STAGE AND SCREEN
The Chamberlain Touch
THERE is no subject upon which pianists are so touchy as that of " touch." They like to think, and they like others to think, that there is some mysterious power in their fingers that can directly control the quality of tone produced by the impact of the hammer on the string. It may be that this belief is a survival from the technique of clavichord playing. For in the clavichord the key or rocker has fixed at its end a tangent (a thing that touches), whose contact with the string causes it to vibrate. In this instrument, therefore, it is possible to produce various effects by different kinds of pres- sure. A glance at the action of the pianoforte will show that here no such possibility exists. The hammer is a free and independent part of the mechanism, which is thrown up against the string when the key is struck. Once the impulse is given, there is no possibility of controlling what happens afterwards.
Yet whenever this self-evident fact is remarked, there is sure to be an angry protest from pianists, who seem to imagine that some slur is being put upon them. The other day Sir James Jeans poked an umbrella into this hornet's nest, and before the day was out an angry buzzing was heard. Two well-known pianists, who had evidently not heard what the distinguished scientist had said, but relied upon a probably garbled report, expressed themselves to an importunate jour- nalist in terms that were more vigorous than thoughtful. Had they considered the subject calmly, it might have occurred to these objectors that this was precisely a mechanical question, whose correct answer is scientifically demonstrable and, in fact, has been demonstrated by photo- graphs of the sound-waves produced by eminent pianists striking a note and those produced by dropping weights upon the key. It was possible to produce sound-waves by the second process that matched in every particular those pro- duced by the human finger. From this premise it was argued that the sole factor in the production of pianoforte-tone is the amount of force applied to the key, and that variations of tone are obtained by variations of that force. Sir James Jeans then seized upon a popular symbol of the day, and declared that, so long as the right degree of force was applied, it did not matter whether the key was struck with the player's finger or with the end of his umbrella.
What Sir James did not say, and was most careful to guard against implying, was that Mr. Chamberlain could get the same results from a pianoforte by plying his totem as the pianists do with their ten fingers. If we look at the matter objectively, there is nothing in Sir James's statement that belittles the pianist's art which in the great executants must always evoke the wonder of mere fumblers. There are variations of tone and grades of colour, but they are produced not by any magic in the pianist's fingers, but by an exact control of the force with which they strike the keys.
It might seem that the easily demonstrable fact that the striking of a note or chord with stiff arm and wrist will produce a hard and ugly tone, whereas the loosening of the arm and wrist will result in a round and pleasant tone, goes some way towards disproving the scientist's contention. But a little consideration will show that in the one case the hammer is thrown up with a sudden jerk, whereas in the other it is more gently impelled. It is the application of a different degree of energy that produces the variation in tone.
It is necessary to qualify this simplification, if simplification it really be, of touch by reference to the complications intro- duced by a series of notes, by the varying degrees of force applied to the several notes in a chord and by the use of the sustaining pedal. The last plays an enormous part in pro- ducing those shades of colour which we loosely credit to the pianist's fingers. As to the others, Sir James Jeans was careful to apply his umbrella only to single notes. In a series, he went on, the player wants his hand to be in such a position that he can strike the next note at the right instant with the right degree of force. But here we enter another field, that of phrasing, where the art of the pianist really begins and his scope for individuality of expression lies.
DYNELEY HUSSEY.
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