PRESTO-TIMES
The American Music Trade Weekly
Published Every Saturday at 417 South Dearborn
Street, Chicago, Illinois.
PRESTO P U B L I S H I N G CO., Publishers.
F R A N K D. A B B O T T
- - - - - - - - -
(C. A. D A N I ELL—1904-1927.)
J. FERGUS O'RYAN
_ _ _ _ _ Managing
Mr. C. Alfred Wagner, Mr. A. G. Gulbransen,
have expressed appreciation of the new book
and have praised its obvious potency for for-
warding the purposes of the national piano
sales promotion committee.
IN THE BUYER'S INTEREST
Editor
Simplified practice in factories recommended
by the Department of Commerce since the be-
ginning of the great war is an economic move-
Telephones, Local and Long Distance, Harrison 0234.
Private Phones to all Departments. Cable Address (Com-
ment in which the music industry is inter-
mercial Cable Co.'s Code), " P R E S T O , " Chicago.
ested. It was designed mainly for eliminating
Entered as second-class matter Jan 29, 1896, at the
unnecessary variety and sizes and types of
Post Office, Chicago, LI., under Act of March 3, 1879.
commodities.
In the musical merchandise man-
Subscription, $2 a year; 6 months, $1.25; Foreign, $4.
Payable in advance. No extra charge in United States
ufacturing
industry
simplified practice has been
possessions, Cuba and Mexico. Rates for advertising on
application.
officially established by its national association
Items of news and other matter are solicited and if of
as a fundamental of good business manage-
general interest to the music trade will be paid for at
space rates. Usually piano merchants or salesmen in the
ment.
smaller cities are the best occasional correspondents, and
their assistance is invited.
Circumstances have governed simplified
Payment is not accepted for matter printed in the edi-
practice
in the piano factories where econo-
torial or news columns of Presto-Times.
Where half-tones are made the actual cost of produc-
mies of production are essential. But in stand-
tion will be charged if of commercial character of other
than strictly news interest.
ardization and simplified practice in manufac-
When electrotypes are sent for publication it is re-
quested that their subjects and senders be carefully indi-
turing every progressive company is a law
cated.
unto itself. The interest of the dealers and
Forms close at noon on Thursday. Late news matter
of the ultimate buyers of pianos are foremost
should be in not later than 11 o'clock on that day. Ad-
vertising copy should be in hand before Tuesday, 5 p. m.,
considerations in factory management. Giv-
to insure preferred position. Full page display copy
should be in hand by Tuesday noon preceding publication
ing the most value for the money is the object
day. Want advertisements for current week, to insure
classification, should be in by Wednesday noon.
of every piano manufacturer whose ambition
is to extend and hold his trade.
Address all communications for the editorial or business
departments to PRESTO PUBLISHING CO., 417 South
In the desire to give the best value to the
Dearborn Street, Chicago, III.
dealer, the progressive piano manufacturer
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1927.
seeks the most efficient workers, installs the
best mechanical equipment, effects better
The last form of Presto-Times goes to press scheduling of work and adopts other advan-
at 11 a. m. Thursday. Any news transpiring tages tending towards a reduced cost per unit.
after that hour cannot be expected in the cur-
Adherence to this scheme means that the
rent issue. Nothing received at the office that
is not strictly news of importance can have consumer gets better value for the money,
attention after 9 a. m. on Thursday. If they which is a main purpose in every scheme of
concern the interests of manufacturers or simplified practice.
dealers such items will appear the week follow-
ing. Copy for advertising designed for the
current issue must reach the office not later
INSTALMENT BUYING
than Wednesday noon of each week.
It is generally admitted by those competent
to judge that instalment buying is good eco-
DEMONSTRATING EFFICIENCY
nomic practice. The instalment system of re-
It was to be expected that the national piano tailing pianos has been in use for many years
sales promotion scheme of the National Piano and it is a certainty it will remain. The sys-
Manufacturers' Association would prove effec- tem also is in use in the musical merchandise
tive, because of the earnestness of the men trade and is considered stimulative to sales,
closely associated with the movement. And especially of band instruments. In fact, the
to the quality of earnestness is added that of instalment plan is such an established fact in
the practical sense. Any movement would be the music trade that it is left out by conven-
guarded against futility with W. E. Guylee, tions as a topic for discussion.
president of the National Association of Piano
The musical instrument manufacturers agree
Manufacturers; Charles Jacob, its treasurer; with the economists who say the instalment
Max J. de Rochemont, chairman on the pro- buying plan is good commercial practice and
motion committee and his associates, active add some further conclusions of their own:
in it.
