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THE
MUJIC TRADE
VOL. LX1X. No. 1
Published Every Saturday by Edward Lyman Bill, Inc., at 373 4th Ave., New York. July 5, 1919
Single Copies 10 Cents
$2.00 Per Year
The Need for Vocational Training
T
IME and time again there has been brought forward in the industry the question of vocational training
with a view to providing skilled workers for musical instrument factories in the years to come. There
have been notable addresses made on this subject, and some very encouraging resolutions passed, but to
date little definite attempt has been made to organize a system for such training, either in the factory or
through schools supported in whole, or in part, by the industry.
During the past couple of years the trade has learned what a shortage of skilled help really means, and even
with the demobilization of the fighting forces and the release of several millions of men the question of securing
skilled labor has been the dominant one.
Piano makers are not made over night. Even those men required for work common in other classes of
factories, such as finishing, or various types of woodworking, are difficult to obtain and require a certain amount
of special training on piano work. For the processes peculiar to piano factories and other branches of musical
instrument making men must be specially trained.
There has been in the past couple of years much interest manifested in technical education in the music
industry. Conferences of piano technicians have been held in New York and Chicagp, at which the scientific
problems connected with the industry have been gone into more or less thoroughly. This work, of course, is
most commendable, for along scientific lines lies the real opportunity for the development of the piano and kindred
instruments. The crying need of the near future, however, is for the skilled craftsman—the man who is able
to carry out the ideas and plans of the technical authorities. A new scale, a new system of action construction,
a new method of stringing—all are worthy of consideration, but once these new plans are evolved we must fall
back upon the workman to put them into execution on a successful basis. A new scale and the various factors
that enter into its adoption on a practical basis can be considered more or less in a permanent light. Once estab-
lished, workmen, year after year, may follow the plans thus provided, but there must be workmen. That is the
fundamental requirement of piano construction to-day.
In all probability this problem is going to grow. Unskilled men can be obtained, but they must be trained,
and in the factory this is a costly process, not alone for the mistakes they may make, but for the time lost while
they are being developed to a point where they can really produce satisfactorily. Organized vocational training
appears to be the only answer.
The fact must be admitted that the annual labor turnover in the average piano factory is far less than that
in many other lines of manufacture, for the man who is really skilled in any particular branch of the work finds
it to his best interest to remain in one position and thereby profit by his knowledge. For him to go into another
line of business would mean that he probably would have to learn new processes before he could enjoy his full
earning capacity. Unfortunately such men do not live forever, and when they pass on they leave gaps that must
be filled with new workers.
There are numerous jobs in the average piano factory, however, that can be handled by men with very lit-
tle training, and it is this type of worker who becomes restless and is inclined to shift. Keeping such a man satis-
fied could be accomplished by providing a system of vocational training whereby he could develop his skill to a
higher degree in some particular line of piano production, and thereby increase his earning capacity.
Vocational training has to do primarily, of course, with the new man entering the industry, but the scope
of the work can well be extended to provide for the training of the piano worker who stays at some minor task
because he lacks initiative or the opportunity to acquire the knowledge that will enable him to advance.
The National Piano Manufacturers' Association has a resolution on its books providing for the appointment
of a committee to investigate and act upon this question, and there will be plenty for that committee to do when
it is finally appointed.