Music Trade Review

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The Music Trade Review
Music Committee Meets to
Discuss Piano Instruction
FEBRUARY 2, 1929
E. R. Fenimore Johnson
Resigns From Victor Co.
Son of E. R. Johnson, Founder of Victor Talk-
ing Machine Co., Retires From Executive
Vice-Presidency
CAMDEN, N. J., January 25.—At the regular meet-
ing of the Board of Directors of the Victor Talk-
ing Machine Co., held in Camden to-day, it was
announced that E. R. Fenimore Johnson, Ex-
ecutive Vice-President, had resigned as an active
officer of the company but would remain as a
director and a member of the Executive Com-
mittee and retain a keen interest in the future
OLLOWING the resolution passed by the Music Teachers' National Association last month of the business.
endorsing the principle of piano class instruction and authorizing the Music School Com-
In discussing his resignation, Mr. Johnson
mittee of the Association to adopt a program for supporting that movement, a meeting of said that he had expected to sever his connec-
the committee was held at the Republican Club, New York, on January 24.
tion with the company in January, 1927, at the
If the first session is any criterion of the active manner in which the committee will operate, time his father, Mr. Eldridge R. Johnson, the
then much can be expected in the future, for at the meeting it was decided first to circularize music founder ajid first president, sold his interest and
teachers throughout the country, if funds for
withdrew as active operating head of the indus-
the purpose should be available, and second, to now being organized for the first time. He try which he had developed from a small be-
prepare a booklet on group teaching methods said he had been studying the movement for ginning to the largest manufacturing organiza-
addressed specially to the profession and de- several years. One of the reasons for his in- tion of its kind in the world. On account of
signed the words of the resolution: "To make terest was that the group method would educate the retirement of many of the older executives
clear the underlying principles of class piano the parents away from mere interest in tht at that time, Mr. Johnson's services were
instruction and how the private teacher can technical progress of their children and get needed, for the company was actively engaged
them to understand that the primary objective in the production of a complete new line of
adopt it beneficially to his own work."
The booklet will be drafted by the National of the instruction was arousing joy in music for musical reproducing instruments. Therefore he
Bureau and submitted to the members of the its own sake and desire to participate in produc- felt under obligation to continue. Now that a
committee for revision, after which the com- ing music as a means of self-expression and as definite solution to many of the major prob-
mittee will meet again for approval of the pub- an asset to be retained through life.
lems then confronting the company have been
All the members were agreed that the piano found and since the executive personnel has
lication in its final form.
One of the most significant developments of class movement held great possibilities for the been greatly strengthened and augmented, Mr.
the meeting was the emphatic endorsement of private teacher who was progressive enough to Johnson feels entirely free to carry out his
the class instruction idea by Harold Bauer, look into it and relate himself to it. They original plan.
known throughout the country not only as one pointed out the increasing number of classes
of the foremost pianists of the day, but also as and the demand for trained teachers in the
a highly successful teacher and investigator of schools, as well as the pedagogical advantages Prize Winning Music
pedagogical methods. He called attention to to be derived by use in the private studio.
Slogan Is Announced
the fa,ct that most of the great teachers of the They were equally unanimous, however, in the
(Continued
from page 3)
instrument, including Liszt, Rubinstein and opinion that the technique of teaching groups
William
J.
Haussler,
president
of the National
Leschetizky, gave few individual lessons and re- differs greatly from that of the individual lesson
Musical
Merchandise
Association.
garded their group instruction as giving their and that unless a teacher was equipped with a
Details of a national slogan contest were
pupils a more valuable experience. The same knowledge of school pedagogy, classroom pro-
worked
out by a committee consisting of C.
advantage is obtained in the so-called "master cedure and discipline, as well as musicianship,
M. Tremaine, director of the National Bureau
classes" now so popular in the prominent music she was likely to fail, however successful she for the Advancement of Music; Alfred L. Smith,
schools and conservatories. Add to this the might be in individual work. In its publications general manager of the Music Industries
fact that class instruction in violin and the the committee will bring out the essential dif- Chamber of Commerce; Max J. deRochemont,
other instruments of the orchestra and band is ferences of work in the two fields, as well as Edward C. Boykin, executive secretary of the
making steady progress, and the advent of the the increased opportunity for the music teacher. National Piano Manufacturers' Association;
The members of the committee present were: William J. Haussler, president of the National
piano classes becomes almost an inevitable out-
J. E. Maddy, chairman, Harold Bauer; George Musica,! Merchandise Association, and Henry C.
growth of existing conditions.
