Music Trade Review

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Sohmer's Unique Story of the Piano
Brings Orders for 40M Copies
Earle Foreman, sales manager of
Sohmer & Co. of New York, has issued
a unique presentation leading up to the
manufacture of Sohmer & Co. pianos,
entitled "Pleasant Noises versus Tone"
starting out with the expression—"Ac-
cording to the science of Acoustics and
the Sound Behavior of Vibrating Bodies
—it is both theoretically and physically
possible for two army trucks to crash
together and sound a beautiful A flat
TORTOISE SHELL
HUNTER'S BOW
chord. It isn't likely though, because
they are not built for that purpose.
Neither are all pianos."
He then goes on and says that most
pianos, particularly when new, give
forth pleasant noises to the untrained
ear. Then going way back, under the
caption "How Did It All Start?" He
states, "It started thousands of years ago
when a lowly, unfortunate tortoise
crawled out of the River Nile, got turned
over on his back somehow and never
was able to right himself. He didn't live
long and the hot Egyptian sun quickly
dried out the carcass, leaving only two
or three sinews or tendons, stretched
across the hollow shell." With this intro-
duction, he goes on to tell how a great
Egyptian astronomer strolling along the
River Nile stubbed his toe on what was
left of the tortoise, and in so doing
picked up the tortoise shell and plucked
the tendons, thereby creating a vibra-
tion of sound which was amplified and
prolonged.
"For centuries," he continued, "harps
were called tortoise shell harps because
this is just what they were—a tortoise
shell with its own natural arch and
strung with strings of cat gut, the first
improvement. . . . Next came the
Hunter's Bow Harp. Tradition tells us
that once upon a time, a hunter in Mid-
dle Europe, hung his bow to a tree
branch while he retrieved an arrow.
When he returned and reached for the
bow, it was caught in the branches and
12
came loose only after a sharp pull. It
happened again—a pleasant noise—and
another smart man was listening. A
string vibrated and the larger surface
of the bow took up the sound—amplified
it and prolonged it. The hunter liked the
'pleasant noise' and eventually more
strings were added to the bent bow."
From there on Mr. Foreman skips
through the centuries of harp progres-
sion and goes on to tell about how the
of Mendelssohn. It responds to the ma-
jesty which is Beethoven. It sings sweetly
with Schubert and Chopin. Tone has
color, breadth and distinction. It gives
inspiration and banishes the drudgery
of practice. Such a piano is the Sohmer.
Three generations of the Sohmer Fam-
ily have set an unswerving course toward
the ideal; the ideal of tonal beauty."
He then takes up the art of voicing.
He states, "Sohmer voicers are master
craftsmen who studied their art under
old master craftsmen, as far back as
Hugo Sohmer himself—the greatest of
•IANO Sl'AI.K
first pianos were invented in Italy about
225 years ago, and how crude they were,
and how they have steadily developed
until "now a piano maker must deal
with some ten thousand pieces of wood,
steel, iron, copper, glue, wool, etc. He
also deals with acoustical science, math-
ematics, tradition and know-how and
the greatest of these, up to this para-
graph, is know-how." "So far," con-
tinues Mr. Foreman, "he has made an
instrument with 88 notes. It is in a
presentable cabinet and pleasant noises
can be enticed therefrom."
Mr. Foreman devotes a paragraph to
what makes the difference between an
artist and a near-artist and points out
that it was genius and ability, vision
plus know-how, plus the burning desire
to create and to excel. He then points
out how tone is produced basically by
the intelligent and inspired handling of
several components, and he states that
unless a piano maker has a thorough un-
derstanding and appreciation of these
components, and unless he has a desire to
make an artistic product, plus one fur-
ther ingredient, his piano may have
pleasing sounds but it will not have
Tone.
From here on he points out "Tone in
a piano is the capacity for making a
Nocturne sound like a night song; not
a mazurka. Tone in a piano makes the
Wedding March joyful. It makes the
Funeral March somber. It rises to the
heights of Wagner. It catches the gaiety
PIANO COMI'LETE
his time and generation. Sohmer voicers
are musicians; accomplished musicians.
For who else, indeed, should attempt to
give color and life to tone? Who else,
indeed, knows where brilliance is to be
demanded, where the pianist must seek
and find and accent the golden three of
melody, where the tone must be massive,
magnificent!"
And in winding up this unique mes-
sage, Mr. Foreman states, "The Sohmer
Piano—made by our family for yours—
since 1872."
Samples of these messages were sent
to Sohmer dealers throughout the coun-
try, and so far Sohmer & Co. have re-
ceived orders for 40,000, which are
going to be used by the representative
dealers who sell the Sohmer pianos.
Outstanding Chamber of Commerce
Work Brings Piano as Gift
At a recent meeting of the Board of
Directors of the Chamber of Commerce
of Utica, N. Y., the officers and members
of the Board of Directors presented
Jim Capps with a spinet piano in ap-
preciation of his outstanding efforts as
chairman of the Chamber's Indilstrial-
Business Development Division. Mr.
Capps was at one time president of the
Chamber of Commerce and was the
founder of the committee of which he
is now head, which was formed to at-
tract new industries to the city of Utica
and to retain and expand existing in-
dustries.
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW, JULY, 1951