February 21, 1925.
19
P R E S T O
SMALL GOODS AND SUPPLIES
PROMOTING BANDS
Opportunities Not Limited to Big Centers
Shown by Successful Experiences of One
Energetic Music Merchant in Promot-
ing Bands in Rural Communities.
when that was accomplished he grafted a competitive
spirit on to the community enthusiasm.
Now he has men's and boys' bands and girls'
bands, and the practicing, concerts and parades pro-
vide the entertainment lacking before in the com-
munities. They arc village bands, but in every in-
stance the dealer made it a firm principle to have the
members pay for their own instruments. He has
proved a psychological fact in relation to the owner-
ship of the instruments in the town bands. It is a
mistake, he says, to let the town form a fund to buy
the instruments which the players only have a loan
claim to. The organization lacks cohesion under such
circumstance. But where the members of the bands
pay for the instruments, even if on slow instalments,
they are more likely to continue their enthusiasms
and usually work harder to master the art.
Method of Sale.
This method of sale is safe in the rural communities
where nearly every family is a fixture, but in the
sales for industrial bands the companies usually
underwrite the bill for the band instrument equip-
ment. In that case the underwriters take a small
sum every week from the members' wages until the
instruments are paid for.
Meeting Expenses.
Even in the band in the rural community there are
certain expenses to be met, for the teaching of the
band, music, bandroom rent and costs of operation
generally. These arc often met by a public spirited
citizen or by a canvass of the local merchants and
organizations. It is their contribution to the band
spirit. In this the dealer joins by donating the music.
Another custom, not original however with the
dealer in question, is to have the bands earn their
own uniforms. This is possible when the band makes
a fair showing in a concert or is able to lead a
parade or provide music for a social or civic occasion.
A band contest planned for early this summer will
further stimulate the band spirit and provide a gen-
eral fund for transportation when the bands appear
for massed concerts.
Every year is a band instrument year and the
observant music dealers are taking advantage of the
fact. Thanks to the propaganda of the Band Instru-
ment Manufacturers' Association and individual band
instrument manufacturers, the encouragement of
Lions, Kiwanis and other organizations and the
spirited efforts of energetic dealers, the band spirit is
growing. The fact is shown in the number of new
bands proposed or actually organized, daily reported
in the newspapers and the trade journals. Therein
are the possibilities of band equipment sales and
the consequent profits for the music dealers.
Old Fallacy Disproved.
It is, or rather used to be, a trade fallacy that
opportunities for the formation of bands were limited
to the cities. Small towns, villages and rural com-
munities are now considered good fields for the am-
bitious music dealer with the promotion instinct. A
live dealer in a progressive midwest state has been
cultivating a field that heretofore was of a kind to
present no band promoting possibilities. His section
of the state has no large towns, but the compara-
tively big population is scattered about in a dozen or
so villages. Some of these are little better than the
proverbial crossroads. Until the ambitious dealer in
question began his campaign of band spirit creation
even one permanent motion picture show was not
numbered among the signs of modernity in any of
the villages.
His Inspiration.
There was no evidence of the musical impulse any-
where, and seemingly there was nothing to aid in the
movement he had in mind. But the dealer is a man
of vision, and in the rather intense community spirit
Dexter W. Parker, associated with the Charles
he saw the aid to band promotion. The formation Parker Co., lumber dealers, Meriden, Conn., died re-
of the first village band was the hardest job, and cently at the age of 76.
WESSELL, NICKEL & GROSS
Manufacturers of
NEW GENNETT RECORD LIST
Excellent Variety Shown in Selections Comprised in
Latest Bulletin.
In the Gennet record list issued by the Starr Piano
Co., Richmond, Ind., this week the latest hits for
dancing are:
Oh Mabel!, fox trot (Fiorito-Kahn), and Lucky
Kentucky, fox trot (Rose-Dixon-Henderson), Bailey's
Lucky Seven; Somebody Like You, fox trot (Friend-
Donaldson), and I Can't Stop Babying You, fox trot
(Santly-Fiorito-Kahn), The Vagabonds; Oh Maud,
fox trot (Payne-Putnam), and You Can't Make a
Woman Change Her Mind, one step (Payne-Schloe-
raer), Art Payne and His Orchestra; Waiting for
V'ou, waltz (Thompson), Gennett Instrumental Trio,
and Lover's Waltz, waltz (Yellen-Kortlander-De
Martini), Gennett Dance Orchestra.
Popular Vocal—I Love a Little Cottage (Stott-
O'Hara), Old Pal (Kahn-Van Alstyne), Wilson Har-
per, tenor, accompanied by Violin, Cello and Piano.
Irish Flute—All the Way to Galway, Irish polka,
and By Moonlight on the Water, Irish reel, John
Griffin, Flute Solo (The Fifth Ave. Bus Man), Paddy
Muldoon, Piano accompaniment.
Old Time Fiddle and Guitar—Fisher's Hornpipe
and Opera Reel, Wm. B. Houchens, Fiddle, J. M.
Houchin, Guitar accompaniment, and Temperance
Reel and Reilly's Reel, Wm. B. Houchens, Fiddle,
J. M. Houchin, Guitar Accompaniment, Saloma Dun-
lap, Piano accompaniment.
Race Records—Nobody Knows the Way I Feel Dis
Mornin' (Delaney-Delaney), Early Every Morn
(Higgins), Josephine Beatty, colored vocal, accom-
panied by Red Onion Jazz Babies; Cake Walking
Babies (From Home), shimmy fox trot (Williams-
Smith-Troy), Red Onion Jazz Babies, vocal chorus
—Beatty and Todd; Of All the Wrongs You've Done
to Me (from "Chocolate Dandies") (Payton-Smith-
Dowell), Red Onion Jazz Babies.
Foreign (Spanish)—Tango Triste (Javier Rengifo),
Nena (I. Casamox), Orquesta Miraflores.
The Ellensohn Music Co., French Lick, Ind., plans
to enlarge its quarters and add new lines.
THE SELPO TRUCKS
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PIANO ACTIONS
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OFFICE:
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Ivory Cutters and Manufacturers
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Manufactured by
SELF LIFTING PIANO TRUCK CO.
FINDLAY, OHIO
IVORY AND COMPOSITION-COVERED ORGAN KEYS
Th« «nly Company Furnishing the Keys, Actions, K a m m m *nd Bra
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Office and Factories: Ivory ton, Conn.
THE O S. KELLY CO.
Manufacturers
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WESTERN REPRESENTATIVE:
Grade
PIANO PLATES
SPRINGFIELD
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1. BRECKWOLDT. Pre«.
Chicago, III.
W. A. BRECKWOLDT. Sec. & Treaa
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