MUSICAL EDUCATION.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 469, 30 March 1909, Page 7

MUSICAL EDUCATION.

IN NEW ZEALAND. THE QUESTION OF HTCH. £By C. A. Young.) 11. Readers, of tho published report of the president's address to tho conference of delegates from tho nine branches of tho Society of Professional Musicians of New Zealand, and of tho discussion which followed, will bo surprised to bo there informed of a want of knowledgo displayed by eoiuo of tho delegates. In a previous n-rticlo somo referonco was made to the subjects more or less freely discussed by the. delegates; lot us now consider the desirability of uniform pitch. No intelligent musician, of however little experience, will for one moment doubt the desirability of establishing a uniform pitch, but wo may all well doubt if any thing the professional musicians of New Zealand—or, for tho matter of that, Australasia—has to say will affect the question. If the vested interests which are opposed to any alteration can be overcome, it will only bo achieved by a common understanding, and the united action of all the conservatoria, universities, and other schools of music in Europo and America; and, however, desirable, it would scorn the time for this is not yet. As the president said, "tho matter was one of great importance to musicians all over the world," but he got sadly beyond his knowledgo when he asserted that "nearly all musicians in England and on the Continent were in favour it." Twelve months' experience of musical life in London would have saved him from the inconsistencies with which ha sought to support his notion that /the musical pitch should be fixed at C 5. 22. Fortunately, tho common sense of the conference saved the situation by rejecting the motion.

Musical Pitch: The Point at Issue. For public information let us consider the question. Musical pitch is determined by the number of vibrations a string or reed will _ emit in a second of time, when put in motion by drawing a resined bow of hair over- the string, as in a stringed instrument; by forcing air against reeds, as in organs and wood wind-instruments; by the lips vibrating in a cup mouthpiece, as in metal wind instruments; or over any orifice. The difference of opinion, now agitating the musical world, is, .as to whether a high or lower number of air vibrations shall produce and establish the sound of the middle 0 on the pianoforte; the high pitch being approximately C 5.40, and the lower The Advocates of a Lower Pitch. This agitation has been originated mainly by the great public singers, who, after fulfilling an operatic engagement' in the comparatively warm and dry climate of France or Italy, vjicre the lower pitch obtains, are expected, when they accept an engagement to sing in opera in the colder and damper climate of England, to sing in the highest pitch of the musical world. Their example was soon followed by the thousands of mediocre /singers, who, possessing a few good note 3 in tho limited register of their voices, desired to" sing 'the music which tho Great Masters wrote for. finer voices of extended compass. As a. matter of course, these were, for obvious reasons, supported by the great army,of song writers, musicsellers, vocal music teachers, and, later, by tho detestable class of royalty song singera, who demand a royalty fee to imposo a meretricious class of songs upon an ignorant' and credulous musical public. The Opponents of a Lower Pitch. Opposed to this- attempt to lower the musical .pitch are the-, stringed, and wood and metal wind instrumentalists; for whom, after all, the great masters of music -wrote. Many of these, instrumentalists are ■ in..possession ■ of:.. valuable instruments. It is doubtful if they could be replaced by instruments of equal merit, and ,a lower pitch in this modern day. And what owner of a noble violin would bo willing to sacrifice the brilliant tone of his instrument by slackening the tension of the strings to suit tho average voices of choirs and secular choral societies, or the makers of inferior, though perhaps popular, pianofortes? Mr. Webbe stated in his address to the delegates that "ono reason why they could not get the uniform (sic) pitch was that the military band instruments would require to be replaced," and that "the larger orchestras in Great. Britain had two sots of instruments." The writer would have doubted tho last assertion if wo had not Mr. Webbe's word for it, but, anyhow, the statement supports the opposition of the military bauds, which is a truly formidable one, when we consider these number some two hundred. If wo add to these the superior instruments made, and being made, by the great pianoforte firms, and the better class of stringed and wood and metal wind instruments still being made, we will begin to understand that lowering tho musical pitch may mean tho general uso of an inferior mako of musical instruments, the general support of mediocrity, and, as a consequence, the degradation of music as an art.

Mistakes as to Effect of Pitch,

Thero is certainly much to be said in favour of lowering the musical pitch, if only the vested interests opposed to this could be moved to agree to it. It appears to be generally accepted that during tho period from Palestrina to Rossini, tho old masters wrote for tho lower pitch, and tho sin (?) of raising the pitch is to be laid at tho door of the stringed and wind ■ instrunientalists, whoi finding that raising tho pitch gave greater brilliancy of tone, gradually raised it until it reached tho recent pitch of the English Philharmonic Society, viz., C 5.40. Admitting this, it must nevertheless bo added that thoro are many mistaken ideas about the effects of musical pitch. Possibly composers wrote their compositions to bo sung or played in a particular key of a particular pitch. If so, this ia but vaguely understood, and is utterly ignored by executants and vocalists alike, except in regard to tho strain on some voices when singing in tho higher pitch. Writers and those who arrango drawing-room soiigs try to get over this difficulty by publishing their songs in various keys to suit the register of different singers. But a greater difficulty for draw-ing-room vocalists than this question of pitch, and one but imperfectly understood, is the difficulty of. tuning the pianoforte and , •Educated musicians are aware that all these aro imperfect instruments, and cannot bo tuned perfectly, because of tho acoustic difficulty of sub-dividing the thirteen semi-tones of our musical system within the compass of an octave. This necessitates a system of temperation, i.e., dividing this thirteenth semi-tone throughout the octave, which causes the best of such instruments to be, what we call, "out of tune." Vocalists may have observed that the same high note and interval is more easily attacked in one key than in another, and the writer submits that tho reason for this is to be found in this unequal temporation of the thirteen semi-tones in tuning the pianoforte, which causes singers "with a good ear" to shrink from attacking what is thus an imperfect interval. Therefore all vocal music, especially that harmonised in parts, should be sung unaccompanied bv such instruments; an instrumental accompaniment is only to ho tolerated when tlio instruments are a stringed quartet, becausethe violin and its stringed relatives are tho only perfect instruments. Key Not Everything. Somo keys certainly suit certain comnositioug better than others, , in other words, a composition may sound bettor when played by an orchestra in the key of E, than it would if played in tho key of V, but tho question of pitcli has little or nothing to do with this. For instance, as is well known, greater snnorosity is the result of playing a composition in a key in which most of tho instruments of tho orchestra are , playing "open notes," i.e., the wood

and metal wind instruments not using keys or valves, and the stringed instruments without slopping. This affects all instruments, with the. possible exception of tho stringed boxes, such as tho pianoforte. It will thus be understood that transposing a composition into a key a semitone higher, viz., from K to i< , , will not necessarily cause it to sound better when played by an orchestra. While, making this statement, it is admitted that, possibly, if all tho instruments of an orchestra were niado to a pitch half a tone higher than, say, the French (the lowest) pitch, a composition would sound better, but even then, as stated, B would be found to bo a more sonorous key than F. Piano-tuning. Even to tho ordinary musical housewife tins question of musical pitch is of interest, and often a cause of annoyance, because of the various pitches tho different pianoforte makers build their instruments to, but more so becauso of the various tiiniii" lorlis used by the peregrinating tuners. Ims has becomo such a nuisance, that it would bo difficult to find two pianofortes tuned to tho samo pitch, and it is seldom possible to find a drawimj-room pianoforte agreeing in pitch with wind instruments, so that they can bo played together. Pianoforte tuners are sometimes careless or incompetent, especially in country practice and household instruments suffer in consequence Tuners of pianofortes should be licensed, when competent, and this is a subject which the Society of Professioanl Musiwans might well interest themselves in