Classic Mode

Music Trade Review

Issue: 1931 Vol. 90 N. 1

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
The Music Trade Review
JANUARY, 1931
19
subject of piano classes. This is a concrete
example of the campaign the National Bureau is
conducting with Parent Teacher Associations
(Continued from page 7)
all over the country. At this Poughkeepsie
people which must find expression in such a
still the beast of burden for all musicians. meeting Miss Mason discussed the educational
We saw that the public's opinion that the merit of piano study and showed that it de-
basic instrument as the piano.
piano was rapidly becoming obsolete was serves a place among other regular school sub-
There are many indications that a reac-
founded on the lack of knowledge of the jects. Carrying this point beyond a mere idea
tion has already set in; this can be very
importance of the piano and of the value of of cooperation, she suggested definite ways in
much hastened if the industry succeeds in
which parents could work for the bringing
piano instruction for children.
obtaining full recognition for the study of
We looked for a cure. We kept on a whole about of their desire to make piano classes a
music in the grade schools of the country.
year looking for this cure and accumulating part of their public school curriculum and there-
Ashley B. Cone, President, Hardman, Peck &
information that would do the trick. We de- fore available to all their children.
Co., New York.
With the addition of Poughkeepsie to the
vised a plan by which we locate the homes
I am reasonably optimistic regarding con-
with children, but no piano About 25 per ranks of those cities employing piano class
ditions for the year 1931. I believe and hope
cent of the homes in the average community work in the public schools, the' National Bureau
that the piano trade will show an increase
are of that type. Next, our salesmen tell now has a list of 880 cities and towns from
of about 10 per cent in sales. Due also to
the parents in those homes a story—a real which reports of piano classes in operation have
the curtailment in overhead expense, which
sales story from an original sales manual already been received. This is an increase of
most manufacturers are effecting at the
which shows what piano instruction will do 280 new cities which have begun piano classes
present time, the year 1931 should be profit-
for children. It requires about thirty minutes during the year from December 1929 to Decem-
able.
to tell this story, and after parents have ber 1930.
heard it attentively they feel that it would
Walter S. Bond, President, Weaver Piano Co.,
be almost criminal to deny their children
York, Pa.:
the advantage of the mental development
Two things will bring the piano back to
social preferment, and financial gain which
public favor. One is, selling pianos for their
come from piano instruction.
educational and cultural value on the child
We have had just enough experience with
appeal; the other is the improved method
H. C. Grubbs has been appointed vice-presi-
the plan to be convinced that pianos can
of teaching the piano by which children
dent
in charge of all the selling activities of
be sold on their cultural and educational
learn to play and sing pieces from the start.
the
R.C.A.-Victor
Co., Inc., his new responsi-
value to parents who need pianos for their
As soon as these two things are accom-
bilities
including
the
executive control of the
children but don't know it until after they
plished, the piano will rapidly come back to
merchandising
activities
of the Radiola, Victor
have been told the story. This is not an
public favor
and engineering products divisions, and allied
opinion
but
a
fact
learned
by
actual
experi-
If a new crop of salesmen is required to
operations including export. In his new post
ence.
sell pianos for their educational and cul-
he succeeds J. L. Ray, recently resigned.
Thoughful parents (and 1930 has made
tural value, then they should be secured and
Mr. Grubbs came to the Victor Co. in 1928
many parents more thoughtful of the future)
trained without delay. However, many old
as
commercial vice-president after a successful
want their children to have the advantages
salesmen can be trained to revise their
career
as vice-president of the Dalton Adding
that come so richly and only from piano
methods if there is sufficient patience and
Machine
Co. and sales manager of the Reming-
instruction.
persistence in doing so. A new corps of
ton-Rand Business Service and this broad ex-
Manufacturers, dealers and salesmen who perience has stood him in good stead.
teachers is not necessary as many have
catch the vision of this turning tide to the
already adopted the new method and the
piano and adjust themselves to the new
publishing houses are influencing many more
basis of valuation of the piano will come
to revise their methods. If dealers and sales-
in with this tide to the piano and will ride
men will do all possible to influence parents
on the top of the new wave of piano pros-
to seek out teachers for beginners who use
perity in 1931 and 1932.
the new method, this will also help.
For more than a year our salesmen were
"down in the dumps." Completely down—•
but not out. They thought of how people
were losing interest in the piano long before
our country was struck by the depression
and, consequently, had little hope for the
return of the piano even with the return of
Poughkeepsie, N. Y., with a population of
prosperity. They saw people give up their 35,800 is the most recent acquisition to the cities
pianos because they thought they were ob- where piano class work has been established
solete.
in the public schools.
