Music Trade Review
Issue: 1926 Vol. 83 N. 7 - Page 6
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
At the Western Music Trades Meeting
1. C. D. (Jreenleaf, Ed. Kelly and Otto May. 2. Messrs. Adams, Short, Miller and Warner. 3. H. L. King, of Fletcher Bros.; Vic. Middleton and
A. E. Miller. 4. Mr. and Mrs. William R. Turner, Wallace, Idaho; C. B. Sampson, Boise; Howard Chesbro, Idaho Falls. 5. C. A. Eyles and H.
D. Hewitt. 6. A Group of Conventioncrs. 7. A. S. Cobb. 8. E. A, Geissler and Ed Kelly
Bases on Which to Judge the Tonal Value of the Pianoforte
(Continued from page 5)
only noteworthy part of the scale, leaving the
upper registers to take care of themselves. As
a result of this neglect we find short, "tubby"
tones where virile, well-sustained ones are most
needed. A musician does not care to play upon
such a piano, for he can do nothing with it. It
is not alive under his touch; its tone cannot be
colored or shaded to express his moods.
Much dispute has arisen over this matter of
tone coloring. The statement is often advanced
that the artist must accept the tone of the piano
as he finds it; that he is powerless to add to, or
subtract from, the normal speaking voice of the
instrument. However, I am sure that no artist
would be happy were he so handicapped, and 1
am equally sure that the designers of truly fine
pianos have no intention of imposing such
limitations upon the performer. In addition to
being well balanced, the piano tone must also
be mobile. Here, again, we see the analogy to
the human countenance. To say that a face is
beautiful is not to deny it mobility; it is not to
say that it must forever remain fixed in its ex-
pression, impassive and unchanging. In the
course of an hour the features will reflect a
dozen or more emotions, some of which enhance
its beauty, while others detract from it, but al-
ways it is mobile and alive. Such moods as
these the artist seeks to interpret through his
music. Is it a matter of surprise, then, that he
insists upon a piano that answers his demands?
During the course of a recital he brings to us
the soft music of the Summer shower, the glad
song of the birds or the tinkling serenade of a
cavalier, and a moment later there bursts forth
the defiant challenge of a military march. All
of this with but one instrument. Truly, such
an instrument must possess character. If not,
he will sense immediately the shallowness of it.
He will "reach bottom" at the first touch, and
will be dismayed to find nothing more to draw
upon. He cannot confine himself to the bass
section alone. He needs the entire keyboard,
and expects to find life and depth of tone wher-
ever his composition lies. Therefore, the piano
must be a perfectly blended unit and not a
poorly joined patchwork of uneven parts.
• It is not the purpose of this discussion to con-
sider the ways and means by which the piano
builder brings about the results obtained in the
finished instrument. We are judging only the
performance, and do not care what goes on
behind the scenes. We may safely leave the
mathematical calculations to the scale draughts-
man and the design of the amplifying apparatus
and the selection of the materials to the tech-
nical engineer. But I want to deviate just for a
moment to say a word about the hammer, and
its treatment or mistreatment.
Times have changed, however, and to-day we
have the plastic surgeon. If you are not satis-
fied with what the mirror shows you, you can go
to him with your face, and your purse, and he
will lift them both. He restores and preserves
the beauty that formerly fled at the approach of
middle age, and to a quite remarkable extent
corrects the mistakes of nature.
The piano, too, has its plastic surgeon. We
call him the tone regulator. His is the power
and privilege to smooth away the wrinkles, and
to transform the discordant voice to sweetly
modulated accents. But, like all beauty doctors,
if he isn't very, very skillful he is probably very
clumsy. And what an awful mess a novice can
make of things!
The true tone regulator is an artist with a
full knowledge of the composition of tone, and
a thorough understanding of the possibilities
and limitations of his art. But all too frequently
a tuner deludes himself with the belief that the
possession of a felt pick and a hammer iron
automatically makes him a tone regulator. He
will wield the shiny needles upon the slightest
provocation, usually without the least notion of
what he hopes to accomplish. Seemingly, he is
actuated by the same sort of logic as that used
by the darky mammy who whipped each of her
children every day, "Ah jus' does it on gen'ral
princ'ples."
