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THE
MUSIC
TRADE
REVIEW,
individual communities, supporting them in
every possible way, advertising for them,
lending them assistance and putting all the
prestige of the association behind each one.
I can understand that this policy might suc-
ceed admirably in a densely populated ter-
ritory of relatively small size such as Great
Britain is. In this country it might be an
organized policy in this way for each sepa-
rate State. And this leads me to say that
perhaps the only possible solution to the prob-
lem of the future organization of the tuning
art, as a matter both of protection to the in-
dividual and of preservation of technical
standards, may lie in the development of
State associations grouped into a loose fed-
eration. We might take a leaf out of the
Russian book and conceive an organization
along the lines of a series of Soviets. This
would involve the idea of local groups in
each State federated into a State group. Then,
of course, all the State groups should send
delegates to a central national council, meet-
ing, say, once in three years, and limited in
size to one or two delegates from each State.
I should prefer one from each State, making
a total of forty-eight members of the central
council, who, in turn, should delegate their
powers in between meetings to a small board
of directors.
The idea of all this would be to give the
utmost latitude to the local groups and to
narrow down the powers of the State and of
the central bodies to the consideration of
broad questions of policy, binding, indeed, on
all members but not designed to cramp indi-
vidual initiative or to dictate for local un-
familiar conditions.
Here, as least, is something to think about.
I suppose that no interested person will deny
either that the tuners are facing a real crisis
or that, on the other hand, they are ill-pre-
pared to meet it with any organization at
present available to them. For myself 1
think that a new lineup is both desirable and
possible. This does not mean that the old
lineup ought to be destroyed. It does mean
that the old lineup needs to be re-oriented to
new conditions and new facts.
June-July, 1932
19
RESPONSIBILITY FOR MEMBERS
A CALL TO ACTION
The Pianoforte Tuners' Association in
Great Britain has adopted the policy of regis-
tration. As 1 understand it, this means that
to each member is given a card of member-
ship good for a definite term only, the pos-
session of which in effect is a sign that the '
association guarantees and stands behind its
holder. Powers are reserved to the associa-
tion to withdraw a card in case of a mem-
ber's misconduct or failure to maintain pro-
fessional standards. Something of the same
kind has been accomplished in this country
by the N.A.P.T. through its system of mem-
bership cards, which likewise, 1 believe, can
be withdrawn by the issuing authority. The
difficulty in this country, however, is not so
much the matter of illegitimate competition
by untrained or even fraudulent tuners, al-
though the evil exists and has to be attacked
from time to time in various communities. In
this country, unhappily, the basal difficulty
is deeper. It lies in public ignorance and
indifference to the tuner's work. In a word,
so long as the pianoforte is losing its place in
the household and the demand for tuning is
falling off, the problem is not primarily to
get rid of fraudulent competition, for this
must, in the nature of the case, rapidly perish
for lack of nourishment. The problem that
confronts the legitimate American tuner is
rather the problem of finding enough work
to do. This again means that if the demand
for tuning cannot be stimulated once more,
the professional tuner will die out. An
alternative then is likely to be the emergence
of the musician tuner, as I have pointed out
above, and a consequent complete change in
the outlook and organization of the craft.
It is because of all this that I once mort*
bring to the attention of American tuners
the position in which their art now stands.
1 believe in the N.A.P.T., but 1 do not be-
lieve that it is the duty of anyone to keep
silent in times of danger. I believe that the
art of tuning must be preserved in some
organized satisfactory form if music is to
recover from its present state of weakness and
djbiiity. I believe, too, that if out of all this
a new lineup and a new organization are to
come, it would be foolish not to prepare now
for the change. Let me add a final word. I
have just had a most sympathetic and inter-
esting letter from C. D. Bond, of the Weaver
Piano Co., who for long has been and still
is acknowledged to be among piano manu-
facturers preeminently the one entitled to be
called the tuners' friend. The Weaver Piano
Co. has gone to an immense amount of trou-
ble to study tuners' problems, especially in
their economic aspect, and is in a position to
advise and to suggest in all cases and at all
times. I am happy to find Mr. Bond among
those who agree with me as to the imminent
necessity for thought and action in that which
concerns the future of tuning in this country.
I should welcome correspondence on these
matters. May it not be that from among
ourselves will have to come a movement of
renaissance, to restore scientific training to
the art, to build up a new race of competent
tuners—perhaps among the musicians them-
selves—and to deal with the economics of
the craft from a new standpoint? And is
it not essentially necessary to rid ourselves
once- and forever of the persistent workman
cimiplcx ?
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