MODERN PIANO TUNING ALLIED ARTS - Mechanical Music Digest

179 Pages·2009·9.75 MB·English

MODERN PIANO TUNING
AND
ALLIED ARTS
INCLUDING
Principles and PracticeofPiano Tuning, Regulationof
Piano Action, Repair of the Piano, Elementary Princi
ples of Player-Piano Pneumatics, General Construction
of PlayerMechanism,and Repairof Player Mechanism
BY
WILLIAM BRAID WHITE
Technical Editor of the Music Trad~ Review, New York.
Author of"Theoryand PracticeofPianoforte Build·
inlr," "The Player·Piano Up·to-date,"
and other works
WITHDRAWINGS, DIAGRAMS,
TABLES, NOTES ANDANINDEX
NEW YORK
EDWARD LYMAN BILL, INCORPORATED
1917
ERRATUM
Page 300. For "SectionalView ofDouble~valve
Action" read "Sectional Vie"W of Single-valve
Action."
OMIT the following words:
5a Secondary Pouch.
7a Secondary Reduced Pressure Chamber.
8a Secondary Valve.
11 Primary-Secondary Channel.
,
t
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TO
THE CONFERENCE OF
AMERICAN PIANO TECHNICIANS
MEETING IN CHICAGO. U. S. A.
Copyright, 1917, by Whose valuableand exhaustivediscussions
EDWARD LYMAN BILL, INcoRPo'RATED mark an epochinthedevelopmentof
American musicaltechnology,
Entered atStationers' Hall This Book
is, byonewho hasthehonorof
membershipinthatConference,
RESPECTFULLY AND AFFECTIONATELY
DEDICATED
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PREFATORY NOTE
In writing this book, I have tried to do two
things which are always thought to be admirable
but seldom thought to be conjunctible. I have
tried to set forth the theory of Equal Tempera
ment in a manner at once correct and simple.
Nimultaneously I have tried to construct and ex
pound a method for the practical application of
that theory in practical tuning, equally correct,
(Hlually simple and yet thoroughly practical.
The construction of the piano has not in this
volume been treated with minuteness of detail,
ror this task I have already been able to perform
in a former treatise; but in respect of the sound
hoard, the strings, the hammers and the action,
t.ho subject-matter has been set forth quite
(~)aborately,and some novel hypotheses have been
advanced, based on mature study, research and
l'xperience. Here also, however, the theoretical
hils been justifiedby the practical, and in no sense
hllve I yielded to the temptation to square facts
t.o theories.
iii
.,
v
prefatory Note
iv Prefatory Note
~\lidance
of piano tuners have been either so
In the practical matters of piano and player
theoretical that their interest is academic purely;
repairing, I have presented in these pages the
or superficial that accuracy in them is through
SO
results of nineteen years' practical and theoreti
out sacrificed. I have tried to avoid both er
cal work, undertaken under a variety'of condi
rors, and to provide both a scientifically correct
I
tions and circumstances. In writing this part
f t(lxt-book for teaching and a pocket guide for
of the volume I have had the inestimable advan
I the daily study and use of the working tuner.
tage ofthe suggestions and experiences of many
'I'lle program has been ambitious; and I am con
of the best American tuners, as these have been
I l'wious, now that the task is finished, how far
I.
gathered from past numbers of the Music Trade
Hhort of perfection it falls. But I think it fills
Review, the Technical Department of which pa
want; andI ask of allpractitioners and students
It
per I have had the honor to edit and conduct,
of the noble art of tuning their indulgence to
without intermission, for fourteen years.
wards its faults and their approval of any vir
The preliminary treatment of the Acoustical
t.ucs it may appear to them to possess.
basis of piano tuning may seem elaborate; but I
rrhe writing of the volume began in the winter
I
have tried to handle the subject-matter not only
! of 1914 and was completed during the spring
accurately but also simply; and as briefly as its
of 1915. Various causes have operated, how
nature permits. The need for really accurate in
IIvcr, to retard its publication; notably the sud
formation here justifies whatever elaboration of
den passing of the honored man whose en
treatment has been given.
(l(mragement and kindness made possible the
I desire here to express my thanks to Mr. J. C.
publication of the other books which have ap
"
Miller for permission to utilize some of his
peared over my name. It is however fortunate
i valuable calculations, to Mr. Arthur Lund, E. E.,
tllllt the successor of ColonelBill, the corporation
for drawings of acoustical curves, and to my
wllich now bears his name and is carrying on so
brother, Mr. H. Sidney White, M. E., for dia
I'Illccessfully his fine work, has been equally de
grams of mechanical details.
