d had Schubert's _Ave Maria_ recorded by Flesch, MacMillan
and others, and wanted me to play it for him. The records were all
played for me, and whenever he came to the octave passages Edison would
say: 'Listen to them! How badly they sound!' Yet the octaves were
absolutely in tune! 'Why do they sound so badly?' I inquired.

"Then Edison explained to me that according to the scientific theory of
vibration, the vibrations of the higher tone of the octaves should be
exactly twice those of the lower note. 'But here,' he continued, 'the
vibrations of the notes all vary.' 'Yet how can the player control his
fingers in the _vibrato_ beyond playing his octaves in perfect tune?' I
asked. 'Well, if he cannot do so,' said Edison, 'octaves are merely a
nuisance, and should not be played at all.' I experimented and found
that by simply pressing down the fingers and playing without any
_vibrato_, I could come pretty near securing the exact relation between
the vibrations of the upper and lower notes but--they sounded dreadful!
Of course, octaves sound well in _ensemble_, especially in the
orchestra, because each player plays but a single note. And tenths sound
even better than octaves when two people play them.

WIRE AND GUT STRINGS

"You ask about my violin? It belonged to the famous Hawley collection,
and is a Giovanni Baptista Guadignini, made in 1780, in Turin. The back
is a single piece of maple-wood, having a broadish figure extending
across its breadth. The maple-wood sides match the back. The top is
formed of a very choice piece of spruce, and it is varnished a deep
golden-red. It has a remarkably fine tone, very vibrant and with great
carrying power, a tone that has all that I can ask for as regards volume
and quality.

"I think that wire strings are largely used now-a-days because gut
strings are hard to obtain--not because they are better. I do not use
wire strings. I have tried them and find them thin in tone, or so
brilliant that their tone is too piercing. Then, too, I find that the
use of a wire E reduces the volume of tone of the other strings. No
wire string has the quality of a fine gut string; and I regard them only
as a substitute in the case of some people, and a convenience for lazy
ones.

VIOLIN MASTERY

"Violin Mastery? Off-hand I might say the phrase stands for a life-time
of effort with its highest aims unattained. As I see it the achievement