That by increasing quantity production it de-
Charles Jacob does not stop at filling the creases the cost of goods to the consumer and
useful role of guarding the finances of the has contributed, more than any other factor,
piano manufacturers' national association, but in the rebuilding of business and general re-
uses his keen judgment of ways to fulfill the adjustment that has taken place since the
purposes of the activities of which the able war.
Edward C. Boykin is the director. An early
The financiers, of course, offer other opin-
suggestion of Mr. Jacob was the extension of
ions ; some view it with alarm and others be-
the promotion appeal to adults as well as to
lieve it does not lead to any dangerous situ-
children. That thought was accepted by Mr.
ation. The majority, however, consider it has
Boykin in his development of the promotion a psychological effect of inducing purchasers
plan.
to plunge without sufficient realization of
A gratifying result is the new publication eventual payment.
of the promotion committee, "Everybody's
There are no piano dealers contemplating
Look-and-Play Piano Book," designed to en-
a
discontinuance
of the instalment plan. When
able anybody to quickly learn a series of
properly
regulated
it makes for safe business.
chords to provide accompaniments to songs
Observant
dealers
claim
the duty to keep up
or instrumental solos. The book is not pre-
the
instalments
causes
a
family to adopt a
sented as a direct means to proficiency in piano
playing but as a potent means for interesting budget and stimulates thrift. Some even en-
adults in the piano. Mr. Jacob, Mr. Guylee, thusiastically claim the instalment plan has a
Editor
November 5, 1927
tendency to offset the so-called summer slump
in piano buying.
Installment buying is on the increase in Eng-
land notwithstanding the opposition to the
system by some economists who condemn that
phase of the "Americanization of Great Brit-
ain." A. M. Samuel, Minister of Overseas
Trade, has sounded a sharp warning against
the installment system for increasing the sales
of luxuries : "Production and sale of motor
cars, phonographs, radios, pianos and clothes
on 'tick' is a trade system built upon sand,"
Mr. Samuel told a large Chamber of Commerce
meeting the other day. He said that in Amer-
ica the system of pledging future earnings by
installment buying could be indulged in be-
cause the American people had "wealth to
burn," but he hoped the system would never
reach any great proportions in Great Britain,
particularly in the purchase of non-essentials
and luxuries.
GROUP PIANO INSTRUCTION
The power of group piano teaching to in-
crease interest in piano lessons, and, incident-
ally of course, in the piano itself, is shown by
incidents reported from many places. Mr. C.
M. Tremaine, director of the National Bureau
for the Advancement of Music, who has been
conducting a large correspondence with school
administrative officials on the establishment of
piano classes as part of the educational sys-
tem, receives many letters from officials who
have become genuinely interested.
That group teaching is a recognized phase
of music instruction is verified by Mr. Tre-
maine. He cites the successes in the spread
of group piano teaching where teachers have
been properly prepared for the work by some
official. The work of Miss Blanche E. K.
Evans, director of instrumental music in the
Cincinnati public schools, is cited as a good
example.
Miss Evans arranged a series of seminars led
by teachers of wide experience with the group
method, for the benefit of twenty young-
women conducting the piano classes under her
direction, and who cover sixty schools among
them. She speaks with pride of the qualifica-
tions of her assistants in group teaching and
of the benefits they have already derived from
the seminars.
Cincinnati was the first city to establish the
classes a number of years ago, but the activity
was allowed to languish and has revived only
recently as a result of the new impetus given
the movement.
Everybody is bettered by the spread of piano
playing—the piano teacher, the professional
pianist who gets a more appreciative and larg-
er audience, the radio artist, the manufactur-
er of pianos by increasing his production and
sales, and the family and friends of the young
player who take delight in listening to his or
her performance.
* * *
Every observant piano dealer and manufac-
turer knows that a nation-wide impulse has
been communicated to the boys and girls of
school age to learn piano-playing within the
last year or two. The interest in piano-play-
ing among the young and with teachers of
music has become national in scope.
* * *
Sometimes the cheap piano doesn't look the
part.
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