Classic Mode

Music Trade Review

Issue: 1926 Vol. 83 N. 17

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE
VOL.
LXXXIII. No. 17
REVIEW
Published Every Satwday. Edward Lyman Bill, Inc., 383 Madison Aye., New York, N. Y., Oct. 23, 1926
8il
"K jj'gg
The Music Teacher and the Ways to
Make Him a Selling Asset
Heaton Music Co., Columbus, 0., Finds Class Piano Instruction Results Overcome First Prejudices Among
Music Teachers of City and Make Them Enthusiastic Advocates of It — J. R. Reed Music Co.
Advertises "There's a Music Teacher in Your Neighborhood," With Good Results
I
N certain piano stores the piano teacher is
regarded chiefly as a seeker after commis-
sions on piano sales either actually or sup-
posedly influenced by him or her, and the atti-
tude of the manager and salesman towards the
teaching fraternity may be described as more
antagonistic than friendly. This relationship
between the piano dealer and the teacher is a
remnant of the old days, and has no place in
the piano business to-day, for modern retailers
have demonstrated the fact that closer and
honest co-operation between distributors of
pianos and those who teach the young idea how
to play can be a tremendous mutual advantage.
It has been no unusual thing during the past
year to find piano houses running advertise-
ments calling attention to the standing of local
piano teachers and often publishing the names
of those who stand high in the profession in
their particular community. Furthermore, with
the spread of the free piano instruction idea
among piano houses this tie-up with the teachers
is steadily becoming closer and more pro-
nounced.
It is but natural that those deriving their in-
come from teaching the piano should at the
outset resent free lessons by piano houses.
But, through proper handling, the situation has
developed to a point, where the teachers wel-
come the announcement of such free courses,
for they appreciate the fact that these children,
grounded in the fundamentals at little or no
cost to themselves or their parents, are in a
great majority of cases inclined to seek further
instruction in the accomplishment and must go
for that instruction to the qualified teacher.
The recent experience of the Heaton Music
Store, in Columbus, well illustrates the point.
The store announced free piano lessons by the
class method and at the outset met with indiffer-
ence on the part of local teachers. The purpose
of the course was explained in detail with the
result that a majority of local instructors either
took a favorable view of the move or at least
conceded that it might have some value for
them. The chief difficulty was in getting a
teacher to handle the classes for the usual
period of several weeks at a fee of 40 or 50 cents
per pupil for the course. The man who did
undertake the work and carried it through
found, however, that over 90 per cent of a class
of 120 continued to take instruction with him
at regular rates after the free classes had come
to an end. The result was that this particular
teacher was compelled to engage additional in-
"Are You a Might Have Been?"
How many of your friends say ' I would give
anything if I could play the piano. I took lessons
for awhile, when I was young, but dropped them?"
Perhaps you are one of the thousands of
Might Have Beens
Will you let the same tragedy come into the
lives of your children?
Remember
There's a Music Teacher in
Your Neighborhood
Consult with them about your child's
musical education.
Your inquiries about pianos will be welcomed by us.
"WE SPECIALIZE IN GOOD PIANOS'
J.R.REED MUSIC CO.
"AUSTIN'S LEADING MUSIC HOUSE"
Established in Austin for 25 Years.
Second Annual Massed Orchestral
Majestic Theatre, Nov. 8
WWVAWVWWWVSWWWWV
structors and found that his so-called free work
had really established him in the local profes-
sional field more firmly than he dared hope was
possible.
In Columbus, and the experience has been
the same in other cities where free piano in-
struction has been offered by dealers, the very
teachers who were opposed to the plan at the
outset and who refused to assist it in any way
were among the first to seek the privilege of
acting as instructors for any future courses of
free teaching that might be carried out by the
Heaton Music Store or some other concern.
As a result teachers have begun to show an
inclination to encourage prospective students to
register in free instruction classes so that they
will learn the fundamentals and thereby be fitted
to take up more advanced work when they go
with a private instructor, for it is generally
found that the teaching of the fundamentals by
the individual teacher offers little profit. In the
first place, the child does not retain the same
interest in his work as when he takes instruc-
tion with a class of twenty or more and is kept
on edge by the spirit of association and com-
petition. What is often drudgery when taken
alone becomes more or less a game when en-
gaged in'with children of the same average age.
Having once gained a fundamental idea of piano
playing, and realized the fact that he, or she, can
actually play little tunes, individual study of
advanced work becomes more pleasant because
an incentive is offered. This is not a matter of
theory but of actual experience, repeated fre-
quently enough to afford a basis of fact for it.
Even where the dealer does not see fit at the
moment to engage in giving free piano instruc-
tion, he can, and frequently does, pay tribute to
the piano teacher in his advertising, for the
good will that is thus developed wins worth-
while returns in actual business. When no one
in the family is able to play manually, the sales
resistance, so far as the straight piano is con-
cerned, is increased immeasurably, and although
the player or reproducing piano may be sold to
such a home, there still remains that wide sales
field made up of people who either cannot afford
a player or reproducer, or who for one reason
or another prefer the straight piano and hand-
made music, regardless of how imperfect that
hand playing may be.
In championing piano instruction some deal-
ers have developed interesting and convincing
arguments. An example is presented herewith
in the reproduction of a recent advertisement
by the J. R. Reed Music Co., Austin, Tex., and
(Continued on page 4)
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
The Music Trade Review
Columbia Phonograph Co. Launches
Imposing National Advertising Drive
First Publicity Appears in Form of Double-page Advertisement in the Saturday Evening Post of
October 23, Featuring the New Viva-tonal Columbia Phonograph
