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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
EDWARD LYMAN BILL - Editor and Proprietor
J. B. SPILLANE, Managing Editor
Executive and Reportorlal Staff :
B. BBITTAIM WILSON,
CAKLETON CHACS.
L. M. ROBINSON,
A. J. NicKLiN,
AUGUST J. T m r i ,
BOSTON OFFICE:
'OHM H. WILSON, M4 Washington St
J
, _ . .
•» * • « A «• *»
p
GLAD HBNPUSON,
WH. B. WHITE.
L. E. B o w i n
CHICAGO OFFICE:
v
* " HA.LINGM. 87 South Wabash Aye
** KNK Y 5« it. ING W I L L , A-MOClfttfe
Telephone, Main 6950.
R o o m g 0 J 7 Telephone, Central 414
PHILADELPHIA:
MINNEAPOLIS a n d ST. PAUL:
ST. LOUISt
R. W. KAUFPMAN.
ADOLF EDSTEN.
SAN FRANCISCO: S. H. GRAY, 88 Pint St.
CINCINNATI, O.: JACOB W. WALTEKS,
BALTIMORE. MD.i A. ROBEBT F I I N C B .
CLYM JENNINGS
DETROIT. MICH.: M o u u J. WMITK.
INDIANAPOLIS, IND4 STANLEY H. SMITH
MILWAUKEE. W I S . : L. E. MIYXS.
LONDON, ENGLAND: 1 Gresham Buildings, Baiinghall St., E. C.
Published Every Saturday at 378 Fourth Avenue, New York
Entered at the New York Post Office as Stcond Ckus Matter.
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ADVERTISEMENTS, $2.60 per inch single column, per insertion.
On quarterly «r
yearly contracts, a special discount is allowed. Advertising Pages, $76.00.
REMITTANCES, in other than currency forms, should be made payable to Edward
l,yman Bill.
Departments conducted by an expert wherein all quel
PianA •nil
t i o n s o f a technical nature relating to the tuning, regu-
lating and repairing of pianos and player-pianos are
y
dea j t
with
will b e f o u n d
in another
section of tus
paper. We also publish a number of reliable technical works, information concerning which
will be cheerfully given upon request.
Exposition Honors Won by The Review
Grmnd Prix
Paris Exposition, 1900
Silver M«/«/.. .Charleston Exposition, 1808
Diploma... .Pan-American Exposition, 1001
Gold Medal
St. Louis Exposition, 1004
Gold Medal..Lewis-Park Exposition. 1908
LONG DISTANCE TELEPHONES-NUMBERS 8982-5983 MADISON SQUARE
Connecting all Departments.
Cable a d d r e s s : "Elblll, N e w York."
NEW Y O R K , A U G U S T 16, 1 9 1 *
EDITORIAL
T
HE annual convention of the American Guild of Piano Tuners
held last week in Cleveland, O.—regardless of the repre-
sentative character or the aims and objects of that body—came close
to being an ideal convention of those associated in one branch of
the trade, owing to the personal character of the various discussions
entered into during the meetings. It has been the practice of the
Guild at its annual meetings to arrange for addresses by men recog-
nized as authorities on the matters on which they spoke, and the
latest convention was no exception. The greatest benefit derived
from the various addresses, however, lay in the discussions that
followed regarding the different points brought out.
The tuners were not asked to accept the statements offered as
simple facts not open to argument, but were encouraged to ask
questions and present their own personal views, with the result that
the delegates left the convention room with a first-class idea of
what the addresses had consisted of and generally were the posses-
sors of increased knowledge regarding the complex features of their
calling.
One paper, intelligently presented and carefully discussed in a
manner to afford a perfect understanding of the various points
brought out, is worth a dozen papers read in a monotone before a
more or less indifferent audience. Probably a page taken from the
tuners' book would prove effective in adding interest to the con-
ventions of the National Association of Piano Merchants, a matter
that is attracting much attention from those interested in the future
growth and welfare of that organization.