A tuner who understands, however, knows
that the shape and degree of firmness of the
hammer determine the number of partials that
will be brought out when the string is struck.
He knows that a very hard hammer calls forth
the higher partials, and causes the acid clangi-
ness that is so disagreeable to the ear. He
knows further that a soft hammer will not bring
into prominence any partials beyond the fourth
or fifth, thereby leaving the tone more nearly a
fundamental one. A soft hammer and a hard
hammer are equivalent to a soft blow and a
hard blow. Therefore, we can readily see that
the performer can color the tone of the piano
by subduing or by inciting certain characteristic
partials. The extent to which this can be done
is, of course, limited, but the skillful tone regu-
lator can render invaluable assistance if he has
a good instrument to work on. There is one
thing, however, that the beauty doctor cannot
do; he cannot, with all his skill, mold char-
acter into a face that has no character, and
neither can the tone regulator iron or needle
character into a piano that is characterless to
start with.
Summarized, our analysis leads us to the fol-
lowing conclusions: the piano tone is first an
all-inclusive tone, a tone that embraces and
employs those tones by which we identify the
principal orchestral instruments. The piano is
an instrument where we find this composite tone
completely exemplified in each octave and each
register of the scale. No improper balance is
permitted to mar what must stand as a per-
fectly blended unit. The tone must have suffi-
cient depth to be flexible, so that a division of
the orchestra may be made as the occasion de-
mands. It must have character, and life, and
sparkle, and timbre, so that is can satisfy the
exacting demands of a concert recital. It must,
if you please, have "meat." And it is by these
features that we judge; it is by their presence
or absence that we distinguish the good from
the bad, the superior from the inferior, and all
degrees of mediocrity that may creep in be-
tween.
At the Western Music Trades Meeting
1. C. D. (Jreenleaf, Ed. Kelly and Otto May. 2. Messrs. Adams, Short, Miller and Warner. 3. H. L. King, of Fletcher Bros.; Vic. Middleton and
A. E. Miller. 4. Mr. and Mrs. William R. Turner, Wallace, Idaho; C. B. Sampson, Boise; Howard Chesbro, Idaho Falls. 5. C. A. Eyles and H.
D. Hewitt. 6. A Group of Conventioncrs. 7. A. S. Cobb. 8. E. A, Geissler and Ed Kelly
Bases on Which to Judge the Tonal Value of the Pianoforte
(Continued from page 5)
only noteworthy part of the scale, leaving the
upper registers to take care of themselves. As
a result of this neglect we find short, "tubby"
tones where virile, well-sustained ones are most
needed. A musician does not care to play upon
such a piano, for he can do nothing with it. It
is not alive under his touch; its tone cannot be
colored or shaded to express his moods.
Much dispute has arisen over this matter of
tone coloring. The statement is often advanced
that the artist must accept the tone of the piano
as he finds it; that he is powerless to add to, or
subtract from, the normal speaking voice of the
instrument. However, I am sure that no artist
would be happy were he so handicapped, and 1
am equally sure that the designers of truly fine
pianos have no intention of imposing such
limitations upon the performer. In addition to
being well balanced, the piano tone must also
be mobile. Here, again, we see the analogy to
the human countenance. To say that a face is
beautiful is not to deny it mobility; it is not to
say that it must forever remain fixed in its ex-
pression, impassive and unchanging. In the
course of an hour the features will reflect a
dozen or more emotions, some of which enhance
its beauty, while others detract from it, but al-
ways it is mobile and alive. Such moods as
these the artist seeks to interpret through his
music. Is it a matter of surprise, then, that he
insists upon a piano that answers his demands?
