MUSIC.

Western Star, Issue 1389, 14 September 1889, Page 4

MUSIC.

We here giro Mr B. A. Dickinson’s interesting paper on the above subject, which was read at one of the recent meetings of the Riverton Mutual Improvement Association;— The human ear is an organ of exquisite delicacy. Certain vibrations, or pulsations, of the atmosphere, which wo call sound waves and which we'are not otherwise conscious of; become apparent to us through' this medium. But, like all things human, the ear is very limited in its range and capacity and in respect of the sense of hearing. Though all menmay.be free all men are by no means equal. Paradoxical as it may seam, the music which we hear owes its existence no less to the imperfection of our souse of hearing than it does to the fact of our having what is called an ear for music. We shall be assisted in understanding this by taking into consideration a phenomenon connected with our organs of sight." I think I may venture to say that all of ns, at one time or other, when wo were children, used to play with firesticks, waving them quickly round and round or backwards and forwards, and observing with wonder that the effect produced was either a circle or a hue of light as the case might be. Had wejabsolutely perfect sight we should have seen a moving spark under these circumstances instead of a : circle or a line of light. It would appear, therefore, that the phenomenon I have just described is due to the imperfection of our visual organs. A somewhat similar effect is produced on oUr sense of hearing by a rapid succession of sound waves, namely: When those occur at the rate of somewhere about 33 per second — rate differs with different individuals—we are no longer able to distinguish them separately, but they reveal themselves to us as a continuous sound. This can be demonstrated by an instrument called the siren, which consists of two disks, or round flat pieces of metal or other suitable material, both of which are pierced with holes, the lower disk being stationary and the upper one made to revolve; a pressure of air is kept up by means of a pair of bellows and every time a hole in the upper disk comes exactly opposite to a hole in the lower one the air forces its way through, cousing a viabration. There is a mechanical contrivance attached consisting of a train of wheels and a dial—on the same principal as a gas-metre—which indicates the number of vibrations per second, one vibration or escape of air taking'place at each revolution of the upper disk. The musical note produced by this, or any other instrument when it gives 33 vibrations to the second, is of the same pitch as the lowest C on the piano according to the presanfc standard musical pitch of England adopted by the Society of Arts in 1859. Twioo the number of vibrations, that is 66 per second, produces a note which we call the octave above the first—that is the eighth note. Twice 66 or 133 vibrations per second, gives a note another octave higher, and so on for seven octaves And now we are met by a curious fact which seems almost incredible, viz., that some people have the

capacity for hearing higher notes than others hare, and the high note, which Bounds as a shrill screech to one individual, may be absolute silence to another. An organ is now being built at home for t,he Sydney Town Hall, the lowest pipe of which gives only eight vibrations to the second, being two octaves lower than the lowest 0 on tho piano. Sounded alone this pipe cannot be heard to give a musical note,, but sounded along with other notes it serves to reinforce and enrich them. Theoretically, therefore, tho range of the musical scale, and its repetition by octaves, is infinite, and it is only bounded by tho imperfection of our souses. It is thought by some scientists that similar vibrations or pulsations of the atmosphere to those which cause musical notes, but at a much higher degree of rapidity, are the cause of light. If this is a sonud theory the seven notes in the musical scale, and the seven colors of the rainbow into which light can be divided, may be something move than u mere coincidence. When several instruments; or voices, sound tho same note, that is a note having the same number of vibrations per second, the effect produced is called unison, that is an agreement of sounds. For the sake of illustration wo will say that the sound waves agree together like tho steps of a company of soldiers on the match. When a note is sounded along with its octave, or eighth note above or below, say tbe 0 with 66 vibrations to tho second, along with the 0 above, with 133 vibrations to the second, the sound waves still agree together, but in a different way—one set being twice as long as the other. For the sake of illustration we shall say it is like a man and a boy marching together, the boy taking two steps for everyone taken by tbe man. There are also other sounds, or musical notes, which combine together to form the pleasing effect called concord, or harmony. As for example - -If to 102 we add 33, the result (165 vibrations to the second) gives the musical note E. If to 132 we add 66 the result (168 vibrations to the second) gives the musical note 6. These three note?, C, E and G, sounded together form the cord, which is known to every tyro in the musical art as the common cord, or the cord of the third and fifth. In figured harmony, it is denoted by writing a 5 with a 3 under it. This is the common cord in the key of C. Tho common cord can bo formed with any other key-note, bv adding, to tbe key-note, tho third and fifth notes above. The common cordis the foundation of all harmony. The art of harmonising music may he learned by rule—but tho art of composing original melody belongs to genins alone. Sounds which do not agree together produce what is called discord, dissonance, or mere noise. This is caused by tbe sound waves interfering with, and interrupting each other. Noise, is the chaos of sound, the raw material from which the fairy wand, as it were, of the composer, evolves a beautiful art. Tho art which gives such Unalloyed nlcasnre to tbe human race. “ Tho raptapo that leaves not a sorrow behind.” Onr musical scale contains seven notes, and tbe intervals tbe notes are either whole tones, or semitones. Bui our friends tho Maoris, and tho Chinese, and

