Classic Mode

Music Trade Review

Issue: 1921 Vol. 73 N. 25

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE
RMFW
fflJJIC TIRADE
VOL LXXHI. No. 25
Published Every Saturday by Edward Lyman Bffl, Inc., at 373 4th Ave., New York.
Dec. 17, 1921
8ln
10 Cents
«* 92.00 Per Year
Vocational Training in the Piano Trade
R
ECENT developments in the piano manufacturing trade of the country, and particularly in the East,
make it appear as though the question of vocational training, with a view to providing a sufficient
supply of skilled workers for piano plants, is again a matter of moment. Vocational training is not
in any sense a new subject in the trade. It has been discussed for many years, and preliminary plans
looking to definite methods for training piano workers have been presented. To date, however, with
the exception of schools for player action regulation and repair, maintained by private concerns for the benefit
of operating tuners, and at least one similar class conducted for several years in the Evening Trade School by
the City of New York, there has been nothing definitely done to bring young men into the industry and by
proper training make them available to the trade and able to realize earnings sufficiently large to keep them
within its ranks.
For some time past, and with the beginning of the Fall business revival, the problem of securing sufficient
skilled workers for a number of the piano factories, particularly in the East, has been a rather serious one, for,
although few, if any, of the plants have been operating on anything like normal capacity, there developed a
sufficient demand before September first at least to make greater production desirable.
As was pointed out by The Review some weeks ago, the scarcity of skilled workers made it almost
impossible to enlarge factory forces sufficiently to increase output to any material degree, and the result was
that in many cases orders began piling up in factories at an annoying rate even though the volume of orders
as such might be considered subnormal.
The employing executives of various piano manufacturing plants, who have made more or less extensive
investigations have found that their most skilled men in some instances have found their talents fully appre-
ciated in other lines. Capable workers in the finishing departments, for instance, have found they can depend
upon steady employment in the work of finishing and refinishing automobile bodies, and other finishers have
been able to find permanent places in casket manufacturing plants. Woodworkers—that is, employes in the mill
rooms—also went into other branches of the woodworking industry when piano factory staffs were cut down
and organizations were practically dissolved.
Those who have specialized in their efforts to recruit piano workers have in a great measure given up
hope of bringing back any of the skilled piano workers from many industries except under almost prohibitive
guarantees of steady employment and substantial wages. To train new men for skilled work is a long, slow
process, but it is admitted that some form of efficient vocational training is likely to be the only permanent
solution of the problem. It would seem that the committees representing the local and national associations of
piano manufacturers might do well to resume activities and give the matter some consideration.
The problem is one of interest to the retailer as well as to the manufacturer, because when he is ordering
on a conservative basis it is a rather vital matter for him to get pianos from the factory promptly and when he
wants them. If his orders have to be placed on file and wait several weeks before being filled, then the retailer is
facing loss in business and loss in profits.
It is this conservative policy in ordering on the part of many retailers that is largely responsible for the
manufacturers' dilemma. Failing in many instances to anticipate requirements and ordering only as immediate
necessity demanded, the retailers gave the factories little encouragement to keep operating on even a fairly
normal basis. The result was that in many cases factory forces were disorganized because skilled workers
could not be carried on the payroll indefinitely with nothing or next to nothing to do.
With factory forces once scattered to the four winds it is a heartbreaking problem to reorganize, and
it means that new blood must be brought into the industry to replace those trained workers who have settled
in other fields. Vocational training of some sort or another is the answer.
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE
MUSIC
TRADE
REVIEW
PUBLISHED BY EDWARD LYMAN BILL, Inc.
President and Treasurer, C. L. Bill, 373 Fourth Ave., New York; Vice-President,
T. B. Spillane, 373 Fourth Ave., New York; Second Vice-President, Raymond Bill, 373
Fourth Ave., N«w York; Secretary, Edward Lyman Bill, 373 Fourth Ave., New York;
Assistant Treasurer, Wm. A. Low.
J- B. SP1IXANE, Editor
RAY BILL, B. B. WILSON, BRAID WHITE, Associate Editors
WILSON D. BUSH, Managing Editor
CARLETON CHACE, Business Manager
L. E. BOWERS, Circulation Manager
Executive and Reportorial Staff
REVIEW
DECEMBER 17, 1921
machines increased over 800 per cent in a period of seven or eight
years, piano production remained practically stationary. This fact
is deeply significant, for, although the cost of good pianos may be
calculated to place them beyond the reach of the class of buyers
of the cheaper styles of talking machines, there should be a sufficient
development of interest in pianos and players, if only in proportion
to the increase in population, to warrant greater demand and con-
sequently greater production. If we step into the automobile field
we will find that automobile production up to this year increased
by leaps and bounds, and cars are not usually purchased by the poor.
The question of increased production is a vital one to all
divisions of the trade. If the retailer is willing to accept a smaller
profit per instrument or cut down selling costs for the sake of realiij-Ki
ing greater ultimate profits on increased sales volume, the manu-
facturer will in turn be able to operate his plant efficiently, cut down
the overhead and order from the supply man in advance and in
sufficient quantities to win price concessions.
£DWARD VAN HABLINGEN, V. D. WALSH. £ . B. MUNCH, LEE ROBINSON, C. R. TIGHE,
EDWARD LYMAN BILL, SCOTT KINOWILL, THOS. W. BRESNAHAN, A. J. NICKLIN.
