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The Music Trade Review
National Music Week in San Francisco
Carried Out in Mammoth Proportions
Event Surpasses All City's Previous Celebrations—Duo-Art Appears in Many Recitals—Warren
C. Whitney a Visitor to City—Wiley B. Allen Team Wins in Golf
C AN FRANCISCO, CAL., May 7.—The mam-
moth program of Music Week is being car-
ried out in a spirit of splendid co-operation.
Young and old, rich and poor, native and for-
eign-born all seem to be giving heed to the Mu-
sic Week slogan: "Give More Thought to Mu-
sic."
All the important music houses of the city
stand behind Music Week financially and sev-
eral of them have given officers to work on
Music Week Committees. Sherman, Clay & Co.,
however, are also assisting with Duo-Art per-
formances, which are splendid features of the
week's musical activities. On May 4 and again
to-day, at the New Mission Theatre, an Houi
of Music was given under the auspices of the
Mission Merchants' Association, with the Duo-
Art in the leading role. On May 5, at the Alex-
andria Theatre, the Duo-Art appeared under the
auspices of the Geary Street Merchants' Asso-
ciation, and on May 7, at the New Fillmore
Theatre, an hour of music will be given under
the auspices of the Fillmore Street Merchants'
Association. At these performances in theatres
the music was first heard, then the curtain went
up, revealing the Duo-Art in operation. Many
of those present had never heard concerts of
such a nature before and their enthusiasm ran
high.
Duo-Art in Schools and Churches
At the Laguna Honda School, Sherman, Clay
& Co. gave the students an opportunity of
hearing a Duo-Art recital in connection with a
lecture on music. Students were also given an
opportunity of hearing the Steinway Duo-Art
at the Grant School Auditorium, the Mission
High School, the Galileo High School and the
Y. M. C. A. Auditorium. To-day there was the
Duo-Art at the First Congregational Church, at
the Y. M. C. A. Auditorium, and to-night at
the Emporium Auditorium. A concert by Sher-
man, Clay & Co. will be given on Friday in
California Hall with the Duo-Art and several
local artists and on Saturday the Emporium Au-
ditorium will be the scene of a concert by Sher-
man, Clay & Co., under the direction of John
G. Vogel, with a lecture by Rena Lazelle:
"Things Parents Should Know About Voices."
School Children Score in Music Week
Public School Day of Music was the 4th inst.,
and among the thousands of instrumentalists and
singers there were many who entered into the
spirit of the thing with such enthusiasm that
the premier music critic of the city was moved
to say: "Here are young people who take mu-
sic seriously and give their minds to it with as
much earnestness as lads of their age give to a
ball game. And a game it is to them, a deli-
cious and exhilarating game in which they do
themselves credit." It was the playing of the
"Carmen" overture by the orchestra of the Gali-
leo High School and the "Oberon" overture,
played by the boys of the Polytechnic High,
that inspired the critic's remarks, though many
of the other numbers were rendered in a way
that shows the musical advantages public
schools arc now giving. On the following day
the pupils of the parochial schools had a chance
to show their musical mettle.
Good Music Goes Like Hot Cakes
As a contribution to Music Week, Sherman,
Clay & Co. are holding a special sale of classi-
cal and semi-classical rolls, at special prices.
There is pot one jazz number in the lot, and
they are selling like the proverbial hot cakes,
many of them standard classics.
Visit the City via Santa Fe Trail
Mr. and Mrs. Warren C. Whitney have been
out here on their vacation, coming by auto over
the old Santa Fe trail to Los Angeles, and
thence to San Francisco. Mrs. Whitney is
Blanche da Costa, the singer. They visited
Sherman, Clay & Co. prior to leaving for home
via Nevada. Whitney is well-known to the mu-
sic trade here.
Mrs. A. L. Bretzfelder, wife of the treasurer
of Krakauer Bros., has left for New York, after
visiting relatives in California.
Vice-President of Schumann Piano Co. Pays
Visit
In the course of a Pacific Coast trip, Charles
B. Mclntosh, vice-president of the Schumann
Piano Co., spent a few days in this city and
called at the Hauschildt music house, which car-
ries the Schumann pianos. He has left for the
Northwest, from whence he will return to Chi-
cago.
Win by Margin of Five Points
The fourth annual golf tournament between
the players of the Wiley B. Allen Co. and Sher-
man, Clay & Co.'s golf teams was won by the
Allen men by a margin of five points. Law-
rence Lindsey and his partner, James J. Black,
of the Wiley B. Allen forces, were more than
a match for Shirley Walker and G. W. Bates,
the Sherman, Clay & Co.'s members of the four-
some. The best gross score was made by Ar-
thur Duclos, of Sherman, Clay & Co., but his
partner, Ed. Little, made one of the two high
gross scores. The winners in this foursome
were Harald Pracht and Wm. Lawrence, of the
Wiley B. Allen Co.