On the other hand, we saw no substitute
In a recent letter to Miss Ella H. Mason,
for the piano. We saw that the piano was piano class specialist of the National Bureau
for the Advancement of Music, Alex A. Reuter-
The Schulz catalog depicts a pleas-
shan, director of music in the Poughkeepsie
ing assortment of quick-selling—
public schools, stated that ten keyboards had
good-will-creating pianos.
been purchased, and at the outset, thirty-eight
Write for it.
pupils had begun their class lessons. He further
stated that many of the principals and the
Superintendent, Mr. Moon, were watching the
experiment with great interest and that, in their
opinion, "It is only a question of time when all
our schools will be giving lessons of this type."
711 Milwaukee Ave.
The seeds of the movement were planted on
Known for Tone"
CHICAGO
June 3, when Miss Mason was invited to attend
the annual banquet of the Parent Teachers' As-
MATHUSHEK PIANO MFG. CO.
79 Alexander Are.
-
NEW YORK
sociation of Poughkeepsie and to speak on the
What Trade Leaders Think of 1931
H. C. Grubbs Heads New
RCA-Victor Activities
SCHULZ
Group Piano Instruction
in Poughkeepsie Schools
A
CRITERION
AMONG FINER
PIANOS
SINCE 1869
Iptatuw
M. SCHULZ GO.
20
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
The Music Trade Review
JANUARY,
Canadian Musical Instrument
Industry Showed Gain in 1929
Canadian musical-instrument industry
T HE
produced $13,505,238 worth of instruments
in 1929, according to a recent report issued
by the Canadian census of industry.
This
total constitutes a gain of approximately 10
percent over 1928, when production amounted
to $12,282,589.
There were forty-two indi-
vidual establishments reporting for 1929, being
identical with the number reporting in 1928.
Music instruments represented $7,206,827 of
the total value; musical-instrument materials,
$1,051,159; radio sets, parts and accessories,
$4,810,426; and all other products, $436,826.
Compared with 1928, there was an increase in
the value of production of radio sets, parts and
accessories of $3,471,356, while musical instru-
ments showed a decrease of $1,973,378, musical-
instrument materials a decrease of $231,582,
and all other products a decrease of $43,747.
Of the forty-two establishments, thirty are
located in Ontario Province, ten in Quebec and
two in British Columbia. Of the total produc-
tion of the industry, however, over 50 per cent
was manufactured by firms located in Quebec.
This is a substantial increase over 1923, when
the output of the fifteen firms then estab-
lished in that Province was 24 per cent of the
total. Quebec's gain can be attributed to in-
creased production of pipe organs and radio
sets and parts, the increased production in the
latter case being due to the increased demand.
The Province of Ontario produced over 49 per
cent of the total 1929 output, while the remain-
ing 0.09 per cent is accounted for in British
Columbia.
The number of establishments engaged in
manufacturing each class of product in 1929
was as follows: pianos, organs, etc., twenty-
two; phonographs, gramophones and records,
only three; phonographs, radios, records and
parts, eight; and musical instrument materials,
etc., nine.
Piano production during 1929 continued to
decrease in both quantity and value; 9,852
pianos were manufactured, valued at $2,136,-
278, compared with 13,186 pianos, valued at
$3,071,730, in 1928. The number of organs
produced in 1929 decreased slightly but in-
creased in value, the figures being 562 organs
valued at $851,873 in 1928, and 448 at $1,001,562
in 1929.
Phonographs showed a drop in production
in both quantity and value; 40,122 phonographs
and gramophones were made in 1928 valued
at $2,971,085 and 28,320 valued at $1,531,962 in
1929. Phonograph records, on the other hand,
reported a slight increase from 5,955,984 with
a value of $2,278,286 in 1928 to 6,007,018 valued
at $2,330,755 in 1929. The production of phono-
graph parts and accessories, worth $234,100
during 1929, was a substantial increase over
1928, when the value of tins group amounted
to $156,772.
Piano actions, parts and accessories, includ-
ing piano and organ keys, piano actions,
strings, hammers, plates and player-piano
actions, produced in Canada in 1927 amounted
to $1,397,512, in 1928 to $1,125,969, and in 1929
to $817,059.
