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Show I MARVELOUS- NEW- MUSICAL. INSTRUMENT. The world does not half appreciate sound, what can be accomplished through It, what the human voice might become If carefully trained through a few generations. The schools should pay much more attention to this, to expand and graduate the voice so that the words of men perfectly per-fectly articulated when spoken should become a habit. A really good reader is very scarce, even among university graduates, and Shakespeare is not half appreciated by the world because the masses of men and women never heard his words with the intonation that brings out their full meaning, spoken. It was better to hear the late great tragedian, Murdock, read Henry IV. than to attend the play and hear it by a company of trained actors, for Murdock could bring out every light and shade of the great master's conception, when he framed the characters and gave them their roles. We are reminded of this by an article in Mc-Clure's Mc-Clure's for July which describes a wonderful new musical instrument, which, if the writer is not mistaken, will soon supply public halls and private pri-vate houses with music as the baker serves, them with bread. And this music is not to come in harsh metallic tones like the music of hand organs or-gans or imperfect musical instruments, but every tone will be absolutely perfect from the very source of sound such as the Morning Stars sang. Every reader will get McClure's and read the article; ar-ticle; but a brief explanation will give an idea of the wonder. It is played from a keyboard the same as is an organ, but the tones are supplied from a basement that is filled with dynamos, that create the separate notes. The invention is by one Dr. Cahill, who long ago, dissatisfied with mu-sic mu-sic from imperfect instruments, took up the Idea that if perfect tones could be created and then adjusted to each other, real music would be secured. se-cured. With that idea he went to work. After twelve years of constant study and application his invention is perfected. It has cost him $200,000. The inventor's first thought was to produce pro-duce an instrument which would produce scientifically scien-tifically pure tones. When a piano key Is struck It starts a vibration in the air which, striking the human ear, makes a m'usical sound. The different differ-ent notes are due to different vibrations. Some strings produce rapid vibrations and we have high notes. Slower vibrations produce lpw notes. When several keys are struck at tho same time the vibrations are blended and we have music. Helmboltz showed that when a note Is struck a ground-tone is produced, consisting of a certain number of vibrations. But co-existent with the ground-tone are others called harmonies which are two, three, four or five times as rapid vibrations. vibra-tions. Electricity travels like sound, in wav.es or vibrations, and Dr. Cahill's idea was to create by electricity the vibrations which each note requires and then to change them into . sound-vibrations. At last he thought of dynamos, and he built them each to give out alternating currents which vibrated vi-brated at a certain rate. Each dynamo gave out vibrations representing a scientifically pure musical mu-sical note. At present Dr. Cahill has 145 pure Each one is connected by a wire to the k jard in another room and are under the di- ofct control of the player. The performer calls out only perfect tones, for every note Is pure; ho plays loud or soft as he pleases, and by telephone transmitters he performs per-forms the music of a grand opera to assembled thousands in a theatre and at the same time plays the same music to a thousand charmed companies In private houses. The claim is that every tone is as pure as it is where music was first born where the dynamos of Summer-land furnish the notes for the organ whose tones fill the shining city with celestial music. The instrument is most wonderful in itself, but what dreams it awakens of the possibilities of the music of the future! All musical instruments are imperfect. Then' when piayed'ln concert there cannot be absolute assimilation of the players; but if a single instrument gives off every tone that can be pro'duced on every instrument, and these in their perfectness can be made to respond to one master hand, every false note, every dls- 1 jH cord eliminated, all in perfect time and with ac- fl cent to follow the masters' thought who can tell jHH what the triumphal airs, what the lullaby music of the future is to be? There is much that is yet rough in the races of men, but they are advancing. The world is being exalted and man unconsciously Is reaching a higher plane. . A ' |
