Evening star., 1954-04-25
News of Music
Dig That Crozy Piono
Yes, Junko Did Improve the keyboard
But Nobody Else Could PIoy on It
By Doy Thorpe

The Barney Neighborhood
House, at 470 N street S.W.. q
social service organization. has
a rare and interesting memen-
to of q completely successful
failure. It is a piano designed
early in this century by Paul
Won Janko, an instrument
Janko was certain would revo-
lutionize piano-playing. That
1t did not, is in no way the
fault of It's design; that it
would not should have been
obvious to its inventor from
the start.
The earliest keyboard in
struments antedate the use OF
the chromatic scale, and there
fore had no "black" keys for
sharps and fats. The two
groups of two and three black
KEYS were not added all at
once. but were evolved over q
period Of many years. The b
fat was first, the e fiat sec
ond. and so on. Therefore 1t
can be seen that the piano
keyboard, though 1t has an
attractive appearance. was not
designed all at stroke with
the best possibilities OF per-
formance in mind. Even
though the scale on a piano
is divided into exactly equal
semitones, the keyboard Is ar
ranged so that different keys
must be fingered differently
and the interval Of a tenth Is
about the maximum that q
composer can count on as be-
ing playable by the average
performer.
Janko decided that the posi-
bilities of piano technique copio
be infinitely expanded II every
kew could be fingered in one
standard manner, and II the
large intervals used in, Tor eX-
ample, string quartet music
were available to each hand OF
the pianist. He designed a
keyboard of six banks OF keys,
alternately colored black ana
white. These banks were not
like the banks of keys on an
organ. but were made OF a
single piece of wood for each
note, like the conventional
piano. However each could be
struck at six different loca-
tions. and the entire keyboard
was perfectly symmetrical.
Imagine a piano Keyboard
like a typewriter keyboard, but
with six rather than four
ranks. The note A could be
sounded by striking the letter c.
or +. or t, or 6, and so on. A
sharp was adjacent but In no
way different. Large intervals
were as easy to reach as small
ones, and every scale lay under
the hand in one unchanging
pattern. Here was a keyboard
that didn't just happen. but
was intelligently planned.
Janko had examples of his
piano made for him by the
Decker Piano Company in New
York. He had been a concert
artist of considerable reputa-
ton on the conventional in
strument, and after mastering
the technique of the Janko
piano, he gave many recitals
to prove the merit Of his in
vention. His playing was for
q while a great rage in London.
But of course the piano,
though it was hardly inferior
to the ideal in the mind of
the inventor, was a failure.
There was nobody to play it.
Those who had acquired the
technique of a conventional
keyboard felt that a single
lifetime was not long enough
to learn the piano twice.
Teachers of the young, notably
a tradition-bound lot, were un-
willing to make the effort to
promote the new instrument.
So far as I know, no one but
the inventor himself ever
learned to play the Janko
piano. Perhaps the one in the
Neighborhood House is the
only Janko not now in a
museum.
No Bing for Baltimore
Its a pretty shabby atti-
tude," said Rudolph Bing, Of
the Metropolitan Opera. when
he heard that the Baltimore
Opera Club had decided not
to raise the guarantee for two
local performances next sea-
son from $4,000 to $4,000.
Its too bad they are so ter
ribly afraid of losing a few
dollars" He added that he was
sorry the people of Baltimore
would be deprived of opera.
Mr.. Bing can deprive Balti-
more of the Metropolitan. but
he can't keep opera out of the
town. He knows. and Frederick
R. Huber, organizer of the
Baltimore Opera Club. knows
that for $4,000 you can buy
two operas as good as the
Met can put on, any day you
feel like listening to them.
Also, the next time you are
solicited for a dollar for the
purpose of saving the Metro
politan, you'd better fork out
at once. There's no point in
running the risk OF being
called shabby"
Seven and Eight
Two of the most popular
larger pieces of chamber music
with strings. the Beethoven
septet and the Schubert octet,
will be heard at the Library of
Congress Thursday. with
repeat performance Friday.