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MAY
9, 1925
THE
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
The Work Which Is Being Done by
the Reproducing Piano Schools
Traveling Schools Conducted by the Manufacturers of These Instruments Making Available to Piano
Technicians and Salesmen Full and Detailed Knowledge of This Latest Development in
the Piano Industry and Solve the Important and Vital Problem of Service
O news that has come along the wires plete technical education in all that pertains to
for many a long day is more interesting the most complicated part of the piano busi-
and welcome than the news of the elabo- ness, which is the pneumatic art in its theory
rate arrangements which have been made by the and practice. It is now becoming possible for
conductors of the Danquard Player School to any man in need of this education to obtain
cover the whole country by means of traveling a complete and thorough course of instruction
editions of the school, fully equipped with in player-piano pneumatics, and in the practical
work of adjusting and repairing all the repro-
models, teachers and everything else needed.
In so saying, one is reminded also of the ducing mechanisms as well' without cost. The
equally fine work being done by the traveling arrangements which have been made by the
Ampico, Duo-Art and Welte-Mignon (Licensee) various schools whose names are mentioned
player schools. What here is important is the above contemplate visits to every large city in
fact that, finally, we have got to a point of the country, even though this plan means look-
understanding that to bring technical player ing ahead several seasons. Even under present
knowledge to the tuners of the country is not arrangements all sections of the country save
the extreme West will be covered during the
merely desirable but essential.
Taken with the appearance of the latest addi- next few months, so that, between the Atlantic
tion to The Review's technical library, the new and the Rocky Mountains at any rate, every
treatise on "Piano Playing Mechanisms," these tuner who needs instruction in pneumatic work
recent moves indicate the growth of a new con- will be within easy reaching distance of one
ception of technical training in this industry, a of the stopping places of one or more of the
conception highly important and one which can schools. Moreover, the National Association
of Piano Tuners is working in co-operation and
hardly be treated too seriously.
For in truth what this paper has repeatedly is doing its best to help the good work along.
said is now beginning to be generally appreci-
Is This Enough?
ated, namely, that the player-piano is just as
This is all to the good, but it may well be
strong as the organization for supplying tech- asked if this is enough. If it be right to do
nical service to it, just as strong and just as this sort of thing in respect of the player mech-
weak, no more and no less.
anism why is it not equally right to do it in
Important and far-reaching truths move respect of those other technical features which
slowly into the consciousness of groups, and are just as important and just as much neg-
it is too much to expect that large numbers lected? Let us take just the single instance
shall be stirred with the rapidity which is per- of the action of the grand piano. What is more
mitted to single minds. It takes long for even important than to spread knowledge of grand
the most obvious of truths to penetrate so far piano regulating?* The whole progress and fu-
into a group-mentality as to bring about defi- ture of grand piano sales, on which so much
nite action. Men often realize that a given hope is being built, rests upon creating a race
state of affairs exists and calls for remedial of technical experts able to do anything and
action long before they can bring themselves to everything needed in a mechanical way on grand
take that action.
pianos. Any one can tune a grand piano who
Rut now it seems that the time is actually can tune an upright; but not any tuner can
come to say that those who control the ten- therefore regulate a grand action. In fact,
dencies of the trade are moving, and are com- there is perhaps more ignorance of grand action
mitted to a policy of action, in the right direc- work than there is of any other feature of the
tion. The service question is at least in a fair whole technical situation.
way to be settled, and to be settled after the
Is there any reason why those who are build-
only fashion at once practical and positive which ing reproducing grand pianos in large numbers
has ever yet been proposed.
should confine themselves to pneumatic ques-
In a word, the needed education is being tions, when the very men who come to them
taken to the men who need it.
for pneumatic instruction need just as much to
be taught to take expert care of the piano ac-
Manufacturers Are Far-seeing
This is an important and remarkable fact. tions of these delicate and beautiful instru-
It means a revolution in our whole previous ments?