' T H E Columbia Phonograph Co., Inc., in the
current issue of the Saturday Evening Post,
October 23, launches an imposing advertising
initial advertisement is in the form of a double-
page spread, a reproduction of which is pre-
sented herewith, and other imposing advertise-
srimiro »©«r
Viva-tonal C
'Uhc Opening of Doors
Jgng Closed
ol reproduced mm
will enjoy, as if played or sung
living naturalne», ihe true balance, and the lull
nt, of all musical inKnj
-of each voice, and i»l al
no longer hear a reproduction; you hear the original
held for you in susuention until the initm-
c
Jhc Successor to the Phonograph
like lift itself/"
tm Prtcm Rtardi—
RtcorHmt. EltariaJ Pnctu
thaiiowi of a lifetime'i limitations suddenly to be for-
gotten in Che flooding unimaginrd colon of the sunrise!
lona] caprice* has been rested in the Columbia Labora-
tories (or utter fidelity of reproduction. E
campaign in that publication in the interest of
the new Viva-tonal Columbia phonograph. The
ments will follow in the Post, featuring the
entire new line of Viva-tonal instruments.
Brambach Special Dealers' November
Campaign Receives Favorable Comment
Series of Advertisements on Brambach Baby Grand, Built Around Personal Letter From the
Brambach Dealer to His Prospective Customers, a Novel Feature
P O M M E N T S being received by the Brambach
Piano Co., New York, from its dealers
throughout the country on receiving the elab-
orate portfolio of the Brambach November na-
tional publicity campaign during the past week
are practically unanimous in the view that this
year's prospectus has excelled any of the pre-
vious editions of this advertising prospectus in
both appearance and content. Its authors have
very painstakingly held to simplicity of pres-
entation and have eliminated many unneces-
sary paste-ins and appended minor pamphlets.
Instead, the Brambach November, 1926, prospec-
tus unfolds for the dealer a concise and direct
outline of the campaign, including facsimiles
of ten poignant dealer advertisements, sales
letters, window and store posters, a mailing
booklet, etc.
An innovation is found this year in the dealer
tie-up advertisements for the local newspapers
by featuring a personal letter from the Bram-
bach dealer to the people of his community in
the body of each display. To make the letter
more impressive the Brambach Co. has
secured a genuine signature from most of its
representatives and has returned to each a metal
slug of same for use in the advertisements.
The feeling of all those who have had cuts made
of their signatures is that the signed letters add
a personal touch to the advertisements that
strengthens the copy tremendously.
Another new feature of the dealer hints con-
tained in this year's Brambach prospectus is a
photographic suggestion of an appropriate way
of dressing a Brambach grand in the warerooms
or show window during the period of the cam-
paign. For this purpose a replica of the Bram-
bach Medal d'Honneur, presented to the Bram-
bach baby grand at the Exposition Interna-
tionale in Paris some years ago, has been pre-
pared in gilded pasteboard and makes a striking
appearance when attached to the music rack of
the Brambach by means of a blue silk ribbon.
The creators of the prospectus and the offi-
cials of the company have been commended in
hundreds of letters on this last piece of dealer-
service. Considering the success that the Bram-
bach Piano Co. has had with its November cam-
paigns of previous years, there seems to be no
doubt that the dealer portfolio appears to be of
a calibre to enable its representatives to equal
or surpass their past records.
Confer on Fire Protection
WASHINGTON, D. C, October 18.—Alarmed by
the menace of the year's forest fires, a group of
business men and forestry advocates identified
with the forest industries of the nation, but
chiefly with those of the Pacific Coast States and
OCTOBER 23, 1926
Idaho and Montana, conferred with President
Coolidge and Director of the Budget Lord re-
cently concerning measures to be taken to pro-
tect the forests against fire and to promote re-
forestation.
The delegation was organized
through the initiative of the Western Forestry
and Conservation Association, Portland, Ore.,
E. T. Allen, manager; and President A. W.
Laird of that organization acted as chairman
and spokesman. The President's remarks indi-
cated that the appropriations in question would
be increased, although it was not understood
whether the full amount asked for would be
granted.
Music Teachers and Ways
to Make Them Assets
(Continued from page 3)
run in the newspapers of that city. The basis
of the argument is that many grownups deplore
their inability to play the piano and can avoid
having their children thus embarrassed by get-
ting in touch with the local teacher of the
piano.
The Reed Music Co. advertisement is a recog-
nition of the fact that the music trade and the
music teaching profession are, in a great sense,
members of one fraternity. Without pianos
in homes to offer a medium of expression, the
teachers of that instrument would find little 1
opportunity for the practice of their profession.
On the other hand, without the teacher to offer
instruction in producing music from it, the
piano becomes merely a piece of furniture and
quickly loses the interest of the owner, even in
cases where it has overcome obstacles and
gained that interest.
The Minority
There remain, and will continue to be among
piano teachers as a class, that minority who
limit their co-operation with the music mer-
chant to their efforts to get commissions on
sales whether actually deserved or not, although
the evils associated with the practice have been
controlled to a greater extent by the firm atti-
tude taken by many dealers in the allowance of
such commissions. A great majority of the
teachers, on the other hand, are beginning to
see the wisdom of co-operating with the local
piano merchant, not so much for possible com-
missions on sales, as for the work he is doing
in putting pianos into the homes with each in-
strument representing the possibility of develop-
ing at least one and sometimes several
students of the piano. This closer co-operation
between the dealer and the teaching profession
is real, and is worthy of encouragement even
though it means a certain amount of expense at
the outset.
Consult the Universal Want Directory of
The Review. In it advertisements are inserted
free of charge for men who desire positions.
Detroit Dealers Visiting Cleveland Confreres

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