Classic Mode

Music Trade Review

Issue: 1926 Vol. 83 N. 22

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
REVIEW
THE
VOL. LXXXIII. No. 22 Published Every Saturday. Edward Lyman Bill, Inc., 383 Madison Ave., New York, N. Y., Nov. 27, 1926
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The Music Teacher and the Merchant
and Also the Reproducer
Development of Master and Pupil Music Rolls for the Reproducing Piano Opens New Vistas for Co-
operation Between the Music Teacher and the Piano Merchant — The Teacher, Properly
Cultivated by the Merchant, One of the Strongest Factors in the Latter's Selling
M
ASTER and pupil music rolls whereby
the reproducing piano becomes a veri-
table teacher of piano playing—here is
the very latest and by all odds the most fasci-
nating idea that the piano trade has known in
many a long day. So fascinating is it, indeed,
so full of suggestive possibilities, that one can
hardly let it go without considerably more than
passing attention.
For in point of fact the reproducing piano is
forever opening up to us new and hitherto un-
suspected possibilities, forever showing to us
sides of its usefulness which had not before
been apparent. Just for this reason we must
conclude that it represents an actual and basic
need of our modern life. If the reproducing
piano were no more than merely a source of en-
tertainment, its life would be short, for it would
inevitably be deposed in favor of some later
novelty. The truth of the case is, of course,
the very opposite of this. New uses for the re-
producer are constantly being discovered, and
that is why we know that it is, in reality, a
thing really needed and not merely a fad.
The Next Step
Rut if it be possible to use the reproducing
piano to give to aspiring students the other-
wise quite unattainable benefits of actual prac-
tical teaching by great artists of the keyboard,
why is it not possible to go a step farther and
enlist the general sympathy of the teaching pro-
fession? Speaking quite candidly and not in
the vein of the advertising copy writer, we have
to confess that hitherto the efforts made to in-
duce the rank and file of music teachers to take
up with the player-piano in any of its forms
have been unsuccessful. Here and there we
find bright and up-to-date thinkers among the
teachers, men and women who look beyond the
mere routine they have learned and who try
to see music and music teaching from an objec-
tive point of view, as it were. These were the
men and women who declined to stand aloof
when the first player-pianos came onto the
jnarket, but tried sincerely to find out whether
or no there were something in this new inven-
t i o n which they might use to good advantage.
They even looked with interest upon the still
earlier cabinet player. And it is extremely
probable that if only the piano trade had shown
as much interest in the musicians as the best
among these did in the player-piano, years ago,
there would have been a very different tale to
tell to-day. Unfortunately, however, the piano
merchants turned their back upon the minority
of thinking musicians and proceeded to pro-
Y T OW many retail piano dealers really
A. J. make the music teacher a part of
their selling organization? Not many, if
the truth is to be told. Too many retail
piano merchants have come to regard the
music teacher as more or less a commission
fiend, and, in their opinion, have made the
great majority suffer for the sins of the
comparatively few. The article on this
page treats of one of the most difficult prob-
lems in the relations between these two
classes, the reproducing piano, but shows
that even that is susceptible of solution.
claim to the world the blatant He that the
player-piano could be played artistically by an
infant. Naturally the musicians were disgusted,
especially after they had heard some of the
infants playing. And a great opportunity was
lost.
But not, one hopes, forever. The false start
which was made with the pedal player-piano
cannot indeed be made good now through any
easy willingness to admit that we all once made
a mistake. The reproducing piano, on the other
hand, is in a quite different case. Here, unless
we of the music industries deliberately kill it,
is a favorable impression created in advance.
The rank and file of the musicians may not
know, as yet, much about the reproducing
piano, but there can hardly be one of them who
has not heard about the claims made for this
instrument, if nothing else. And so it may be
taken for granted that every music teacher in
the country is aware that the reproducing piano
reproduces the actual play of an artist, includ-
ing some of the greatest pianists known to this
generation, who have severally stated in writing
that the reproductions are satisfactory to them,
their originators and authors. In the circum-
stances, it is not a question of enlightening the
teachers as to the claims, but only as to the
truth of these claims.
