MUSICAL
TIMES
PRESTO
Established
1884
Established
1881
THE AMERICAN MUSIC TRADE JOURNAL
10 Cents a
1 Year
Copy
$1.25
10 Months. . .$1.00
6 Months. . 75 cents
IHHU«'
First and Third Saturdays
CHICAGO, ILL., APRIL 1, 1929
Piano Classes and Their Effects
The idea for installing coures of group instruction
in our store came about three years ago, when it was
th ewriter's good fortune to be present at a business
luncheon of the Piano Club of Chicago, where I had
the opportunity of meeting Miss Curtis, originator
of the Curtis system of piano lessons, who also was a
guest. Miss Curtis was to familiarize the members
of the club with the work she had done in Kansas
City, principally in the public schools where they had
successfully used and are at thep resent time using
the Curtis System as a part of the curriculum.
Interest Was Immediate.
I became greatly interested after hearing her views
on the subject and later called to see her at the Bush
Conservatory. I thought it was a means of stimu-
lating an interest in the piano in my community,
which is in an outlying part of the city. I therefore
sought the aid of local newspapers, handbills and cir-
culars, advertising classes to be held in our store
each Saturday throughout the year at a nominal cost
to each pupil of 25 cents per lesson.
The response was not as satisfactory as I had
intended it to be, as some of the principals of the
public schools objected to handbills being distributed
among the pupils after school hours. We, however,
found some friendly school officials who did not
object to our means of advertising, and finally suc-
ceeded in having about four classes of twenty pupils
each.
Miss Curtis Aids
Through the efforts of Miss Curtis we received the
aid of a very capable young teacher to conduct these
classes, whom we paid $2.50 a lesson. We also ob-
tained the necessary charts and books for each pupil
for the sum of $1.50 from Mr. W. L. Bush. These,
in turn, were sold to the pupils at a profit of $1.50
per set.
Owing to the fact that bad weather and sickness
kept some of the pupils from the classes, we did not
have a full quota of pupils each Saturday, therefore
soon decided to change our method of conducting
the classes and turned the entire equipment, includ-
ing tuition fees, etc., to the young lady who had
charge of the lessons, with the understanding we
would not pay her a salary but would allow her the
free use of our store, including tables, chairs and
blackboard, our only benefit to be derived therefrom
being possible sales to the parents of pupils from
time to time.
Commends Plan for Dealers.
We have now conducted the classes about three
years and find we have been well repaid from busi-
ness obtained through this connection, and where the
floor space is available, we would recommend an
arrangement of this kind to any dealer who would
care to go into the matter for the purpose of stimu-
lating an interest among the parents of children and
thereby obtaining more piano sales.
At the beginning ofthis letter T neglected to state
that three years ago the public schools of Chicago
were not giving piano instruction to the pupils of
this city, and about a year ago, when it was an-
nounced that they would do so, we thought it would
be impossible to conduct any more classes at our
store. But we have found that such was not the case,
as many prefer to take their lessons on Saturday,
rather than after school hours during the week,
which is the time allotted to piano instruction in the
public schools. The sum of 25 cents per lesson,
including the cost of the books, etc, is^ being charged
by the public schools, as there has been no money
provided by the Board of Education for th : s purpose
and we understand the teachers are not being paid
for their services for the purpose of teaching piano
music, but are permitted to retain the fee paid by the
pupils.
Classes Grow.
We are now conducting six classes in our store
each Saturday and expect to increase this amount
very shortly as the publicity received through these
classes by the pupils and their parents is all the adver-
it keep them from attending the recitals.
Methods for Promotion and does There
is a los^il furniture company who rent fold-
ing chairs that provide us with the necessary seating
equipment for these recitals. The cost is $7.00 per
Operation of Group Classes in
hundred and this is paid by the teacher who gives the
Stores Are Simple and the recital.
The Equipment.
