Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
REVIEW
THE
VOL. LXXXi u No. 23 Published Every SaUrday. Edward Lyman Bill, Inc., 383 Madison Ave., New York, N. Y., Dec. 4,1926
BI 1
" S.S > fi?
Glen Bros.-Roberts Holds
Piano Playing Contest
Salt Lake City Music Merchant Gives Chickering Grand in Event Open to
Music Students of State—Wide Interest Aroused Among Both Teachers
and Students—Event to Be Held Annually Hereafter for the
Next Two Years—How the Contest Was Organized
Helen Budge, the Winner
N view of the interest that has been aroused
in the city-wide and State-wide piano play-
' ing contests and the various statements that
have been made regarding the preparation,
effort, and expense involved in the carrying
them on, it is particularly apropos to the situa-
tion to review the success that has attended
the first State-wide piano playing contest
launched by the Glen. Bros.-Roberts Piano Co.,
Salt Lake City and Ogden, Utah,
the finals of which were held on
November 6 of this year. The ex-
perience of this house goes to
show that a representative con-
cern with initiative and energy can
carry on such a contest and in a
way to benefit the cause of music
generally and the sponsors of the
contest particularly.
It was close to a year ago that
President George S. Glen, of the
Glen Bros.-Roberts Piano Co.,
conceived the idea of holding a
State-wide piano playing contest
with a $1,750 Chickering, Style 1,
Grand as the prize. The award
was to be made to the student re-
ceiving in the final test the highest
percentage of points based on
musicianship, rhythm, freedom of
interpretation and tone color.
Eligibility to compete was limited
to pianoforte students of the State
of Utah resident for a period of not less than
six months, and it was provided originally
that there might be only one contestant from
each teacher, school, academy or conservatory.
No better proof of the interest aroused among
teachers by the contest was to be found than
the plea made to the piano company that the
rules be changed to allow the different teach-
ers in conservatories and academies to enter
their own pupils rather than confine the en-
I
trants to one from each institution. This point
was conceded.
The original announcement stated that the
contestants would be required to play three
difficult selections,—first, the Concerto, A-minor
(all three movements) by Grieg; second, "Per-
petual Motion," rondo from sonata Op. 54, by
Von Weber, and third, "Liebestraum," nocturne
No. 3, by Liszt. Here, too, the teachers dis-
Finalists in the Glen Bros.-Roberts Contest
played real interest in protesting against the
Greig concerto on the plea that it was arranged
for two pianos, or one piano and orchestra, and
that the average student had little occasion to
study it. Others held that the concerto could
not be played on one piano without materially
rearranging the entire score. Here again the
Glen Bros.-Roberts Piano Co. conceded the
point and substituted for the concerto the
Beethoven sonata op. 53. It will be seen from
the list of selections that the contest was not
one for elementary students.
The details were perfected early in the year,
and in March the first announcement was sent
out to some 280 music teachers throughout
Utah. This preliminary was followed by other
letters sent out at frequent intervals to keep
the enthusiasm at high pitch. The first letter
gave the details of the contest, the second re-
ferred to the protests against the
use of the Grieg concerto, and the
third had as its excuse the con-
ceding of the objections to the
concerto and the substitution of
the Beethoven sonata, the teachers
being asked to vote on the sub-
stitution. Then there came the
announcement of the letting down
of the bars to admit a contestant
for each teacher, and so on. This
gave to each letter a point of spe-
cial interest. In each there was
direct reference to the fact that
the $1,750 Chickering grand was
offered as a prize, and that the
piano itself could be seen either in
the Salt Lake City or Ogden stores
of the company. The letter sent to
teachers on May 18, over the sig-
nature of President Glen, is typical
and read as follows:
"We arc sending out this letter
in reply to several questions that
have come to us in connection with the Honor
Piano Student Contest, which we are conduct-
ing and which is to be determined late this
coming Fall, probably during October.
"Several of our good teacher friends have
written asking for the application blanks. We
take this opportunity to advise that the appli-
cation blanks will not be needed until about
September, as we will not require the names of
(Continued on bane 4)