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The Music Trade Review
tied up more or less strongly with this children's program. Each
organization has evidently found that channel in which it can work
best. There may he some duplication of effort, but it still remains
to be seen whether such duplication follows out the idea that repe-
tition means that much more publicity, or whether there may chance
to be a conflict of interest likely to retard progress to a certain ex-
tent.
The Chicago Contest
Certainly those who attend the convention will have an unusual
first-hand opportunity of observing the actual interest of children
in piano-playing, as a result of the holding of the finals of the
Greater Chicago Piano-Playing Tournament at the Hotel Stevens
on the evening of June 8. The thirty children who will participate in
this final contest before the convention delegates and other guests
will be those who have triumphed in elimination contests from
among entries totaling close to 15,CXK) children. It means that in
Chicago and environs alone there are just that many youngsters who
feel, or whose parents feel, that they play sufficiently well to enter
a contest. It means that there are countless more who do not con-
sider that they play well enough to enter, or who shrink from pub-
licity, and still more thousands who, given the opportunity through
group instruction or by some other means, would welcome a chance
to stud\- the piano or sonu- other instrument.
Nor is this question of child training confined to those who
make or sell pianos, for the band and orchestra men and others
have long since seen the light, and as a result we find in the grade
and high schools of the country score upon score of bands, orches-
tras and even harmonica bands drawn from the student body.
Session Programs
The music industry, as usual, has its problems of advertising,
selling, and collecting, and these will be handled as far as possible
at the. various convention sessions. There will be an exhibit of
retail advertising, a feature that has stood out strongly at several
conventions in the past and which has without question been a big
factor in improving the general tone of retail advertising in this
industry of ours.
Questions of selling and of merchandising will be discussed
from different angles, the trade-in problem will be considered, the
matter of financing will have its turn, and to this question to a cer-
tain extent will be hooked up that of collecting in general, this in
many cases being the most important factor of the sale because it
represents the difference between profit and loss.
Business Conventions
The 1927 conventions have been heralded as business conven-
tions. The term has been used more or less loosely in connection
with national gatherings in the past. There were some practical in-
dications at the annual meeting last year that, although there must
Linden ably be some play for those who seek relaxation while away
MAY 28, 1927
from home, this play can be kept within reasonable limits so far
as the official program is concerned. There is evidence, too, that
those in charge of the entertainment program will curtail their
efforts to a certain extent, even though it will unquestionably go
against the grain to draw in on that spirit of hospitality for which
the Windy City is famous.
Entertainment
So far as the program looks at the present time, there will be
two official functions—the opening luncheon on Monday, and the
annual banquet of the National Association of Music Merchants on
Thursday evening. This is not to say, however, that there will not
be sufficient private entertainment to keep the average dealer pretty
well occupied throughout the week during those hours when the
convention itself is not in session.
The Exhibits
The selection of the new Hotel Stevens, termed the largest
hotel in the world, as convention headquarters is likely to have an
influence on the attendance, for it is situated so close to the Loop
that is is practically within the restricted area conveniently located
to the music trade center of the city. It has an abundance of public
rooms to handle the various meetings, and excellent facilities for
the numerous exhibits that will greet the dealer upon his arrival at
headquarters. These exhibits, by the way, will be many and varied,
for already close to one hundred manufacturers and wholesalers
in various lines have arranged to display their new products. This
is a convention feature generally regarded as most important, for
it affords the dealer who is located somewhat distantly from the
manufacturing centers an opportunity to study the latest develop-
ments in manufacturing in a comprehensive way and under one
roof at a material saving of time and traveling expenses.
Period Model Pianos
Particularly important this year will be the showing of period
models, for this is a development of the trade that is steadily assum-
ing increased importance.
These period styles, together with
specially decorated models, reflect not only the progressive spirit
of the trade itself, but, most important, a changing taste on the part
of the public in its demands for piano designs. It means that the
appearance, as well as the tone of the instrument, is being taken
into consideration to a far greater degree than heretofore.
In
band and orchestra instruments, phonographs and radios there will
also be shown the new and latest products for the benefit of that
steadily growing percentage of dealers who are really to be classed
as music merchants from the fact that they handle in their stores
musical products of practically all kinds.
In short, whether the convention delegate is interested in the
development of a future market or in taking care of the demands
of such markets as he finds to-day, he will find much at the con-
vention meetings worthy of his earnest attention.