Probably it is only because the facts have not
idea of what constitutes the relation of the
service man, the tuner-technician, to the manu- been made clear that those who have seen what
facturer and the dealer. It means that the had to be done for the pneumatic work have
manufacturer, at any rate, has realized that he not also seen the need for doing the same in
must choose between bringing his own progress these related branches.
to a standstill and taking action of a kind which
A Closed Book -
for long was considered to be none of his busi-
Grand piano construction is a closed book to
ness. The manufacturer is usually far-seeing. vast numbers of otherwise good technical men.
It requires a good deal more foresight, and This is simply because the vogue of the grand
usually a bigger conception of business in gen- piano is something of very recent growth.
eral, to be a successful manufacturer than
Twenty years ago a man might tune for a whole
merely to be a successful retailer. Hence the year without touching ten grand pianos. To-
manufacturer has been the one to whom the day he is lucky if one-third of all his work is
progressive thinkers have always looked, know- not on pianos of the horizontal type. All this
ing that he might be depended on- sooner or change has taken place within two decades,
later to take appropriate action in critical cir- and most of it within the last seven years.
cumstances.
Considering that accessions to the ranks of
The manufac'urers finally, then, have aban- tuners are annually so few, it is not surprising
doned all illusions and have undertaken to give to find that technical ignorance of the grand
to the tuners of the country, and in fact to all piano is still rife.
This is something which the manufacturers
others who may be capable of using it, a com-
N
of reproducing grand pianos ought to put on
their instruction programs, and by so doing
open up the possibility of finally coming to that
ideal of universal free education in everything
pertaining to the construction and maintenance
of pianos and player-pianos, which the industry
even now is obliged to envisage and which it
must some day make practical.
Only in that way will the problem of tech-
nical instruction, and of recruiting the fast-
diminishing numbers of the good tuners, be
successfully met.
Ampico Traveling School
Completes Atlanta Session
Excellent Registration of Students From All
Sections of State Attend Course—School to
Open Next Session in Dallas, Tex., May 11
The latest session of the Ampico Traveling
School held in Atlanta, Ga., has just closed.
Classes were conducted by C. L. Schneider.
There were twenty-eight registrants and thir-
teen of the students successfully passed the ex-
aminations, practical a.nd technical, and have re-
ceived the Ampico Credential. Students attend-
ing this school came: from all parts of Georgia,
and one from as far distant as Calhoun, Tenn.
In addition to the regular registrants a number
of salesmen and mechanics attended the session
and lectures.
This session of the school, like its predeces-
sors, has done much toward increasing the fel-
lowship and co-operation among tuners and re-
pairmen. This is evidenced by many letters re-
ceived by directors of the cpurses expressing
appreciation of this important feature. A let-
ter from A. R. Foster, of the Cable Piano Co.
of Atlanta, expresses the general feeling regard-
ing the Ampico Traveling School classes among
the retail dealers.
"The Service Department of the American
Piano Co. is to be congratulated upon the pro-
grain of instruction about tin- Ampico. The
school just closed in Atlanta is striking evi-
dence of what can be accomplished under the
direction of an able instructor. Not only were
tuners and repairmen interested in the work, but
many salesmen took advantage of the classes
conducted by Mr. C. L. Schneider and found
great value in them.
"The broad policy adopted by the American
Hiano Co. in asking the attendance of men from
the independent field received much favorable
comment. We hope Atlanta may soon have an-
other school and under the same conscientious
and able direction."
Making Radio Tables
HIGH POINT, N. C, May 2.—-The Carolina Piano
Manufacturing Co., of this city, has recently
begun the manufacture of radio tables, work-
ing on an initial order of 5.000 tables for a
large radio corporation in the East. The tables
are made to fit the various sizes of radio cab-
inets now in use, and are finished in a variety
of styles.
Consult the Universal Want Directory of
The Review. In it advertisements are inserted
free of charge for men who desire positions.