Well-known Instrument Man to Wed
Wedding announcements have been sent out
by Michael Howard Hernan, of this city, an-
nouncing the coming marriage of his daughter,
Kathryn Maurine, to Kurken Gagos, at Calvary
Presbyterian Church, May 18. Mr. Gagos, who
is sales manager of the H. C. Hanson Music
House, is known to every Buescher band instru-
ment man in this territory and is one of the
best-liked young men in the business.
Song Shop Goes Into Bankruptcy
It is announced that the Shapiro Song Shop,
1461 Polk street, has filed a voluntary petition
in bankruptcy. Assets are listed at $5,856 and
liabilities at $17,475.
Conn Bandsmen in School Organizations
During Music Week it has been giving much
satisfaction to G. E. Willats, who instructs the
Conn Saxophone band for the Conn San Fran-
cisco Co., to single out the boys in the school
bands who belong to the Conn band. He said
that Music Week has been doing a good deal
to make boys, and girls, too, want to play in-
struments.
Some Reasons Why Piano
Sales Are Not Larger
(Continued from page 3)
cally thrust on them over their own doorstep
they, as a rule, do not have a very impressive
balance left with which to go shopping in the
stores of those merchants who wait for the
trade to come in.
Over in Newark
The Armstrong Piano Co. is located in New-
ark, N. J., a city of some 350,000, that also in-
cludes in its population thousands of home
owners in neighboring communities, and is
within twenty minutes' ride of New York City
proper. Metropolitan stores look upon this sec-
tion of northern New Jersey as an excellent
field for sales and comb it thoroughly. Then
come the New Jersey concerns themselves, who
naturally go after things in their own bailiwicks.
In the face of this competition the Armstrong
Co. has for years consistently followed the door-
bell ringing or canvassing plan of selling and
each year has realized a very substantial turn-
over of pianos and talking machines by this
MAY 15, 1926
method. That the company has recently moved
to larger quarters in a measure offers proof of
the success of this system.
There has been much said, and rightly, upon
the necessity for the creation of a future market
for pianos.through the education of school chil-
dren in playing those instruments, but it is
pertinent to remark here that there is a real
need also for cultivating as intensively as pos-
sible the market that actually exists at present.
That cultivation, in the face of the present
strong bid for business in all lines, can best be
accomplished by taking a sales argument direct
to the home.
There are some of us who are still young
enough to hark back to our boyhood days, when
sanitary laws were not strictly enforced and
the accepted method for dividing a piece of
candy was for each kid to bite off his share.
The first youngster that called for a division
by existent rules got half the original piece.
He in turn divided on a fifty-fifty basis with
No. 2, and so on down the line until the kid
who was sixth or seventh was lucky to get even
a taste of the sweet. The youngster who was
not present at all when the division took place
was absolutely out of luck.
Much the same rule 'holds good in the sel^ng
of many commodities to-day. The first sales-
man in line whose argument is convincing
enough gets the major share of available money.
Detroit Piano Playing
Contest Still Interests
Elementary and Intermediate Grades Complete
Preliminary Trials With High Schools to
Come Next—Thousands Are Interested
DETROIT, MICH., May 8.—The Elementary and
Intermediate grades in the Greater Detroit
Piano Playing Contest have nearly all the past
week held the preliminary contests to be fol-
lowed this week in the High Schools, which
gives some line on the general success. In a
general survey it was estimated that there must
be at least 15,000 children who would be eligi-
ble to a school piano-playing contest and it was
thought that somewhere between one and a
possible 3,000 could be induced to enter, so with
more than 5,000 entered to date, the Detroit
Music Trades Association and the Detroit
Times feel that from a standpoint of numbers
it is a great success.
As the contest has progressed it has acquired
great momentum and public interest, the De-
troit Times concedes it to be one of the most
successful from these points of view ever run
in Detroit and has given more and more prom-
inence and space to the daily articles and Sun-
day spreads with numerous pictures of contest-
ants. The various winners will now be featured
over WJ R and W G H P once a week for the
next month.
All contests have been held in the various
school auditoriums open to the public, many of
the evening affairs having an attendance of a
thousand and fifteen hundred. A marked awak-
ening is already noticed in interest of children
learning the piano and the enthusiasm is re-
flected in the interest and enthusiasm of school
and.music teachers. Mr. Lewis, a judge of three
contests, asserts that he has booked fourteen
new pupils on the piano as a result of his con-
tact, others have had gratifying experiences with
the result that they are holding the contests
with great dignity. It is estimated that more
than thirty thousand have attended the nearly
200 contests so far held and the dealers are
commencing to report real business.
Many letters of inquiry and commendation
have been received from all over the country,
but it is suggested that all interested attend the
Michigan Music Merchants Convention in De-
troit August 16-17-18-19, at which time the
Grand Championship will take place, when it
can be studied first-hand and all details cheer-
fully given by the Detroit Association.