The value of the various classes of musical
instruments and parts thereof imported into
Canada rose from $2,671,139 in 1928 to $3,304,-
942 in 1929, an increase of $633,803 for the
calendar year 1929. Imports from the United
Kingdom decreased $7,134, while those from
the United States increased $665,229. Imports
from "all other countries" decreased $24,292.
The total value of musical instrument ex-
ports decreased by $45,700 in 1929 from the
preceding year.
Mary Garden Pays Trib-
ute to Lester Grand
PHILADELPHIA, PA.—Mary Garden, famous opera
star, has paid tribute to the Lester piano by
having one of the new Lester style 'K' grands
installed in her apartment at the Barclay Hotel
where she will remain for several weeks. In
selecting the Lester grand Miss Garden also
A Piano That Is Really Modernistic
An
Effective
Modernistic
Piano
Design
1931
gave a strong endorsement for that instrument.
The Lester Piano Ensemble has launched its
concert activities for the 1930-31 season. Sev-
eral concerts have been staged by the Ensemble
at the Bellevue-Stratford and Benjamin Franklin
Hotels and has arranged for an extensive
schedule of appearances in leading clubs and
hotels, private schools and colleges, and before
women's organizations in Philadelphia and
vicinity.
Plan Musical Displays at
Chicago World's Fair
Two collections of musical instruments, one
of old instruments and one of modern make,
have been suggested as part of the physics ex-
hibit at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair by Dr.
Dayton C. Miller of Cleveland and Dr. George
W. Stewart of Iowa City, noted for their re-
searches pertaining to the phenomena of sound
and members of the physics and optical physics
section of the National Research Council Sci-
ence Advisory Committee of the Chicago
exposition.
Dr. Miller is director of the'physics depart-
ment at the Case School of Applied Science
and Dr. Stewart is director of the physics de-
partment and dean of the Graduate School at
the University of Iowa.
A display of two violins, one a Stradivarius
and the other a cheap instrument of the pres-
ent period, is specially recommended.
It is also suggested that an historical col-
lection of phonographs be exhibited beginning
with the earliest forms and ending with the
electrical producer, along with tableaux show-
ing the direct method of recording as contrast-
ed with the electrical method. A model of a
broadcasting studio also would be a part of
the exhibit.
Progress in architectural acoustics would be
shown in three rooms, each twelve by twelve
feet, the first highly reverberant, the second
properly treated for ordinary rooms, and the
third highly absorbent.
An exhibit of two corridors is suggested,
the one treated and the other not treated but
arranged in such a manner that it could be
manipulated by the visitors so as to produce
sound absorption effects.
Photographs would be on display showing
acoustic treatments for rooms of various
kinds, auditoriums, broadcasting studios, dining
rooms and business offices. Samples of acoustic
materials would be displayed.
Other exhibits would consist of photographs
of sound waves and charts showing the his-
torical development of the treatment of audi-
toriums for echoes and reverberation.
The suggestions are contained in a report
of the physics and optical physics section of
the National Research Council Science Advis-
ory Committee. The section is directed by
Dr. Karl T. Compton, recently appointed presi-
dent of the Massachusetts Institute of Tech-
nology, and Dr. F. K. Richtmyer, professor
of physics at Cornell University.
by the
Aeolian Co.
TXTHEN a customer of the Aeolian Co. in
New York recently sought a special case
design for a Steinway Duo-Art grand in order
that the instrument might harmonize with
other furnishings of a distinct modernistic type,
he got immediate service. The result was the
piano pictured herewith, certainly modernistic
in every detail, and withal distinctly original
in design, particularly in the arrangement of
the support for the rear of the piano follow-
ing the elimination of the usual leg. Metal was
used profusely in the decoration of the case
and for its support, the hardware and metal
parts throughout being silver plated. Hun-
garian ash was the wood used for the lighter
portions of the case, and rosewood for the
dark sections. The result caused much com-
ment and aroused the enthusiasm of the cli-
ent, although it is hardly possible that instru-
ments of that design will find a general sale.
C. D. Sampson, of Idaho,
Marks Motor Trails
BOISE, IDAHO—The average piano man regards
the automobile as a direct business competitor
and treats it as such except so far as his per-
sonal comfort in transportation is concerned,
but C. D. Sampson, of the Sampson Music Co.,
this city, finds time in addition to running his
music business to render a real service to auto-
mobilists by marking motor trails.
Mr. Sampson has devised a series of orange
colored road signs and is responsible for the
laying out of the Sampson Trail through Idaho.
He finds his signs also in great demand for
marking side-roads and other highways.

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