Music Trade Review

Issue: 1931 Vol. 90 N. 9

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
Ike Mnsicirade Review
P I A N O S
R A D I O S
ORGANS
SUPPLIES
Serving
the National
Vol. 90
T H E Wilking Music Co. has been
selling pianos instead of talking hard
times and depression during the last
few years with the result that sales for
1930 were eighteen per cent in excess
of those for 1929 and thus far this
year the sales totals show a nine per
cent increase over last year. How did
this happen? Simply because the sales
organization of the company had been
trained and encouraged to go right
ahead selling pianos without worrying
about depression or poor business. As
President F. O. Wilking says, "If any
man talks depression he has no place
in the Wilking organization and he
knows it." That's part of the answer
and the rest of it is told on page 13
Music
Industry
No. 9
SEPTEMBER, 1931
MUSICAL
MERCHANDISE
SHEET MUSIC
ACCESSORIES
TABLE OF CONTENTS
How Amateur Bands Lead the Way to Instrument Sales
Editorially Speaking
6
Depression Is a Stranger to the Wilking Co
9
Mark P. Campbell's Enthusiasm Over Piano Trade is Revived
by Trip
of THE REVIEW this month.
INVESTIGATE the methods of any
concern making a success of the sale
of band and orchestra instruments at
retail and it will be found that those
methods have principally to do with
the organization of amateur groups of
players both in and out of the schools.
In short the first effort is to teach the
amateur to play and if this is done
successfully the sales of new instru-
ments take care of themselves as is
indicated by the experiences of the An-
derson-Soward Co., of Dayton, O., on
page four of this issue.
IkilARK P. CAMPBELL, president of
' " ' the Kohler-Brambach Piano Co.,
recently went out into the field himself
to get first-hand information regarding
retail conditions, and on his return de-
clared that his faith in the piano busi-
ness and its possibilities had been great-
ly stimulated as a result. Perhaps if
some other big executives would contact
the retail trade they would gain a
more optimistic view of the situation.
4
by Truman Mills
II
Tuners Association Holds Annual Convention
How the Weaver Piano Co. Contacts Prospective Piano
Purchasers
v
II
13
REGULAR DEPARTMENTS
The World of Radio
22
Chicago and the Middle West
25
Piano Factory and Piano Servicing
27
(Dr. Wm. Braid White, Technical Editor]
Sheet Music and Books
30
Musical Merchandise
33
B. BRITTAIN WILSON, Editor
EDWARD LYMAN BILL, Publisher
RAY BILL, Associate Editor
P. F. SIEBER, Circulation Manager
WESTERN DIVISION: PRANK W. KIRK, Manager
333 No. Michigan Ave., Chicago
Published on the First of the Month by Federated Business Publications, Inc.
at 420 Lexington Avenue, New York
President, Raymond Bill; Vice-Presidents, J. B. Spillane, Randolph Brown; Secretary and Treasurer, Edward Lyman Bill; Comptroller, T. J.
Kelly; Assistant Treasurer, Wm. A. Low.
Publishers of Antiquarian, Automotive Electricity, India Rubber World, Materials Handling & Distribution, Music Trade Review, Novelty
News, Premium and Specialty Advertising, Rug Profits, Sales Management, Soda Fountain, Radio Digest, Radio-Music Merchant, Tires; and operates
in association with Building Investment, Draperies and Tire Rate-Book.
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
BAND OF THE PLEASANT HILL, OHIO, CENTRALIZED HIGH SCHOOL
HOW AMATEUR BANDS
Lead the Way to
INSTRUMENT SALES
By TRUMAN MILLS
U
NUSUAL success in the promotion of the sale of mu-
sical instruments has been achieved through the or-
ganization of bands in churches, schools and, among
individual students by the band instrument depart-
ment of the Anderson-Soward music house, Dayton, O. This
department, under the direction of Verle J. Sheffer, has or-
ganized nineteen school bands in the region surrounding Day-
ton and has four bands in the city.
The work started 14 years ago and has grown to be a
vital force in the promotion of interest in music in Dayton
and the vicinity, besides making the Anderson-Soward Co.
the main center for the purchase of musical instruments.
"At the present time the greatest efforts are being put be-
hind the promotion of bands in rural and centralized schools,"
explained Mr. Sheffer, in telling of the methods used. "The
city schools have their music departments, but in the rural
districts little is taught except the piano and violin. These
schools are therefore a fertile field for organization work and
training of students in a wider appreciation of music.
"We usually go to a school and have a talk with the super-
intendent. We ask him if he wouldn't like to have a band,
and he is usually very keen about it, but points out that there
aren't any students who can play a band instrument. We
then make a proposition to him that if he lets us come in and
do the promotional work, furnish the instruments and teach
the students, we will have a band that will be able to give a
concert within ninety 1 days. He is usually skeptical, but will
let us go ahead.
"I then go out to the school with one of my teachers and
we have a meeting, during which we visualize what it will
mean to have a band that can play at school functions, go
along with the team, and otherwise enliven things. We point
out that playing a musical instrument develops the lungs,
promotes quicker thinking, and tends to build up the individ-
ual. We make the meeting peppy, and in the course of it we
play some of the instruments we have brought with us. Before
the meeting is concluded we ask how many would like to have
a band. If one hundred hands go up, we can usually count
on fifty who will enter into the project and carry their studies
through. And before we are fully organized we may double
that number.
"We then arrange to supply used instruments which can be
rented from us. These instruments are sterilized and taken
out to the school. Students with thin lips and an even set
THE
MUSIC
TRADE
REVIEW,
September, 1931

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