The Music Master

by F. L. Wallace

Much of his time he now spent in the experimental lab. He puttered with sound and electronics in a seemingly aimless fashion. Outwardly nothing came of this; in six months his interest waned. But in that period he had built, secretly, a small device.

It was not altogether new; it was a combination of several existing sound systems, adapted to his purpose. But the application of the device, that was new.

It did not exist by and for itself; it was a supplement to an existing musical instrument, the piano. It changed the range of the familiar instrument, extended it, developed it.

Danny concealed the electronic device in his room. Piece by piece he took it to the Music Hall and installed it in the piano. When he finished, to all outward appearances, the piano was unchanged.

Hidden in the legs, concealed in the lid, disposed of in various places, his attachment was safe from all but x-ray inspection. And on such a time honored instrument that kind of an examination wasn't likely.

The switch had posed a problem. It couldn't be a mechanical type; that was too difficult to hide. And even the best hidden switch might accidentally be turned on.

A sonic switch was the answer. A complete melody which, when played through, would actuate his invention. The new sound system would then be coupled to the old piano and a twenty-third century instrument would be in operation. A piano, but more than the piano, beyond it. To himself Danny called it a meta piano.

The requirements of the actuating melody, the key that would operate the sonic switch, were simple. It had to be a melody that was never played. Something that had never been recorded in pre-music robot days, or one of which no record had survived.

Danny could read music, an accomplishment he'd taught himself. He visualized a printed score he had once seen in a museum. He ran over it once in his mind and he played it on the piano. The blank tape that was a part of sounds were impressed on the his device.

The melody was keyed in; thereafter, when it was played once, his invention would be ready for operation. A time lapse would switch it off.