Presto

MYSTERIES
OF SOUND
Scientific Achievements in Sound Research and Engineering are
making trenchant contributions to the Music World of today.
PRESTO MUSIC TIMES will publish interesting news under the
above title.
Mr. O. J. Kraushaar of the Department of Research and Experiment,
C. G. Conn, Ltd., showed us the new instrument called the "chromatic
Stroboscope" which is creating the keenest interest in the field of
sound, pitch, and vibrations. In the world of music this instrument
is most useful for players and singers because it enables them to
dicover when they are off pitch. We (have asked Mr. Kraushaar to
describe the stroboscope in the next issue. It has already attracted
the attention of the Canadian Government which is anxious to dis-
cover the cause of the breaking up of airplane wings. C. F. Kettering,
head of the experimental and research department of General Motors
is interested in the stroboscope as a means of obtaining more infor-
mation about motor vibrations. A company manufacturing accordions
in Finland has ordered one, as has also a firm making harmonicas in
Brooklyn. The Metropolitan Grand Opera Company of New York
recently placed an order for one.
IS THERE A MUSICAL TOUCH?
Great commotion was caused recently during an address given
by Sir James Jeans, an eminent British scientist, before the Eng-
lish Music Teachers' Association. Sir James' subject was "A
Scientist Looks at Music." He attacked the common theory that
a talented pianist is able to draw from the keys of a piano sounds
that interpret his varying moods as fanciful and thoroughly un-
founded. He stated that it makes absolutely no difference so far
as any individual piano note is concerned whether the key "is
struck with an umbrella or the finger of a Paderewski."
Sir James based his remarks on experiments carried on by
American scientists who had photographed sound waves produced
by leading pianists. These scientists, asserted Sir James, dis-
covered they could match these waves exactly by dropping weights
on the keyboard. Then, according to various news reports, he
added: "The moral for the piano teacher is that so far as single
notes are concerned it does not matter how the pupil strikes the
key, so long as he strikes it with the requisite degree of force. If
this is right, the tone quality will be the same whether he (the
pupil) strikes it with his fingers or even with the end of his um-
brella. As far as the scientist can see, that is all there is to the
much debated problem of piano touch."
These observations resulted in an immediate declaration of war
by the piano teachers. The noted pianist, Mark Hambourg, led
the attack on Sir James by saying: "Sir James' statement is abso-
lute nonsense. He is a very eminent scientist—let him stick to
his science. Delicacy of touch is all a matter of muscular control.
It is impossible to get it other than through the fingers."
Is science wrong this time? Or is Mr. Hambourg wrong? Or
are they both right? Is it possible that they are both talking about
something that is just the same only a little different? Probably
some of our readers would like to express an opinion.
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