The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-09-30

Predecessors of the Instrumcnt-HoN
IL Was Evolved From the Bow OF
the SAVAGE
From the New York Tribune.

the savage.
From the New York Tribune.
The musical instrument is more deserv-
ing Of study than the pianoforte. and no
instrument Of music repays study prop
erly conducted more generously. Its
foundation principle is as old as music it
self, and mechanical skin. inventive in
Senuity and scientific learning have work
ed together for centuries to develop and
apply this principle, until now the instru-
ment which embodies ID I'm its highest
potency IS become a Veritahle microcosm
OF the musical art 1t is the purpose of
thls article 20 outline its gem
esis, or at least to point out some of its
progenitors in the remote and nearer past.
The pianoforte is an instrument whose
tones are produced by the vibration of
strings caused by blows from hammers
controlled by levers called keys The
tones are augmented by a sounding board
and their dynamic Crada ton is accom-
pllshed 10y varying the energy of the blow
or the hammer and the use of the pedals
one of which controls the hampers which
check the excessive vibration of the
strings. while the other shifts the key
board so that single string may be
struck In those portions of the scale in
which duplicate or triplicate systems are
employed
As tone production is the first step in
music, the first principle to be inquired in
10 is that of Migratory strings. In this
branch of the investigation the piauoforte
is found 10 belong to numerous tribe of
instruments whose origin was doubtless
analogous The members of this family
may be classified as follows Stringed in
struments of the viol family yield tones
when their strings are rubbed: those OF
the harp family when they are twanged or
plucked, of the dulcimer family when they
are struck. There were members of the
second and last families among the hstor-
ic predecessors of the pianoforte. or the
first two classes there is another subdi-
vision growing out of the fact that some
instruments yield many more tones than
they have strings, through the medium of
a fineer-b board which enables the player
10 shorten the vibrating segment of the
string by pressure" stopping as IL Is
technically called. All these Instruments
are interrelated, and tine pianoforte, in the
course of its long history. has embodied
all their fundamental principles. The
common practice of boys where the bow
is still popular toy. and of savages who
use the bow as weapon, the testimony of
ancient poets and the evidence of ancient
sculptures and mural paintings agree in
pointing TO the fact that the first stringad
who play with the bow find amusement In
plucking the string and catching the faint
musical tone which results by putting the
bent wood between their teeth or pressing
it against an ear The savage probably did
the same thing ages ago. He certainly
does it to-day. An instrument which is
called a guitar of the Yaquima Indians Is
at the Smithsonian Institution at Wash
ington where it Is preserved.
1t Is a bow with peg which can be
turned to tighten the string. II is held
between the teeth and while the right
hand twangs the string the left Is slipped
along it to vary the tones. Travellers have
found half a dozen tribes in Africa whose
principal instrument of music is little else
than bow The Damaras use the same
bow in making music that they do in war
and on the chase. The N-Kungo of the
Angola country shows a step In advance
of the most primitive form. The string
is drawn toward the wood by a bit Of
twisted fiber (Which is also the material
of the string), and by hollow gourd is
fastened to the wood to act as resona-
tor This form Of sound-box is also found
on the most admired of the Hindoo in
struments the Vina and the African xyl-
ophone. The sculptures and mural paint
ings of Egypt show the progressive steps
in the development of the harp from the
bow of the savage. The development Is
bow and the gourd Is exchanged for a
sound-box, which becomes part of the in
strument itself instead of an appendage
to it, musical bow with more than one
string is rudimentary harp.
There is an old story TO the effect that a
patriotic Irishman. who was In the habit
of finding the origin Of everything beauti-
full in his native isle, described the piano
forte as an Irish harp put in a box and
rIo nv 6QgrrtntiOu
barring the patriotic element in II, is not
altogether inept, but the lTishman, in his
enthusiasm, overlooked one of the points
of distinction between stringed instru-
ments TO which attention has been called
The strings of the harp are plucked, while
those Of the pianoforte are struck. The
harp family, having given us the principle
of a stretched string as a medium of tone
production, has done its duty i'm this
study. and Is dismissed to make way for
lhe instrument whose strings arc sounded
bv being struck. picture Of
an ancient Assyrian gentleman may
be found any day In the British Museum
walking i'm a procession pictured on a
bass-relief, supposed to he a representation
of triumphal celebration in honor Of
Soas-du- hin whose reign We are told,
began 667 years before Christ
He Is a member of the band and It Is
assumed in this study that he is pounding
the strings Of dulcimer suspended before
him with his right hand, while his left is
used as q damper on the strings.
The true prototype OF the pianoforte
among the semi-developed Instruments Of
the classic and early Christian times was
the dulcimer, an instrument still popular
in the Orient and among the Hungarians
1t Is a sound-box over which strings are
stretched which are played on by means
of two hammers held IN the hands OF the
player The Persian type of the instru-
ment Is called Santir The Greeks called
one of their instruments Of the dulcimer
kind "psalterion." whence we have the
psaltery Of the English Bible. The ItaI-
ians call II "dolcemelo;" the under Ger
mans "Hackbrett." that is backing-board,
or chopping hoard. probably because of the
motion of the players hands in action.
The Hungarians. with whom II Is an in
tegraI part OF every gypsy band. call It
cymbal and rs effects are initiated by
List in some of his Hungarian rhapso-
dies Apply keys and hammer acton 10
the dulcimer and we have the essential
parts of a panoforte The German in
ventor of the pianotorte dhe instrument
was independently invented by an Italian
Christofori about 1909; a Frenchman. Ma
r3,,s 1915 aud German Gpbroafar "a