Kirous with me, of pushing the book to publica-
Most books intended for the instruction and
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VI Prefatory Note
tion. A thorough rereading of the manuscript,
however, during the interim, has suggested many
slight changes and a number of explanatorynotes,
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which have been incorporated with, or appended
to, the text.
Contents
A new, and I hope valuable, feature is the In
dex, which I have tried to make copious and use PAGE
PREFATORY NOTE iii
ful, to the student and to the tuner alike.
CHAPTER I. ,Mechanics of the Musical
Scale 1
WILLIAM BRAID WHITE.
Chicago, 1917.
CHAPTER II. On the Vibration of a Piano
String 36
I .
CHAPTER III. Temperament 72
CHAPTER IV. Practical Tuning in Equal
!
I Temperament. . . . 95
CHAPTER V. Mechanical Technique of
Tuning. . . . . . 114
CHAPTER VI. The Modern Piano. . . 130
:r
CHAPTER VII. Sound-Board and Strings 152
CHAPTER VIII. The Action and Its Regula-
tion. . . . . . . 184
CHAPTER IX. The Hammer and Its Rela-
tion to Tone . . . . 223
CHAPTER X. Repair of the Piano. . . 244
CHAPTER XI. Elementary Pneumatics . 261
If.l.
Contents
CHAPTER Xll. General Construction of PAGE
Player Mechanisms • . 284
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CHAPTER XIll. Repair of Player Mech
anism . . . . • . 310 CHAPTER I.
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE • • • • • • • 329
MECHANICS OF THE MUSICAL SCALE.
INDEX: • 331
He who undertakes to master the art of piano
i
tuning must have some acquaintance, exact rather
than comprehensive, with that general body of
knowledge known as Acoustics. This termis used
t.o designate the Science of the phenomena known
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Sound. In other words, by the term Acoustics
I IlS
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we mean the body of facts, laws and rules which
has been brought together by those who have sys
tematically observed Sound and have collected
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t.heir observations in some intelligible form.
II i
'I I'jano Tuning itself, as an Art, is merely one of
I t.he branches of Practical Acoustics; and in order
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that the Branch should be understood it is neces
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II,I":,,"' Hllry to understand also the Trunk, and even the
,1
II;1I'[ Root.
,I, '
But I might as well begin by saying that no
! ,
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hody need be frightened by the above paragraph.
I am not proposing to make any excursions into
realms of thought too rarefied for the capacity of
the man who is likely to read this book. I sim-
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2
Modern Piano Tuning.
Mechanics of the Musical Scale. 3
ply ask that man to take my word for it that I
In fact, lack of continuity, grating effect and gen
am going to be perfectly practical and intelligible,
pral fragmentariness are the distinguishing fea
and in fact shall probably make him conclude that
tures of noises, as distinguished from other
he has all along been a theorist without knowing
H(mnds.
it; just as Moliere's M. Jourdain discovered that
If now we listen to a orchestra tuning up
he had been speaking prose all his life without
roughly off-stage, the extraordinary medley of
knowing it. The only difference has been that
Hounds which results, may-and frequently does
my reader has not called it "theory." He has
have the effect of one great noise; although we
called it "knowing the business."
know that each of the single sounds in the up'
Anyhow, we are going to begin by discovering
,'oar is, by itself, musical. So it appears that
something about Sound. Weare in fact to make
noises may be the result of the chance mixture
a little excursion into the delectable kingdom of or
, many sounds not in themselves noises, but
Acoustics.
!,
which may happen to be thrown together without
What is Sound? When a street-car runs over
Hystem or order. Lack of order, in fact, marks
a crossing where another line intersects, we are
t.he first great distinction betweennoises and other
conscious of a series of grinding crashes exceed- .,
Hounds.
ingly unpleasant to hear, which we attribute per
[f now we listen to the deep tone of a steamer's
haps to fiat tires on the wheels or to uneven lay-
Hiren, or of a locomotive whistle, we are conscious
ing of the intersecting trackage. The most
or
a different kind of sound. Here is the im
prominent feature of such a series of noises is
mediate impression of something definite and con
their peculiarly grating and peculiarly spasmodic
tinuous, something that has a form and shape of
character. They are on the one hand discontinu-
it.s own, as it were, and that holds the same form
ous, choppy and fragmentary, and on the other
HO long as its manifestation persists. If, in fact,
hand, grating, unpleasant to the hearing, and to
we continue to seek such sounds, we shall find that
tally lacking in any but an irritant effect. These
what are called Musical Sounds are simply more
are the sort of sounds we speak of as "noise."
