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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
DECEMBER 24, 1921
CLEVELAND ASSOCIATION STARTS DRIVE FOR MEMBERS
Plans to Increase the Membership and Value of Cleveland Music Trade Association Made at De-
cember Meeting—Test Acoustics of City Hall—Local Dealers PLeased With Business
CLEVELAND, OHIO, December
19.—A campaign
for new members of the Cleveland Music Trade
Association was started at the December meet-
ing of that body here this week. The move is
inspired by the offer of M. V. DeForeest, of
DeForeest & Son, Sharon, Pa., and president of
the National Association of Music Merchants,
of a cutp to the local Association that will be
able to bring the most members into the
national organization during the coming year.
It will be the aim of present members, under
the leadership of President O. C. Muehlhauser,
to bring in at least one member each during the
next month. The December meeting of the
Cleveland Association was held in the Muehl-
hauser Bros. Piano Co. store, following a dinner
at Liberty Inn. It is the first of several jour-
neys about the city, in which the members will
meet at the stores of the music merchants.
At this meeting President DeForeest ex-
plained that while the local Association has al-
ways been' considered more or less of a piano
merchants' organization in the drive for new
members *he latter should be disabused of this
• idea. In fact, like the National body, the aim
will be to bring in all identified with the sale
of musical, merchandise of any kind.
The Cleveland body has gone on record unani-
mously in thanking the leaders of the various
national organizations—the Chamber of Com-
merce, the Bureau for the Advancement of
Music, the Association of Music Merchants and
others—for their work that resulted in removal
of the excise tax on musical instruments.
In this connection the Cleveland piano mer-
chants reverse the opinion advanced here a few
weeks ago, in that there will be no public decla-
ration of the tax removal. It is pointed out by
leaders in the industry that the mere statement
to prospective purchasers that a tax is no longer
required and that a corresponding reduction in
price naturally follows is sufficient aid to in-
creased business. The announcement of the tax
removal, therefore, will not appear in local piano
advertising, and it is the belief of the Cleveland
contingent that members in other local. State
and national associations should take a similar
view of the situation.
Of vital interest to the people of Cleveland,
and particularly to those identified with the
music industries, is the result of a test made of
the acoustics of the new Public Hall here this
week. The test followed a lively tilt of sonic-
weeks' standing between City Architect J. H. Mac-
Dowell and technical experts, including Dr. D. C.
Miller, professor of physics at Case School of
Applied Science, in which the latter asserted that
for practical use in concert or other entertain-
ment, or in public speaking of different kinds, the
hall would be useless, as there would be too much
echo and other defects in connection with the
travel of the sound waves. From different
sources, too, it was hinted that the surface of
the walls and ceilings of the hall should be
covered with felt to deaden the sound waves, and
this was immediately followed by the assertion
that felt manufacturers were seeking to get in
on a fancy order. That this latter contention
was not unfounded .might be realized from the
fact that this building, originally to cost $2,500,-
000, has cost more than $6,000,000 to date, is not
finished, no one knows when it will be and
that it will cost another $2,000,000 to bring it to
completion.
Be that as it may, singers and speakers gath-
ered at the request of Mr. MacDowell to make
the test. About 1,000 persons scattered about
the building. Miss Lottie May Brubner-Kelly,
soprano, and John Steel, record maker and
tenor, appearing at the Keith Theatre, sang.
Former Congressman Crosser recited. Those
of the spectators who would make any state-
ments asserted they heard clearly what was sung
and said.
The experts still insist the test does not mean
anything, so another is being planned by Archi-
tect MacDowell. Of course, the hall was started
for the very purpose of giving Cleveland a place
in which to hold exhibitions of the arts, and if
artists cannot be heard it is useless and a monu-
mental failure. On the other hand, if it can be
used for the purposes for which it is intended
it will be one of the biggest things for advertis-
ing Cleveland that has ever been done here.
Meanwhile the piano industry locally winds
up with the end of the year in a much more
satisfactory manner than even the most opti-
mistic anticipated some two months back. Lower
prices, and the fact that there is a wider selec-
tion at this Christmas time than for five years
past, have created opportunities for the dealers,
which, combined with greater selling pressure,
have resulted in the people buying after, in many
instances, holding off for years.
One reflection of this is seen in the greater
demand for appurtenances toward the end of
December. Where there were surplus stocks of
benches in November these have been cleaned
out in the last few weeks at the Co-operative
Mfg. Co. and orders by mail, 'phone and wire
are keeping the plant working to capacity, ac-
cording to George M. Ott, president and gen-
eral manager.
Outside interests become more closely affiliated
with the music industry and the followers of
music, all of which is beneficial to the piano
merchant. Following the lead of Warren C. Cox,
who started Sunday evening concerts by wire-
less here, members of the Cleveland Radio As-
sociation will try their hand at the same. F. M. J.
Murphy, secretary of the Association, plans a
concert on a more modest scale. Meanwhile,
talent such as Nellie McMahon, mezzo-soprano;
Edythe Toole, pianist; Samuel Piro, pianist, and
the Daly Banjo Trio have appeared at the Cox
laboratories. The music has been sent over an
area of 200 miles and, according to Paul A.
Marsal, association secretary, without trouble.
We are not connected with any concern
buying, manufacturing or selling pianos.
In buying our player actions you are not
reducing your competitor's overhead.
The Pratt Read Player Action Co.
Main Office and Factory, Deep River, Conn.
Foreign Office, 21, Mincing Lane, London.