The Fruits of Error
And here, it seems, the music trade has been
making a good deal of a mistake. The mer-
chants in geneVal have largely ignored the body
of the musical profession, apparently thinking
that music teachers are persons of little ac-
count. Now, of course, the fact is that the
music teachers, as a result of this treatment,
have followed their own natural inclinations
and prejudices. To them, in default of proper
demonstration and explanation by intelligent
persons competent at the task, the pedal player-
piano has been and remains a mere hurdy-
gurdy. To them likewise, and for parallel
reasons, the reproducing piano is hardly more
than a name. It is, to most of them, an "auto-
matic" or a "mechanical" piano. Every in-
stinct of the teacher revolts against the ideas
implied by these adjectives. The very thought
of such an instrument brings dreams of fewer
pupils, less interest in music teaching. To ig-
nore this natural prejudice, ignorantly founded
though it be, is not merely bad policy but is
actually absurd.
For the music teachers wield a great deal of
influence. As things stand, it can hardly be ex-
pected by the merchant that teachers of piano,
to take the most obvious example, should wel-
come with joy the advancement of the repro-
ducing piano. In fact, it ought to be seen as
perfectly plain that, wherever the parents of a
piano student ask the teacher for an opinion
upon the influence the reproducing piano may
be expected to have in the home, the reply will
be that it will probably discourage practice and
the pupil's consequent musical progress. The
opinion will be one-sided and manifestly dis-
torted, but that it will exist no wise person can
for a moment deny.
All of which is urged because nothing can be
plainer than the unwisdom of deliberately creat-
ing prejudices against a product on the part of
any group which can have any influence for or
against it. The height of merchandising fool-
ishness is to neglect any significant group, just
because it is not noisy and does not come much
out into the open. The music merchant in the
(Continued on page 37)
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
The Music Trade Review
Christmas Club Proving Business Maker
for Ptak's Music Stores in Cleveland
Using the Term Ptak's Musit Lovers' Club, Plan Has Already Brought Considerable Enrollment
—Many Dealers Take Part in Atwater Kent Window Displays
/CLEVELAND, O., November 23.—Ptak's
Music Stores, at 4922 Broadway and 3729
East 131st street, are finding that the Christmas
Club idea is a winner at both of their stores.
They call it Ptak's Music Lovers' Club and it
evidently is appealing to people, as the en-
rollment of members has already reached con-
siderable proportions.
The South East section of Cleveland has
more music stores than any other locality out-
side of the downtown section, and competition
is unusually keen, yet business is reported good
by all stores. The reason for this lies in the
fact that this section is composed of Bohemians,
Slavs and kindred nationalities, all of whom are
great lovers of music. There are literally
dozens of singing and other musical societies
and the entire music trade lend their active sup-
port to them all. The demand is not for cheap
merchandise. Nationally advertised goods have
the preference and several dealers are now
putting in lines of higher grade pianos than
they have carried previously. One of the
largest musical conservatories in this section,
operated by the Hruby brothers, has sixteen
Laffargue pianos that were furnished through
the Maresh Piano Co.
One of the most attractive and also effective
pieces of advertising literature put out by the
Cleveland music trade in some time has just
been issued by the Euclid Music Co. At first
glance it looks just like a savings bank book
with several cheques in it, and this is what it is
supposed to represent. It is, in reality, a four-
page folder and the cover is printed in orange
and black to represent the foregoing descrip-
tion. Inside is printed the proposition the com-
pany has to offer, and it is headed: "A Special
Offer to School Children. This bank book is
worth $2.50 to you." Then follows to the effect
that if they will have anybody call at the store
who wishes to purchase any kind of piano,
phonograph, radio or band instrument and pre-
sent the folder with their name and address
written on it, a special salesman's commission
of 3 per cent will be placed in the Midland
bank in the saving department to the child's
credit. The folders are distributed from house
to house.
An affair known as an Italian Carnival is be-
ing staged this week by the Knights of Co-
lumbus at their new club house and many num-
bers on the daily programs are of a musical
nature. The Knabe Warerooms have furnished
a Fischer Ampico for the occasion, and it is
being used both for accompaniments as well
as for solo work to the enthusiasm of those
who hear it,
A large number of prominent music stores
have entered the Atwater Kent window display
contest that started November 22. On Sunday,
November 21, the Cleveland Plain Dealer car-
ried a special Atwater Kent section and the fol-
lowing music stores had large space in it:
Buescher Music Co., Euclid Music Co., Fraiberg
Music Co., Lipstreu's Music Store, Smerda's,
Wurlitzer's, May's and Bailey's, besides many
other radio dealers.
Ghickering Ampico Grand
for Harvard University
as the completeness of its housing and equip-
ment. It is therefore a significant tribute to
the Ampico that it should be chosen for the
music courses of this institution.