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Lyman Bill, Inc.
Departments conducted by an expert wherein all ques-
tions of a technical nature relating to the tuning,
regulating and repairing of pianos and player-pianos
Player-Piano and
ICCnOlCal U e p a r i m e i l l S
are
dealt with, will be found in another section of
this paper. We also publish a number of reliable technical works, information
which will be cheerfully given upon request.
concerning
Exposition Honors Won by The Review
Grand Fris
Paris Exposition, 1900 Silver Medal
Charleston Exposition. 1902
Diploma...,.Pan-American
Exposition, 1901 Gold Medal
St. Louis Exposition, 1904
Gold Medal—Lewis-Clark Exposition, 1905
LONG DISTANCE
Vol. LXX1II
TELEPHONES—NUMBERS 5882—5988 MADISON
Connecting all Departments
Cable Address: "Elbill, New York"
NEW YORK, DECEMBER 17, 1921
SQ.
No. 25
MODERN MERCHANDISING IDEAS
EVERAL piano retailers in various sections of the country have
proven that it is possible not only to sell pianos without throwing
in several dollars' worth of accessories, but actually to make the
purchaser pay the freight and delivery charges from the factory. In
other words, they have proven that it is possible to sell pianos
f. o. b. factory.
In the face of this we still find music merchants either so mis-
trustful of their selling ability or afraid of competition that "they
have gotten back to the old basis of practically furnishing the music
room for every piano purchaser. An experienced retailer who has
adopted new methods declares that the solution of the selling problem
is not giving away expensive benches, rolls and scarfs with instru-
ments, but rather of taking from the list price of the instrument
the cost of these articles. This method gives the customer something
tangible upon which to base his calculation. If the total amount is
$20, then he feels that he has saved $20, and is not very liable to
offer an argument against the benches and the rolls.
Some years ago the average piano merchant who insisted on
the "throw-in" plan argued that it had always been done and that
he couldn't go against precedent. Following the experience of the
past several years that argument does not hold water. The piano
merchant has had a new deal. If he is wise he will take advantage
of it.
S
THE NEED FOR GREATER PRODUCTION
ICHARD W. LAWRENCE, in an interview in The Review
last week, hit the nail on the head when he declared that what
was needed in the piano trade was more production, not simply with
the idea of building up production figures for the gratification of
the trade, but for the very practical purpose of reducing manu-
facturing and selling costs and putting pianos and player-pianos in
a price position where they will appeal to new and larger classes of
prospective buyers.
The significant fact is that, although the production of talking
R
BROADENING THE TRAVELERS' ASSOCIATION
T
H E suggestion made by Alex. S. Shoninger, president of the
National Piano Travelers' Association, in a recent speech in
Chicago, and again in a special article in The Review this week, to
the effect that the scope of the Travelers' Association be broadened
to make eligible to membership in that organization all wholesale
travelers in the music industry, regardless of whether they sell pianos
alone or whether they sell supplies, music rolls or any other musical
goods, will certainly be received with much interest by members
of the traveling fraternity.
The idea, which may be said to have been officially crystallized
by Mr. Shoninger, is not exactly a new one, for it has been tentatively
suggested on previous occasions that the Association be enlarged
to take in other groups of trade travelers, although it must be ad-
mitted that much opposition quickly developed among the conserva-
tive element of the Association against the move.
The situation in the music industry is much different than it
was when the Travelers' Association was first formed. Then each
trade division had its own association and was in almost every
sense distinct and apart. The piano manufacturers kept more or
less to themselves, so did the piano merchants and later the music
roll men. Now, however, we have the Chamber of Commerce, which
has brought together all these various interests, and we have the
Merchants' Association accepting as members all legitimate retailers
of musical goods, whether they handle pianos, talking machines,
musical merchandise or sheet music.
Some charter members of the Travelers' Association have re-
cently been quite emphatic in their opposition to any change in the
original by-laws of the Association that would let down the bars.
But the times have changed. It is not a question of this or that trade
but rather of the music industry, and it seems reasonable to assume
that the Travelers' Association should keep step with the procession.
Certainly President Shoninger's ideas should receive the earnest
consideration of those who are interested, both in the Travelers'
Association and in the welfare of the industry as a whole.
THE DEMAND FOR SMALL GRANDS
T
HE steady and increasing demand for small grand pianos may
almost be said to offer one of the puzzles of the trade just at pres-
ent, for in the face of general conditions that, although improving, are
far from normal, and of a trade situation that is encouraging rather
than good, the factories and factory departments specializing upon
grands have been hard put to meet demands and have in many cases
been forced to run on an overtime basis and to apportion available
stock. It has been estimated that 25 per cent of the piano output to-
day represents grand pianos, but it would seem from experience as
though that estimate was really most conservative. When piano
houses plead for small grands to be shipped one at a time by
express and have to use the telegraph continually in order to keep any-
where near up to the demand the situation is one that is worthy
of interest. The small grand, though it gives excellent value, is not
from a dollars-and-cents standpoint a cheap product, that is, cheap
in the sense of being within the reach of the majority of buyers. The
strong appeal of the small grand, therefore, to those in a position
to buy such an instrument reflects most emphatically the success of
the efforts of the manufacturers and retailers in educating the public
to the small grand idea. It is an educational campaign that has paid.

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