During the course of a recital he brings to us
the soft music of the Summer shower, the glad
song of the birds or the tinkling serenade of a
cavalier, and a moment later there bursts forth
the defiant challenge of a military march. All
of this with but one instrument. Truly, such
an instrument must possess character. If not,
he will sense immediately the shallowness of it.
He will "reach bottom" at the first touch, and
will be dismayed to find nothing more to draw
upon. He cannot confine himself to the bass
section alone. He needs the entire keyboard,
and expects to find life and depth of tone wher-
ever his composition lies. Therefore, the piano
must be a perfectly blended unit and not a
poorly joined patchwork of uneven parts.
• It is not the purpose of this discussion to con-
sider the ways and means by which the piano
builder brings about the results obtained in the
finished instrument. We are judging only the
performance, and do not care what goes on
behind the scenes. We may safely leave the
mathematical calculations to the scale draughts-
man and the design of the amplifying apparatus
and the selection of the materials to the tech-
nical engineer. But I want to deviate just for a
moment to say a word about the hammer, and
its treatment or mistreatment.
Times have changed, however, and to-day we
have the plastic surgeon. If you are not satis-
fied with what the mirror shows you, you can go
to him with your face, and your purse, and he
will lift them both. He restores and preserves
the beauty that formerly fled at the approach of
middle age, and to a quite remarkable extent
corrects the mistakes of nature.
The piano, too, has its plastic surgeon. We
call him the tone regulator. His is the power
and privilege to smooth away the wrinkles, and
to transform the discordant voice to sweetly
modulated accents. But, like all beauty doctors,
if he isn't very, very skillful he is probably very
clumsy. And what an awful mess a novice can
make of things!
The true tone regulator is an artist with a
full knowledge of the composition of tone, and
a thorough understanding of the possibilities
and limitations of his art. But all too frequently
a tuner deludes himself with the belief that the
possession of a felt pick and a hammer iron
automatically makes him a tone regulator. He
will wield the shiny needles upon the slightest
provocation, usually without the least notion of
what he hopes to accomplish. Seemingly, he is
actuated by the same sort of logic as that used
by the darky mammy who whipped each of her
children every day, "Ah jus' does it on gen'ral
princ'ples."
A tuner who understands, however, knows
that the shape and degree of firmness of the
hammer determine the number of partials that
will be brought out when the string is struck.
He knows that a very hard hammer calls forth
the higher partials, and causes the acid clangi-
ness that is so disagreeable to the ear. He
knows further that a soft hammer will not bring
into prominence any partials beyond the fourth
or fifth, thereby leaving the tone more nearly a
fundamental one. A soft hammer and a hard
hammer are equivalent to a soft blow and a
hard blow. Therefore, we can readily see that
the performer can color the tone of the piano
by subduing or by inciting certain characteristic
partials. The extent to which this can be done
is, of course, limited, but the skillful tone regu-
lator can render invaluable assistance if he has
a good instrument to work on. There is one
thing, however, that the beauty doctor cannot
do; he cannot, with all his skill, mold char-
acter into a face that has no character, and
neither can the tone regulator iron or needle
character into a piano that is characterless to
start with.
Summarized, our analysis leads us to the fol-
lowing conclusions: the piano tone is first an
all-inclusive tone, a tone that embraces and
employs those tones by which we identify the
principal orchestral instruments. The piano is
an instrument where we find this composite tone
completely exemplified in each octave and each
register of the scale. No improper balance is
permitted to mar what must stand as a per-
fectly blended unit. The tone must have suffi-
cient depth to be flexible, so that a division of
the orchestra may be made as the occasion de-
mands. It must have character, and life, and
sparkle, and timbre, so that is can satisfy the
exacting demands of a concert recital. It must,
if you please, have "meat." And it is by these
features that we judge; it is by their presence
or absence that we distinguish the good from
the bad, the superior from the inferior, and all
degrees of mediocrity that may creep in be-
tween.
Future scanning projects are planned by the International Arcade Museum Library (IAML).