San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1897-01-09
TEACHING BIRDS.
An Interesting Operation That
Requires Much Patience.
A Specially Constructed Organ Is Also
Necessary for the PurpOse-Some
OF the Airs Employed in
the Lessons.

i
one. They are made only in France.
and are imported to this country
in small numbers, as dealers in mu-
steal boxes have few calls for them,
and generally send for them only upon
orders from customers. They are
made solely for teaching tunes to
canaries and bullfinches. A wooden
box about foot square contains a
large roller covered with pasteboard
upon which brass pins are set accord
ing to the system used in preparing
the rolls of music boxes. Beneath the
roller is small pair of bellows, and in
the back of the boz is set row of ten
metal pipes about the size of long
lead pencil. When the crank on the
outside of the box is rapidly turned
wind is forced into the pipes, as the
valves open when the metal tongue be-
longing to each is struck by apin on the
roller. The music is therefore pro-
duced on the principle of set of
Pans pipes, and is very shrill and high,
yet sweet and full.
The ten notes produced by the ten
pipes range from middle G in the staff
to 3, above, or an octave and three notes.
That is, the bird music is written in the
octave used in the musical notation
for the human voice, but properly
would be written in an octave higher
when comparing the voice of a canary
with the voice of a soprano. However,
the quality of the tones differ so great
ly that the shrill, clear pipe of the bird
makes its voice sound as if it were
pitched much higher than is really the
case.
The bird organ is pitched in exact
Iy the same tone and key as the voice
of the canary, or perhaps this is put
ting the cart before the horse, for the
bird strikes faultlessly the key and
tone of the pipes. 1t is more accurate
to say, after all, that on the hand the,
organs are pitched to be with the ca
nary's voice, as the result OF the eX-
perience of the builders, and that the
canary shows wonderful power of i'm
itation in falling i'll with the tone quail
tiles of its teacher. If one note in the
organ is off the key in the slightest de-
gree the bird takes the same tone, and
if it once learns that note wrong it
will always carry the blemish in the
harmony. All of the airs used in these
organs are written in the keys of G,
one sharp, or in c, and as they have
only the range of ten notes, from e
to b, it is very difficult to adapt many
tunes to the limitations of canary
music.
There is dealer in music boxes on
Ridge avenue who sells bird organs"
and writes music for the canary teach
ers. He has a drawer filled with man
uscript music which he has arranged for
use in these bird organs" and he also
puts tunes to order on the rollers. He
has bird organs which pipe roper
toire of seven airs, with "Mulligan
Guards" Yankee Doodle" "a Dream
of Love-" Lucy Gray" down Went
McGinty," and You Can't Play in My
Yard" all on one roller. o.
Zone tune is all that man tries to
teach a canary" he said, land he will
never let the bird hear more than that
one. He keeps the bird in a quiet room
while he is teaching it and doesn'tlet it
hear the voice of another bird. A ca
nary's brain is not very big, and he gets
his musical memory tangled it he hears
more than the same old tune. have
heard of birds that could whistle two
airs, but these are very rare, and it is
a risky undertaking. For when
bird is working on the second tune
he is likely to get mixed with
the first, and then all your troubles
gone for nothing. It's simply ques-
ton of time and patience. You've just
got to play the tune on the organ as
often as you get a chance; the more
the better; you'll grind away for two
or three months, or longer, perhaps for
six months.
'It you have the luck to get a bright
bird, he'll begin to notice the tune in
three months. At first he'll sing two or
three bars, then falter and start over
again. When he has learned the air all
the way through his voice is weak and
uncertain, but it gets stronger and
more confident all the time. When he
once picks it up your troubles are over.
It's simply matter of time and prac-
tice then. It's all luck in getting a
bright bird with a good ear, and the
sweetest singer may turn out failure
as trained soloist. Bullfinches are cas-
ier to teach, but they are so short-liVed
that the results are scarcely worth the
trouble. A canary will keep his voice
and memory for eight or ten years
and he makes the sweetest music in
the world"
The Germans patience and love OF
music make him most successful in the
training of canaries, and nearly all