porfect examples of the continuity, the order and
4 Modern Piano Tuning.
Mechanics of the Musical Beale. 5
the definite character which we noticed in the lo
thought ofas the form in which we perceive some
comotive whistle's sound. The more highly per
thing; the form, in fact, in which we perceive the
fected the musical instrument, the more perfectly
behavior of certain bodies, which behavior could
will the sounds evoked by it possess the qualities
not be perceived in any other way. Sound then
of continuity, order and definite form.
can be considered only from the view-point of the
Continuity, persistence and definiteness, then,
physical laws which govern the behavior of the
are the features which distinguish Musical Sounds
bodies in question. The laws which govern that
from Noises. .And there are therefore only two
sort of behavior which we perceive as Sound,
kinds of sounds: musical sounds and noises.
alone form the subject of Acoustics. Why we
Now, what is SoundY The one way in which
should experience these perceptions as Sound
we can know it, plainly, is by becoming conscious
rather than as Light or Heat is not a question
of what we call the Sensation of Sound; that is,
to be decided by Acoustics; is not a problem of
by hearing it. If one considers the matter it be
the natural sciences, but of Metaphysics.
comes plain that without the ability to hear there
Limited therefore to a strictly mechanical in
would be no Sound in the world. Sound cannot
vestigation, let us consider the production of
exist except in so far as there previously exist
Sound from this view-point. Suppose that I
capacities for hearing it. The conditions that
strike a tuning-fork against the knee and hold it
produce Sound are obviously possible, as we shall
to the ear. I am conscious of a sound only mod
soon see, to an interminable extent in all direc
erate in intensity but of persistent and quite defi
tions; yet what we may call the range of audible
nite character, agreeable, and what we call "musi
Sound is very small indeed. We canhear so very
caL" Noone has any hesitation in calling this
little of the conceivably hearable material; if I
a "musical sound." But what produces it, physi
may use so rough an expression.
cally speakingT We can discover this for our
So it becomes quite plain that Sound cannot be
selves by making a simple experiment.
considered as something in itself, existing in the
By lightly touching the prongs of the fork while
sounding body apart from us, but must rather be
it is sounding I discover them to be in a state of
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6 Modern Piano Tuning. Mechanics of the Musical Scale. 7
vibration. If I examine them under a micro curve of sines or sinusoidal curve. By adjusting
scope I shall perhaps be able to detect an exceed the experimental apparatus with sufficient exact
ingly rapid vibratory motion. In order however ness it would be possible to find out how many
to make sure of the existence of these unseen vi of these little waves are being traced out in any
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brations, it is only necessary to obtain a sheet of given time. Each of these waves corresponds to
glass and smoke one surface of it by passing it one vibration or pendulum-like back and forth mo
over the flame of a candle. Then let a tuning tion ofthe fork. By examining the wavylinewith
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fork be fitted with a very light needle point stuck close attention, we shall see that if the motion of
on the end of one prong with a bit of wax, in such th·e glass sheet has been uniform, each sinusoid
is identical in size with all the others, which in-
11111:,1nillirifliliVllIllllllllliiiilllllllllllIT'1 icFat .that the vibrations are periodic, that is to
sa , recur at regular intervals and are of similar
. idth or amplitude. .
.We may therefore conclude from this one ex
periment that the physical producer of musical
FIGURE 1. sound is the excitation of the sounding body into
a position that if the sheet of glass be placed periodic vibrations.
parallel with the length of the fork, the needle Listen to the noise of the machinery in a saw
point will be at right angles to both. mill. When the circular saw starts to bite 'at a
Now set the fork to sounding, and hold it so piece of wood you hear a series of grating cracks,
that the needle point lightly touches the smoked which almost instantly assume the character of a
surface. Have a second person then move the complete definite musical sound, though rough in
sheet of glass lengthwise while the fork is held character. As tlie saw bites deeper into the wood
still. At once the needle-point will trace out a the sound becomes first, lower, then higher, until
continuous wavy line, each wave being of that pe it mounts into a regular song. As the saw comes
culiar symmetrical form known technically as a out through the wood the sounds mount quite high