Music Trade Review

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TECHNICAL^SUPPLY DEPARTMENT
William BraidWhite,7^/ftf/Editor
Some of the Future Developments That
May Be Expected in the Modern Piano
Excerpt From the Forthcoming "Acoustical and Mechanical Principles of Pianoforte
Construction," by William Braid White, Technical Editor of The Review
T
H E following paragraphs have been taken
from the concluding chapter of a forth-
coming volume upon "The Acoustical and
Mechanical Principles of Pianoforte Construc-
tion." The chapter deals with the future of
the pianoforte and the excerpts given here dis-
cuss specifically the possibility of certain de-
velopments in actions, quarter tone divisions
of the octave, improved keyboards, pedal
boards, etc.
"Greater amplincatory powers for the sound
board or its equivalent, a more flexible action,
more scientific development of steel wire draw-
ing and more accurate adjustment of wire to
the work of the hammer and key, with possibly
a considerable development in the direction of
new shapes and new sizes are among the pos-
sibilities of the future towards which we may
with some confidence look.
The Action of the Future
"Leaving aside the difficult question of im-
proving amplification and the manufacture and
application of steel wire, the action presents
novel possibilities of the most fascinating kind.
The principle of percussion has indeed been
worked out to a considerable degree of ac-
curacy—but it would be wrong to suppose that
no improvement can be made without destroy-
ing this principle, '"or even modifying it seri-
ously. The need of the immediate future is
undoubtedly for a more accurate investigation
of the relations of the moving parts each to
the other, to the end of reducing friction and
facilitating the attainment of more rapid repeti-
tion. The percussion principle probably repre-
sents the best system for exciting the string,
when we consider this, not in the light of the
abstract desirability of a more sustained sound
or of power to swell and diminish at will—
but rather upon the fair assumption that the
characteristic voice of the pianoforte is far too
valuable a tool of musical expression for us
to wish to tamper with it. The percussion tone
has definite and characteristic musical virtues
which no other instrument possesses. Improve-
ment, then, should be directed towards making
the action more nearly perfect mechanically,
which can best be done by more careful study
of the relations of the moving parts. Along
with this should, and may, go an investigation
of the behavior of strings and of amplifying
devices, as discussed above. But the action
alone, in its mechanical details, can be markedly
improved. Its principal present defect is ex-
cessive friction between parts and poor adjust-
ment of leverage relations. All this can be
remedied and long ago would have been the
cause of anxious investigation if there had ever
existed among users of the instruments any
body of expert critical opinion. Lack of such a
critical public opinion has been one of the
principal causes of the technical stagnation
which has characterized the industry.
"Those who can recall the musical activities
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Bridle Straps
5814-37 Ik A of the late nineteenth century will remember
the Janko keyboard, which for a time attracted
much attention and seemed destined to revolu-
tionize the technic of pianoforte playing. Its
essential feature lay in the provision of three
finger positions for each key, in place of one,
and in the disposition of these in such a manner
as to produce a six-row keyboard. Tenths,
twelfths and even wider intervals can readily
be reached on this board, while the octave can
be taken with no greater difficulty than now
aHends the spanning of a sixth. There are
many other conveniences in the Janko inven-
tion, but unfortunately the vested interest of
the teachers of pianoforte playing and of the
publishers of fingered sheet music was from the
first against it, and it made no headway at
all. The manifold defects of the accepted
keyboard have been often enough exposed, nor
should we forget that the present division into
seven white and five black keys to each octave
dates from a day long before the introduction
of equal temperament, and is now entirely
illogical, having no longer any intonational
significance. The stage indeed is set for a
keyboard built upon the basis of the equal-
tempered intonation; that is, on the under-
standing that the twelve tempered sounds in
each octave are equidistant peers, no one hav-
ing any advantage over any other.
Emanual Mo6r
"Meanwhile Emanual Moor has come forward
with his two-banked keyboard, which has al-
ready enjoyed success to some extent in Europe
and may yet spread all over the world. In
bringing forth this improvement, for that is
what it is, Moor has gone back to the harpsi-
chord, the makers of which were accustomed
to build two-banked instruments, usually indeed
with a separate set of strings and actions for
each. Moor, however, uses his upper keyboard
merely to operate one octave higher than the
keyboard below. The two boards are built in
the usual manner, with ordinary white and
black keys. The lower keyboard is, in fact, the
conventional piano manual. The upper one,
placed above and behind it, is also built in
the conventional way, but, by means of a lever
system applied to the action, each of its keys
plays upon the hammer one octave higher than
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THE M. L. CAMPBELL COMPANY
1008 West Eighth Street
Kansas City, Mo.
TUNERS' TRADE SOLICITED
Also—Felts »nd
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W* 32
William Braid White
Associate, American Society of Mechanical
Engineers; Chairman, Wood Industries
Division, A. S. M. E.; Member, American
Physical Society; Member, National Piano
Technicians' Association.
Consulting Engineer to
the Piano Industry
Tonally and Mechanically Correct Scales
Tonal and Technical Surreys of Product
Tonal Betterment Work in Factories
Reference* to manufacturers «f unquestioned
position In Industry
For particulars,
address
209 South State Street, CHICAGO
Piano Tuners
George W. BraunsdorE, Inc.
Direct Mmnufmcturfi of
does the key immediately below it on the lower
board. A coupler is also provided whereby the
upper board may be coupled to the lower. The
musician finds in this board many valuable
additions to his technical powers. He can span
an octave with two adjacent fingers and can
build up many otherwise unattainable chord
combinations easily and conveniently.
"The Moor keyboard has been received with
enthusiasm by pianists who have had an op-
portunity to play upon it and it may well have
a future. Certainly it increases the technical
powers of the pianoforte to a marked extent,
without demanding an entirely new fingering.
Pedal Boards
"Pedals for the purpose of increasing com-
mand over the bass region of the pianoforte
have from time to time been added, but no
pianoforte maker has seriously studied the pos-
sibilities of the subject. The appearance and
'succes d'estime' which the Moor keyboard
has already earned should cause pianoforte
manufacturers to pay more attention to the
possibilities of a pedal keyboard. Liszt had
one built for him years ago. Some organists
to-day are using pedal attachments to piano-
fortes, by means of which the bass can be
played organ style, as well as manually. A
combination of the Moor double manual with
a satisfactory pedal board would produce a
pianoforte almost capable of rivaling the tech-
nical virtuosity of the player mechanism.
Quarter-Tones and Third-Tones
"With what has been said above as to tech-
nical improvements, we must by no means
overlook the demand, which will certainly soon
be heard, for a pianoforte capable of giving
the intervals of a quarter-tone or third-tone
scale. Here we enter a region as yet un-
charted, but which holds for the explorer
very much that is interesting and even fascinat-
ing.
"The scales used in Indian, Chinese, Japanese
and Arabian music are quite unlike our own,
to such an extent indeed that it is quite im-
possible to render such music accurately by
means of Occidental musical instruments. The
duodecimal equal division of the octave, which
has been for so long the universal basis of
western music, is contradicted by eastern
scales, which include intervals closer together
and Technicians
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Y. M. C. A. Piano Technicians School
1421 Arch St.
Philadelphia, Pa.