.
The stick, too, says the Violin World, will lose
its. elasticity if the tension is kept on when out
of use.
The Army Reconstruction Bill now before
Congress calls for several very important
changes in relation to army bandsmen and
bands. In order to arouse public interest
throughout the United States at this time when
Congress is about to debate the new bill, there
has been arranged a series of public band con-
certs by a grouped band of sixty-five picked mu-
sicians from the various posts of the Eastern
Department, under the direction of Robert E.
Kesta, conductor, and Lieut. William C. White,
assistant conductor. This band will appear in
a series of from twelve to twenty free concerts
in and about New York City. They will play
the finest kind of music, and will demonstrate
to the civilian population the excellence of the
musicians who are now army bandsmen.
The movement is a significant one. It is the
first time that the United States Army has gone
to the people on a matter of music. The pur-
pose of the concerts, outside of the pleasure and
profit which will be afforded to the listeners,
will be to focus public attention on the bill in
Congress and to excite public opinion which
will serve to bring the legislators to a due ap-
preciation of its importance. Furthermore, in
the course of the series, it will be the intention
to give an impetus to band recruiting. To that
end, a committee of distinguished military and
musical authorities has been organized. The
committee contains the names of Gen. R. L,.
Bullard, Frank Damrosch, Col. S. W. Miller,
Mrs. James A. Roosevelt, Walter Damrosch,
Leonard Liebling, Edwin Franko Goldman,
Henry Harkness Flagles, John C. Freund, C. W.
McCutechen, Major H. W. Stoval, Harry Barn-
hart, Nahan Franko, Pe'rcy Grainger, and other
important personages.
$25,000 VIOLIN FOUND IN TAXI
But Honest Driver Discovers It and Turns in
the Stradivarius Belonging to F. McMillan
The honesty of a taxi-driver saved Francis
McMillan, the violinist, from losing his $25,000
Stradivarius in New York the other day. Mr.
McMillan entrusted his brother, Samuel, with
the task of taking the instrument home. The
brother took a taxi from the Hotel Knicker-
bocker about 10 p. m. and was driven to his
home, 520 West 124th street. Arriving there he
jumped out and forgot about the precious vio-
lin entirely and it was not until he entered the
house that he realized what he had done. He
rushed out into the street, but the taxi had gone.
The police and detectives of five boroughs were
hard on the trail of the instrument when Mr.
McMillan received word from the taxi company
that the driver had found the violin.
PATENTS SEPARATE MOUTH-PIECE
Patent Granted on Mouth-Piece for Brass
Instruments
WASHINGTON, D. C, January 26.—Fortunato
Sordillo, of Boston, Mass., has been granted
Patent No. 1,327,970 for a mouth-piece for mu-
sical instruments. Briefly described, the inven-
tion consists of a separable mouth-piece in
which provision is made for inserting a throat
or bore which is specially adapted for use with
a cornet, trumpet, alto-horn, baritone, trombone
or bass instrument, as the case may be.
RON0
T H E OLDEST AND
LARGEST MUSICAL
B. k J. ADOPT A NEW SLOGAN
MERCHANDISE HOUSE
Buegeleisen & Jacobson, well-known whole-
salers of musical merchandise, have recently
adopted a slogan that is well worthy of com-
ment, "You will find them on the square." The
occupation by this firm of their new quarters,
5-7-9 Union Square West, New York City, sug-
gested this phrase, which is equally applicable
to their high grade method of doing business.
1
IN AMERICA
UTASUSHCO \V%*
yictor Distributors
A. BURDWISE
WHOLESALE
MUSICAL
MERCHANDISE
BALTIMORE, MD.
BEST STRINGS
JOHNFRIEDRICH&BRO
HfEYMANM
Superior Quality MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
Victor Distributors
1108 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa.
Consult the universal Want Directory of
The Review. In it advertisements are inserted
free of charge for men who desire positions
of any kind.
OLIVER DITSON CO.
DURRO
AND
STEWART
BOSTON. MASS.
Manufacturers
Importer* and Jobbers •*
Largest Wholesale
Musical Merchandise
House in America
Buegeleisen & Jacobson
5-7-9 Union Square
Established oVer half a century
NEW YORK
MUSICAL
MERCHANDISE
Attractive Specialties
Modern Service
ESTABLISHED 1834
Black Diamond
Strings
THE WORLD'S BEST
National Musical String Co.
Nev Brunswick, N. J.
THE
JANUARY 31, 1920
HOW TO REPAIR THE VIOLIN BOW
MUSIC
TRADE
53
REVIEW
PUBLIC BAND CONCERTS PROMISED
Some Interesting Facts Concerning Horse Hair
and Its Proper Use in the Violin Bow—Pecu-
liar Structure of Horse Hair
Members of Army Bands From Eastern Depart-
ment to Give Series of Concerts in New York
and Vicinity to Arouse Public Interest
Some people may not understand why horse
hair is used in their violin bows, but a single
horse hair drawn through the thumb and finger
will demonstrate to you very thoroughly why
horse hair is the ideal bow material.
Each hair has two ends—the "root" and the
"point."
If you draw the hair through the fingers, be-
ginning with the root, it will glide smoothly and
offer no resistance. But if you draw it through
iu the opposite direction—from the point to the
root—a marked roughness will be apparent.
If you have a magnifying glass with a power
of 380 you can learn just why the hair glides
smoothly in going one way and goes very
"jerky" when traveling the opposite way.
Under the glass the hair is seen to be nearly
perfectly cylindrical in form, and to be com-
posed of three "layers"—the central layer is
called the pith, then comes the rind, and the
outer covering of cuticle.
When the hair is run through the finger it is
the outer cuticle which is felt. This must be
scraped away before the inner layers can be
seen with the glass.