I
N speaking of the convention of the tuners, it would be gratify-
ing to sec some movement tending to provide for a certain
standard among those tuners who profess to be capable of repairing
player-pianos of various models. The Guild, if it secures the proper
support and carries out conscientiously its aims and objects, as set
forth in its constitution, can undoubtedly accomplish much in the
way of placing the profession of piano tuning on a higher plane
.and routing out the "fakes" and incompetents. Such work should
be of great interest to both the manufacturer and the retailer, for
the incompetent tuner can do much to damage the tone of the high-
est class of piano both before and after it goes into the home of the
final purchaser, and thereby hurt the reputation of the instrument.
That a man is a good and capable tuner does not signify, how-
ever, that he is competent to take charge of and repair a player-
piano that is out of order, no matter how far his egotism may carry
him in that belief. To qualify as a player repairman the tuner
should have an intimate knowledge of all the leading models of
player actions, knowledge gained in the repair department of the
local piano stere, or through visits to various factories where the
officials are always willing to receive the ambitious tuner and ex-
plain the details of the mechanism for his benefit.
The writer has personal knowledge of several cases where the
taking of money by the tuner for alleged repairs to player-pianos
has been in the nature of fraud, for the tuners operated on sheer
guesswork and without practical knowledge of what they were
doing, and consequently with unsatisfactory results. Player knowl-
edge is a broad subject, but it has grown to a point where the local
man should know something about the repair of such an instrument
and not force the owner to send to larger cities or even to the fac-
tory for competent workmen.
The number of incompetent tuners is large, but the number of
incompetent player mechanics is far greater and they do much to
arouse distrust regarding the craft as a whole. In working for a
standard of player-knowledge among its members, the American
Guild of Piano Tuners will have a hard but important duty to
perform.
In lending their assistance to such a movement the manu-
facturers of player actions and player-pianos will aid their own
cause materially. Even in the best players there are minor troubles
bound to occur which call for competent attention.
The importance of this subject has long been emphasized by
The Review, and it was with the object of enlightening piano tuners
and others and stimulating them to a better knowledge of player
irechanisms that this office produced technical works from time to
time—books whose value has been acknowledged by an army of
ambitious piano workmen.
T
HE death of Robert C. Ogden, who for so many years, as resi-
dent manager, guided the destinies of the Wanamaker in-
terests in New York, which was recorded in last week's Revfew,
brings to mind not only his great.public service as educator and
philanthropist, but also the fact that it was under his direction that
the 1 Wanamaker house entered on the retailing of pianos about
thirteen years ago.
When the agency for the Chickering, Angelus, and other well-
known instruments was assumed by Wanamaker, the wise ones pre-
dicted that it was the beginning of the end in the piano trade—that
pianos would be handled like hardware, or drygoods—in brief, in
the usual department store style.
At the very start, however, Robert C. Ogden emphasized that
the piano department of Wanamaker would be a complete retail
store in itself, conducted in sympathy with the traditions of the
trade, but along distinctly progressive lines.
The success achieved is history. It was under the sympathetic
administration of Mr. Ogden that the artistic policy of the house
was so forcefully maintained both in the admirably written adver-
tising presented and in providing artistic demonstrating and display
quarters.
In the years previous to his retirement from Wanamaker's,
Robert C. Ogden was keenly interested in the piano department of
the business and contributed many valuable ideas which were uti-
lized to good advantage both in regard to the selling and advertising
policies -of the house.
He was a man of broad sympathies, whose relaxation from
intense business activity was devoted to helping others. From the
period almost immediately following the Civil War, Mr. Ogden
interested himself in the improvement of public education in the
South and to that object he gave of his time, energy and exceptional
talent for organization in increasing measure. As head of the Con-
ference of Education in the South, president of the Southern Edu-
cation Board and as trustee of the Hampton and Tuskegee Insti-
tutes he accomplished an educational work which constitutes a unique
personal memorial