Instrument Purchased by Division of Music of
Noted Cambridge Institution for Use in
Music Appreciation Courses
Harvard University, through its Division of
Music, has recently ordered from the Ampico
Corp. a Chickering Grand Ampico for use in
Harvard Music Division Building
its music classes. The Ampico, which will be
the exclusive reproducing piano of Harvard
University,' was selected by Professor Walter
R. Spalding, the head of the music division,
and will be used principally in Appreciation of
Music Course, conducted by Professor Spald-
ing and Assistant Professor Edward Ballantine.
The Division of Music at Harvard has long
enjoyed an enviable distinction among uni-
versities for the high standards it has main-
tained in scholarship and musicianship, as well
Look for
the
OSCO
Diamond
NOVEMBER 27, 1926
Fall and I am looking forward to a continuance
of good business throughout the Winter
months."
Mr. Williams was headed for the South,
where he will remain for a short time, after
which he will return to the factory in Nor-
walk, visiting the trade in various important
centers.
Sherman, Clay & Go. Report
Record Business for Year
Trade for First Ten Months of 1926 the Best
for Any Ten Months in the History of the
Company—Sales Show $1,000,000 Increase
SAN FRANCISCO, CAL., November 19.—Sherman,
Clay & Co., which issued a report early in
October for the first nine months of the year,
now report one of the best ten months in the
history of this more than fifty-year-old com-
pany.
Net sales for the ten months of the year
are more than $1,000,000 in excess of the same
period last year.
Net profits before Federal income taxes, but
after depreciation, were more than twice an-
nual dividend requirements of the prior pre-
ferred stock, amounting to approximately
$200,000. Since offering of this stock, three
years ago, more than $141,000 par value of stock
has been retired.
The ratio of current assets to current liabil-
ities is in excess of three to one and net current
assets per $100 of prior preferred stock out-
standing is more than $200 per share.
It is believed that business for the remainder
of the year will hold its own with 1925, and
that the company will exceed its greatest year
in the past by a wide margin. The last two
months of each year have always been those
of the greatest sales for the company.
Plans for National Waste
Prevention Contest
Three Shifts Now in
United Corp. Plant
National Lumber Manufacturers' Association
Offers Awards for Best Suggestions Regard-
ing Means for Checking Waste
J. H. Williams Reports Heavy Demand for A.
B. Chase, Emerson and Lindeman Lines
WASHINGTON, D. C, November 23.—The Na-
tional Lumber Manufacturers' Association, with
offices in Washington and in the Conway Build-
ing, Chicago, has just announced final details
for the National Waste Prevention Contest,
which it is conducting, and to which all mem-
bers of the woodworking industries are eligible.
The cash prizes offered this year total $2,000
and include: $1,000 as first prize; $500 as second
prize; three prizes of $100 each, four prizes of
$50. The prime factor to be considered in mak-
ing the awards is the practicability of the plan
suggested and the effect same will have in mini-
mizing or utilizing waste and reducing the cost
of manufacture.
The contest closes March 1, 1927, and prize
winners will be selected by three judges, to be
appointed before that time.
Further details
relative to the preparation of manuscripts for
the contest may be obtained from the National
Lumber Manufacturers' headquarters in Chi-
cago.
I
J. H. Williams, president of the United Piano
Corp., Norwalk, Ohio, was in New York this
week and was very enthusiastic regarding the
progress being made by his company.
"We are now working twenty-four hours a
day at the factory in Norwalk, employing three
shifts," he said. "It is very pleasing to me
to find that the demand for A. B. Chase, Emer-
son and Lindeman pianos equipped with my
tone resonator is constantly increasing. The
first pianos in which this device was installed
were shipped during the Summer and dealers
found them so satisfactory that we have re-
ceived a large number of reorders from the
sections of the country where they were first
shipped.
"We have gotten our manufacturing down
to a point of standardization which is pleasing
our dealers immensely and is naturally saving
a great deal in the cost of production. There
is quite a contrast between the old and the
new methods of manufacturing which are in
operation in our plant. We have, as you know,
made a very thorough study of this and are
now working on some promotion plans which
will be available for the dealer later and I am
sure will make some very interesting sales
propaganda. We have had a most successful
PIANO
SCARFS
PIANO
COVERS and BENCH-CUSHIONS
0. SIMMS MFG. CO.. 103-5 West Utti St.
With Willoughby Go.
J. A. Bechtol, at one time manager of the
small goods department of J. F. Barrow's Music
Store, Painesville, O., has been made manager
of the newly established Willoughby Music
Store, in Willoughby, O.
Look for
th«
OSCO
Diamond

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