The outer cuticle is very scaly in appearance,
the scales overlapping one another like the scales
of a fish or the tiles or shingles on the roof of a
house—all pointing one way.
These scales—"barbs," the violin makers call
them—are very hard and horny, and each has a
saw-tooth edge.
When a bow is being haired or rehaired alter-
nate hairs are laid "barbs" up. Were the bow
hairs all pointed one way there would be no
gripping of the string as the bow went up, and
the down stroke would be very strong, while
t"he up stroke would be decidedly weak.
Many times persons who rehair their own
bows will get too many of the hairs pointed one
way—too many "point" ends in the tip; too many
"root" ends in the frog. Half-and-half is the
rule. And unless you are well acquainted with
the peculiarities of horse hair you'll get bettei
results from your bow if you leave its rehair-
ing to an experienced violin maker.
If you must do the job yourself be sure to
test the hairs by running them through thumb
and forefinger, to make sure you will get an
equal number "barbs up" and "barbs down."
The practice of putting away the bow, after
playing, without first relaxing the tension on
the hair, proves injurious to both hair and stick.
There's considerable "nature" or life in horse
hair which continued high tension will take out,
making the bow a very stiff and unyielding one.
The stick, too, says the Violin World, will lose
its. elasticity if the tension is kept on when out
of use.
The Army Reconstruction Bill now before
Congress calls for several very important
changes in relation to army bandsmen and
bands. In order to arouse public interest
throughout the United States at this time when
Congress is about to debate the new bill, there
has been arranged a series of public band con-
certs by a grouped band of sixty-five picked mu-
sicians from the various posts of the Eastern
Department, under the direction of Robert E.
Kesta, conductor, and Lieut. William C. White,
assistant conductor. This band will appear in
a series of from twelve to twenty free concerts
in and about New York City. They will play
the finest kind of music, and will demonstrate
to the civilian population the excellence of the
musicians who are now army bandsmen.
The movement is a significant one. It is the
first time that the United States Army has gone
to the people on a matter of music. The pur-
pose of the concerts, outside of the pleasure and
profit which will be afforded to the listeners,
will be to focus public attention on the bill in
Congress and to excite public opinion which
will serve to bring the legislators to a due ap-
preciation of its importance. Furthermore, in
the course of the series, it will be the intention
to give an impetus to band recruiting. To that
end, a committee of distinguished military and
musical authorities has been organized. The
committee contains the names of Gen. R. L,.
Bullard, Frank Damrosch, Col. S. W. Miller,
Mrs. James A. Roosevelt, Walter Damrosch,
Leonard Liebling, Edwin Franko Goldman,
Henry Harkness Flagles, John C. Freund, C. W.
McCutechen, Major H. W. Stoval, Harry Barn-
hart, Nahan Franko, Pe'rcy Grainger, and other
important personages.
$25,000 VIOLIN FOUND IN TAXI
But Honest Driver Discovers It and Turns in
the Stradivarius Belonging to F. McMillan
The honesty of a taxi-driver saved Francis
McMillan, the violinist, from losing his $25,000
Stradivarius in New York the other day. Mr.
McMillan entrusted his brother, Samuel, with
the task of taking the instrument home. The
brother took a taxi from the Hotel Knicker-
bocker about 10 p. m. and was driven to his
home, 520 West 124th street. Arriving there he
jumped out and forgot about the precious vio-
lin entirely and it was not until he entered the
house that he realized what he had done. He
rushed out into the street, but the taxi had gone.
The police and detectives of five boroughs were
hard on the trail of the instrument when Mr.
McMillan received word from the taxi company
that the driver had found the violin.
PATENTS SEPARATE MOUTH-PIECE
Patent Granted on Mouth-Piece for Brass
Instruments
WASHINGTON, D. C, January 26.—Fortunato
Sordillo, of Boston, Mass., has been granted
Patent No. 1,327,970 for a mouth-piece for mu-
sical instruments. Briefly described, the inven-
tion consists of a separable mouth-piece in
which provision is made for inserting a throat
or bore which is specially adapted for use with
a cornet, trumpet, alto-horn, baritone, trombone
or bass instrument, as the case may be.
RON0
T H E OLDEST AND
LARGEST MUSICAL
B. k J. ADOPT A NEW SLOGAN
MERCHANDISE HOUSE
Buegeleisen & Jacobson, well-known whole-
salers of musical merchandise, have recently
adopted a slogan that is well worthy of com-
ment, "You will find them on the square." The
occupation by this firm of their new quarters,
5-7-9 Union Square West, New York City, sug-
gested this phrase, which is equally applicable
to their high grade method of doing business.
1
IN AMERICA
UTASUSHCO \V%*
yictor Distributors
A. BURDWISE
WHOLESALE
MUSICAL
MERCHANDISE
BALTIMORE, MD.
BEST STRINGS
JOHNFRIEDRICH&BRO
HfEYMANM
Superior Quality MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
Victor Distributors
1108 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa.
Consult the universal Want Directory of
The Review. In it advertisements are inserted
free of charge for men who desire positions
of any kind.
OLIVER DITSON CO.
DURRO
AND
STEWART
BOSTON. MASS.
Manufacturers
Importer* and Jobbers •*
Largest Wholesale
Musical Merchandise
House in America
Buegeleisen & Jacobson
5-7-9 Union Square
Established oVer half a century
NEW YORK
MUSICAL
MERCHANDISE
Attractive Specialties
Modern Service
ESTABLISHED 1834
Black Diamond
Strings
THE WORLD'S BEST
National Musical String Co.
Nev Brunswick, N. J.
Future scanning projects are planned by the International Arcade Museum Library (IAML).