A NEW KEYBOARD FOR THE PIANO.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 9117, 16 May 1891, Page 6 (Supplement)

A NEW KEYBOARD FOR THE PIANO.

, An invention by Herr Paul yon Janko of a I new form of keyboard for the pianoforte, ; which if it should ever come into general | use will create nothing less than a revolution t in the technique of the instrument, is de- , scribed by the Manchester Guardian. It is , so entirely different from the ordinary key- ', board that without considerable practice \ even the most expert pianist of to.day are, > our oontemporary says, unable to play upon \lit at all We have six rows of keys occupying a space considerably less in width than the ordinary keyboard. For an octave on the Yon Janko system extends only to about 12 centimetres, while the ordinary piano demands 16J for the same range. The economy of space' is due to the fact that there are only six keys in the octave of any one row. On the ordinary clavier there are, of course, seven white keys with five black keys inserted by cutting away portions of the white keys. Yon Janko, however, needs two rows of keys for hiß complete octave, and these two are in form exactly alike. None are raised above the others, but all oocupy the same plane. Each note is separated from the nearest by an interval of two semitones. Thus the lowest row of the six manual give this succession of sounds—o, D, E, F sharp, G sharp, A sharp. The row immediately above would give 0 sharp, D sharp, F, G, A, B. The whole of the chromatic scale oan therefore be played by striking alternately the keys on the two lower manuals. Each key, however,' is so formed that it may be struck at three different points—it rises by stages, as it were, and may be used at the convenience of the performer either as belonging to the first, third, and fifth row, or to the second, fourth, and sixth. In other words, though there appear to be six set of keys, there are in reality only two, because the same ke>y may be struck, according to the convenience of the player, upon any one of three differ rent rows. It is contended that this arrangement affords great facility for fingering, and that it lends itself to the anatomical strucrture of the hand, the fingers of which may all be extended in a natural fashion, using the most convenient manual on which to strike any particular key, while the thumb as naturally confines itself to the lower Btages. As the 12 keys of the octavo are disposed in two rows, six in each, within a more limited space than hitherto, it is obvious that the span of the. hand will cover a larger interval on the Yon Janko piano than on the ordinary instrument. Many chords, which have hitherto been possible to be played only as arpeggios or in a sweeping fashion, may on the new instrument be simultaneously struck. Even very young pupils can easily span the octave, and this has some advantage as compared with the present form of keyboard. Another feature of the new clavier is that the surfaces of the keys are all rounded—they are not flat as hitherto, but the middle portion of the key is slightly higher than either of the sides. It is contended that one advantage of this form is that the sense of touch always enables ths performer to be sure that the key is struck in its natural position in the middle. A further advantage olaimed is that the finger can never be jammed between black keys, as is sometimes the case on the ordinary piano. All these claims must be tested by the result of experience. There is one feature about, the naw keyboard, however, which must bring tidings of joy to the future student. The fingering is the same in all keys, and transposition from one key to another may be easily effected. Who that remembers th» hours of enforced labour spent on hateful scale-practice will not welcome a system of fingering by which only one form of the major and one form of the minor scale need be mastered ? It Beems almost too good to be true, but it is a fact that the fingering ' o f all scales in either mode is the same o^ the Yon Jank6 keyboard. —The following are the principal rivers of the world, with their lengths in English miles:—Amazon, 3270; Obi, 2800 • Nile 2750; Yang-tße kiang, 2700; Lena, 2500; Hoang-ho, 2400; Niger, 2300; Mississippi, 2250; Amoor, 2240; Rio Plata, 2130; Yeneßei, 2100; Volga, 1990; St. Lawrence, 1930; Indus, 1720. —It haa been estimated that 23,000,000 bushels of oysters aro opened annually in the United States, and that this represents an ooumulation of shells amounting to not less ' than 243,300,000 oubio feet, which if spread out would oover a Bpace of more than 450,000yda Bquare to a depth of 3ft.