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JULY 18, 1925
THE
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
150 Reproducing Piano Concerts Given
by Heppe Within Two Years
Widely-Known Retail Music Merchant of Philadelphia Presents Steinway Duo-Art in Concert Before
Leading Organizations of That City and Suburbs Regularly—Type of Programs and Artists Used—
Concerts Make Sales for Many Years After They Are Given by House
X P E R I M E N T has proven that even to-
day, when the reproducing piano is some
years old, the most direct method of mer-
chandising it is through the public concert,
where the claims which are made for it can be
proven through the actual demonstration. For
the reproducing piano, representing as it does
the highest development of the player mechan-
ism, accomplishes such remarkable things in re-
producing with fidelity every nuance of a musi-
cian's interpretation of a composition, that their
very statement is likely to induce a skepticism
which can be only overcome through the actual
demonstration and a direct appeal to the ears
and musical taste of the prospective customer.
All this is known, of course, to every retail
music merchant who sells this type of piano.
But, with few exceptions, they have not embod-
ied a consistent selling campaign of this type
in their merchandising methods, and have thus
not only missed the best opportunity of selling
the reproducing piano, but at the same time
have not succeeded in obtaining the contact
with thousands of people such concerts give
and the prestige that comes to a retail music
house which follows such a policy. In the re-
tail music trade, perhaps more than in any
other line of retail selling, prestige means sales,
especially when it is a house that specializes in
the higher grade instruments.
The Heppe Concert Series
One of the most remarkable campaigns of this
type which has ever been conducted by a retail
music merchant is that which forms a regular
part of the selling policy of C. J. Heppe & Son,
Philadelphia. This firm, within the past two
years, has given over 150 concerts in the terri-
tory from which it draws its sales, under the
auspices of the leading organizations existing
there. Not only have these concerts been given
in the city of Philadelphia itself, but in that
ring of wealthy and exclusive suburban towns
which surround it as well. This work, which is
under the direct supervision of Florence J.
Heppe, head of the house, has made these con-
certs a recognized part of the musical life of
the City of Brotherly Love and has developed a
steady selling pressure which is reflected in the
number of instruments of the reproducing type
the firm sells.
The Heppe concerts are by no means haphaz-
ard or lightly attended affairs. They are serious
concerts, presenting programs of the highest
type, and are regarded as such by the large au-
diences which they invariably draw. Their com-
mercial side, and of course that is their reason
for being, is entirely subordinated to exacting
artistic standards, and this is one of the chief
factors which have contributed to their success.
Any music merchant who embarks on such a
campaign must remember that this attitude is
essential and that a deviation from it means a
lack of return on the investment which it costs
the firm that carries it out.
A Typical Concert
A concert typical of the Heppe series was
that given last Fall under the auspices of the
Department of Fine Arts and the Music Clubs
of the University of Pennsylvania and the Phil-
adelphia Operatic Society at Weightman Hall,
one of the series which Heppe & Son gave in
commemoration of the thirty-fifth anniversary
of the introduction of self-playing musical in-
struments in Philadelphia in 1889 by the firm.
E
The artists featured were Myra Reed-Skibinsky,
a local pianist who is widely known in Phil-
adelphia; Josephine Lucchese, coloratura so-
prano, Clarence Fuhrman, accompanist, and the
Steinway Duo-Art. The program, very typical
of all the Heppe concerts, follows: Schutt's
"Reverie" and the Moszkowski waltz in E ma-
jor, played by Madame Skibinsky; Grieg's "Sol-
veig's Song," La Forge's "To a Messenger,"
and Eckcrt's "Swiss Echo Song," sung by Ma-
dame Lucchese; Arnold's "Arabesque," the
Duo-Art reproducing the playing of Robert
Armbruster; Mendelssohn-Bartholdy's "Spinning
Song," the Duo-Art reproducing the playing of
Paderewski, and the Gaertner-Friedman second
them there are many prospects, the firm has
presented the instrument a number of times in
the Fox Theatre, probably the leading high-
class moving picture house of Philadelphia in
which music forms one of the leading parts of
the weekly programs. These presentations
have been made both with and without artists.
Where artists have been used, the highest type
has been secured, as can be seen from the pho-
tograph reproduced with this article, which
shows Percy Grainger, the widely known pian-
ist, and the Duo-Art during their appearance at
the Fox. These presentations have been among
the leading musical events of Philadelphia dur-
ing the past season, and secured a large amount
Steinway Duo-Art and Percy
Viennese waltz, the Duo-Art reproducing the
playing of Ignaz Friedman; Lemaire's "Vous
Dansez, Marquis" and Valverde's "Clavelities,"
sung by Madame Lucchese, to accompaniments
of the Duo-Art; and in the final group, Cyril
Scott's "Dance Negro," played by Madame
Skibinsky; the Brahms fifth Hungarian dance,
in a four-handed arrangement, the Duo-Art re-
producing the recording of Harold Bauer and
the pianist playing the other part; and the Mc-
Dowell concert etude, Madame Skibinsky alter-
nating with her own recording on the Duo-Art.
This concert was given before an audience of
5,000.
This program is given at length in order to
show the care that is necessary to compile one
which will show every side of the reproducing
piano and, at the same time, make it not so
prominent as to dominate the concert. For if
that is done, the concert will take the color of a
commercial demonstration with the audience
and much of the effect is lost. In the program
quoted above, the reproducing piano is sub-
jected to every test, yet never has it been per-
mitted to stand out to the detriment of the hu-
man artists appearing, with the result that the
audience leaves convinced, acquiring that con-
viction without the resentment of having been
lured to a commercial demonstration given un-
der the guise of a concert. In this work these
facts must always be carried in mind.
Moving Picture Theatre Presentations
The Heppe house has not confined its repro-
ducing demonstration work to concerts of this
type alone, for there are a number of people
who can not be reached by them. To place
the Duo-Art before these people, and among
Grainger at the Fox Theatre
of public attention from the worth-while ele-
ment of the local public.
Concerts under the direction of organizations
of various types must, however, form the back-
bone of any retail music merchant's reproduc-
ing piano selling campaign. It is not a difficult
thing to make the proper connections, as has
been shown by the Heppe firm's experience.
In the beginning of the work the house used a
regular booking agent, who went out in the
field to secure the appearances, but after a com-
paratively short time it was found that this was
unnecessary as available dates could easily be
filled by the applications which came from the
organizations directly. What better selling at-
mosphere can be had than one in which an au-
dience of prospects listens to the demonstration
of a reproducing piano because they have asked
the music merchant to provide it for them?
That is the result of the Heppe concerts.
Does It Pay?
Does this work pay? Here is an example of
what it does accomplish. Some years ago the
Heppe house presented the Duo-Art in a con-
cert, four or five years to be exact. Last Spring
a woman came to the Heppe warerooms with
the original program of the concert in her hand.
She told the salesman that she had heard the
Duo-Art at this concert and that then she had
made up her mind, once she was able to afford
such an instrument, she would purchase it. The
sale, of course, was closed immediately, though
to all intents and purposes it had been made at
the concert. If an impression like this will last
several years, is it likely that these concerts do
not more than warrant the expenditure which
they represent?