Mr. Bauer's endorsement went far beyond H. Gartlan, Director of Music in the New.York Lomb, president of the Musical Instrument and
mere reasons of timeliness and practicability. schools; Mrs. Addyc Yeargain Hall, and C. M. Accessories Manufacturers. Dewey M. Dixon,
"I am strongly in favor of class instruction," Tremaine, Director of the National Bureau for assistant to the general manager of the Chamber
lie informed the committee. "It is not only the Advancement of Music, secretary. Rudolph was in active charge of carrying out the
that participation with a group gives the child Ganz, the eminent pianist and teacher, Russell program.
an interest and incentive not found in individual V. Morgan, Director of Music in the Cleveland
The contest was first announced through na-
itudy, and that his parents are pleased because schools, and Will Earhart, Director of Music in tional newspaper publicity in September, with
the
Pittsburgh
schools,
have
all
accepted
mem-
he likes to practice instead of having to be
the closing date fixed for December 1, 1928.
driven to it, but that class work offers the bership but were unable to be present.
Music dealers, jobbers, manufacturers, as well
In addition to the committee the meeting as musical clubs, women's clubs, civic clubs,
teacher a better opportunity to present al!
phases of music simultaneously, or as the occa- was attended by Miss Ella H. Mason, director teachers' organizations and other groups, were
sion arises. She will be far more likely to make of piano classes in the schools of Rochester, N. circularized, with the request that they obtain
real musicians out of her pupils, with trained Y.; Franklin Dunham, educational director of the widest possible distribution of the small
ears as well as trained fingers, and with im- the Aeolian Co., Kenneth S. Clark.
contest leaflet, giving the rules and containing
agination and intelligence in performance, not
a blank for entry of a slogan. Window cards
merely ability acquired by painful effort to ad- Edison Launches New
and advertising accessories were also provided.
vance from one grade of technical difficulty to
440,000 leaflets were ordered
Advertising Campaign by Approximately
another. In my observation of teaching in the
the above groups for distribution to the
conservatories I have frequently noticed a lack Large Space to Be Used in Newspapers in Key public. Thousands of direct inquiries were re-
of co-ordination among the branches of study,
Cities to Feature the New Edison Radios and ceived by the Chamber, as a result of newspaper
pupils often being unable to transfer to execu-
Radio-Phonograph Combinations
and magazine publicity. The rule giving per-
tion at the keyboard what they can work out on
mission to send more than one slogan was
paper away from it. The well-equipped group
On Thursday of this week there was fired the thoroughly taken advantage of, some entrants
piano instructor teaches music rather than per- first gun of an extensive newspaper advertising submitting a score of variations.
formance, or sight reading, or any particular campaign launched by Thos. A. Edison, Inc.,
Of the 120,000 slogans entered, by far the
branch of music. The result is that the subject and which will cover the key cities of the greater number came from women, many of
becomes a< living experience to the children, country. The advertising copy, which is of the whom obviously were teachers of music. Radio
something in which they can take part with distinctive sort, occupies close to half a news- announcements of the contest by various sta-
zest, and in which new problems come up and paper page running across the bottom, and, in tions throughout the country were also an in-
are mastered as they would be, say, in litera- addition to featuring the various Edison radios centive to competition, many djrect inquiries
ture."
and radio combinations, emphasizes the new having reached the Chamber as a result of them.
Mr. Gartlan told the committee something of Edison radio slogan: "The Set the World
Comparatively few of the entrants took ad-
his plans for developing piano classes in the Awaited." The campaign will continue at regu- vantage of the privilege of combining words
schools of New York City, where the work is lar intervals over an extended period.
with symbols or designs.
At Notable Meeting Held in New York Plans Are Adopted to
Prepare Booklet and Circularize All Music
Teachers on Class Teaching
F