Rensselaer Journal, Volume 10, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 April 1901 — For Stringed Instruments. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

For Stringed Instruments.

Beginners learning to play stringed Instruments have a great deal of trouble wj:lf the ends of their Angers becoming sore until the callouses are formed, and even after the instrument has been mastered to some extent the muscles of the Angers may be weak, necessitating hours of practice to attain the muscular control so necessary in mastering the violin. Then, too, the accuracy of the tone depends solely on the position the Anger takes on the neck, and unless the ear is quick to catch the tone and remedy the discord the player is forced to spend much more time in learning to play. has occurred to an inventor of Syracuse, N. Y., that a keyboard could be utilized to aid the student in mastering

the rudiments, at least, of this difficult instrument His Invention is shown the accompanying illustration, together with ajyoss-section of the neck with two keys in place. It will be seen that the strings are threaded through the center and the action of the finger forces the string against the neck in precisely the same manner as though the key were not there. The device attains two results which should recommend It to the student. It insures perfect accuracy in the tone, and thus trains the ear to aid. the player after the finger hoard has been mastered, and it'aids in strengthening the muscles of the fingers without the accompanying soreness. This soreness at the beginning would tempt the player to slight the pressure even if the muscles were strong. After the ear beoomes trained and the muscles stronger the keyboard may be removed and the player soon masters the remaining difficulties.

FINGER BOARD FOR VIOLINS.