some other races, base their music on an entirely different scale from onrs, haring closer intervals, which cannot be expressed by oar musical notation. Our music to them sounds course in the giain, so to speak, while their music to us, hardly sounds like music at all, and this is not to bo wondered at, when we consider how many people of our race sing quite out of time, with the utmost complacence, and that numbers of thorn are totally unable to distinguish the interval of a semitone. Michael William Bnlfe, best known as the composer of the opera of the “ Bohemian Girl,” which was first produced in 1843—and who hailed from the land whose emblem is the harp—had honors conferred on him, during his lifetime, hy tho governments, both of Franco, and of Spain. But bis talents wore never officially recognised, at home, until twelve years after his death, when it was suddenly discovered that he was a great genius, of whom the nation might justly he proud, and a tablet was then erected to his memory in Westminster Abbey. How different is tho treatment afforded to the eminent musicians of the present day. These have been taken out of the cold shade of tho patronage of the aristocracy, and their obsequious imitators of the middle classes, tn bask in tbe sunshine of Royal favor.’’ Music is a solace to those who have the cares of state upon their shoulders. It also refreshes tho mind of the professional man and the man of business. It lightens the faiigne of the soldier on the march, and of the sailor when weighing anchor or pulling on the braces end halyards. It affords an innocent relaxation to people of all ranks and classes, and depend upon it that those who can whistle or sing while they carry on their ordinaiy avocations are tho happiest people in tho world. There may be some who look upon music as only a form of idleness ami a mere waste of time that, might well be more profitably employed; to such I would say thai, unless the human race are to he judged a« if they were mere cattle, the beautiful must always he included with the useful. I would also remind them of the proverb *' all p;otk and no play wakes Jack a dull boy,”

If, therefore, einging or playing on a musical instrument will, make Jack less dull it must follow that it will be'profitable for him to spend time in doing so. Those who are deal, no doubt, can manage to exist without music, but they are rather to be pitied-thah congratulated on that account. Music Is tb nfanyj jit,'pot aJ.fQod,\ at leasts a, medicine!. When Saul was troubled with an evil spirit, David was brought before him to play on the harp, and the evil- spirit departed from him ; and do we not even pacify peevish children by singing to them, or by giving them say a tin can, or a tea tray and a spoon, to play with that their' attention may be distracted from theif-iittle troubles to tko‘enjoyment of such rudmentary music as is suited to their undeveloped faculties ? The child being father to the man, can we wonder if the taste for vocal and instrumental mnaic, acquired so early, should cling to us all our days ? The great masters—Corelli, Handle, Haydn, Beethoven and Mozart —appear to have got down-to the bed rook of the art, and no great advahoehas been made in it since their day, except in the stylo of delivery, methods of imparting instruction, and the perfecting of musical instruments. Music is the art of arts, because it owes less to nature aud more to art than any •£ the other arts. The painter and the sculptor have the' beautiful forms of nature first to copy, and afterwards to idealise. But mere sound, fleeting as a shadow, is all the material the musician has to work upon. Music has been called the architecture of sound, and it would be difficult to find a more appropriate definition; but music is one thing, and talk about; music is something very different. Anything that can be written, or said, about 'music is not worth an old song.