Means to Quick Results Easily The school equipment for conducting classes in a
can best be obtained from the Union School
Attainable by the Ambitious store
Furnishing Company, 1028-36 West Van Buren street,
Chicago, who provided our equipment, consisting of
a blackboard 4 feet by 9 feet, ten folding tables 18
Music Merchant
inches by 72 inches (22 inches high), twenty junior
By W. A. GROSS
(Aug. Gross Piano Co., Chicago)
folding chairs and ten adult chairs (for the accommo-
dation of parents accompanying their children to
these classes), including chalk, erasers, etc., for the
total sum of $150.20. -The floor space we contribute
for the use of the teacher to conduct classes is about
1,250 square feet.
We think we have covered the subject of group
instruction conducted at our store quite fully, but
should there be any additional information desired
dealers can obtain it through Miss Helen Curtis, at
the Bush Conservatory, 839 North Dearborn street,
City.
tising being done by us and is sufficient to warrant
continuance of these classes.
Many of the parents accompany the pupils each
Saturday, and in addition to this, we encourage re-
citals at our store by local music teachers, as well
as the young lady engaged in conducting these classes
in our store. We find the interest among the parents
on a par with the pupils and inclement weather does
not keep them from attending the classes, neither
The latest addition to the music dealers' field in
Rochester, N. Y., is the incorporation of the Norton-
Pinkley, Inc., of which Stephen B. Story, city man-
ager is one of the incorporators. The firm will deal
in musical instruments of all kinds and is capitalized
at $50,000. The other incorporators are: Stephen
Norton of 66 Sherwood avenue and Russell L. Pink-
ley of 169 Bidwell terrace, both of Rochester.
Piano Lessons for Children Influence
Present Day Sales and Assure Perma-
nent Business in Future Years for Piano
Manufacturer and Dealer
NEW ROCHESTER FIRM.
VACA 7707V PIANO CLASSES
Phase of the Group Teaching Scheme Presents Unusually Promising Results to
Dealers and All Interested in Spread of Piano Playing Art
By MRS. NELLIE S. JACKSON
Public School Music Specialist,
Reading the article, "Growth of School Piano
Classes and Their Effects," in the Presto-Times of
March 15, prompted me in offering these observa-
tions from the sideline of the educational field be-
cause of my interest in the majority of children,
whose desire is not fulfilled at present.
A caption: "A Trade Asleep" in the article de-
scribes a situation which is due more to dealers not
being informed in their possibilities than to a lack of
desire to avail themselves of the opportunities.
Look over the field of manufacturing—phonographs,
art craft, public utilities, furniture, fabrics, machinery,
etc.—all of which entered the distribution field in
recent years through educational avenues. In these
efforts to stimulate production 90 per cent of the
cost was borne by the manufacturers.
The piano industry which is an undoubted factor
in the cultural life of the community today, has not
taken sufficient action to meet the situation. The
educators today have provided the ways and methods
by developing the idea of class training for the piano
and have correlated it with the work in the public
schools, while means the door of the world is opened
for music to enter.
The Vacation Piano School
Whose opportunity is here? The one most vitally
interested is the manufacturer, and it is his privilege
to help establish in the field the vacation piano
school.
Indianapolis
The vacation piano school is a phase of group
teaching the piano manufacturers and piano dealers
and their national associations should add to the
phases already established and proven effective.
These schools should be organized in a manner to
advertise themselves. They should appeal to the
prospective pupils by their equipment and allurement
in the methods of teaching They should be managed
and directed by people trained in the educational
field and whose objective is to stimulate the desire
to learn to play the piano.
Never in the history of musical training has the
piano industry had such an opportunity as exists to-
day, and the vacation school is one way to results.
Line up the industry in cooperation with the educa-
tional field as did the phonograph and radio, and
you will have more applicants for classes than can
be cared for. But the cost should not fall wholly on
the retailer.
The economic idea being to stimulate the demand
the expense, at least the initiatory part, should be
charged directly to publicity department, and no form
of advertising could bring such returns directly to
the manufacturer as the vacation piano school plan.
This gives the dealer a start and my experience has
been that a well planned school will eventually finance
itself.
No form of teaching music is so fraught with possi-
bilities to develop players, musicianship, citizenship
and character training as is the class presentation
piano lesson.
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