"PRESTO" RECORDING EQUIPMENT SCORES
AT SOUTHERN CONFERENCE
FOR MUSIC EDUCATION
A/TUSIC EDUCATORS who attended the Southern Confer-
-L*-'- ence for Music Education expressed great enthusiasm
for recording- equipment and its value in education. Presto
recording equipment made its bow to this group in a unique
way. When the educators gathered together in the hotel lob-
by for an evening of singing, their voices were recorded on
a Presto machine concealed on the mezzanine. When the
singing had ended the operator played the record back.
The singers, amazed by the fidelity and richness of the rec-
ord they had just made, applauded long and enthusiastically.
Think of trying to teach geography without maps, or trying
to teach a blind person to repair an automobile!
Before the advent of sound recorders, teachers of music and
dramatics had almost as difficult a problem. Until students
know why they are being criticized, and until they can hear
themselves in the third person, giving to themselves the same
impression they give to the teacher, they cannot readily begin
to correct themselves.
Strangely enough, we are all partially deaf to the sounds
we ourselves produce. We cannot hear our speaking voices as
they actually sound, and when we sing or play an instrument
our ears play tricks on us. Some of us become discouraged
about our musical ability when actually we are displaying the
beginning of real musicianship. Recording instruments help
both teacher and student at this and all other stages of the
game by making an accurate record of a voice or a tone and
reproducing it a moment later. While Presto equipment won't
teach anyone to speak, sing, or play properly, it does give
students a complete picture of their faults, thus clearing the
way for rapid and intelligent progress.
Progressive educators are making use of recording equip-
ment because, being judged largely by what they can accom-
plish with a pupil or a class in a given space of time, they are
anxious to get the three to twelve month head start recording
equipment gives them.
Many schools are already equipped with Presto recorders,
and those which are not are realizing the importance of re-
cording equipment in modern education. The Chicago Musi-
cal Instrument Company, distributors of Presto equipment to
the trade, predict some worthwhile activity in this line for
dealers who take advantage of the opportunity it offers. They
feel that recording equipment will bring a great deal of traffic
to dealers' stores—traffic made up of people who never before
have had occasion to patronize a music store. Music lovers
who cannot play an instrument themselves, dramatic and lan-
guage instructors, people who like to make their own record-
ings of radio programs and those who wish to synchronize
their own home movies, are all showing interest in this new
instrument—the Presto recorder—which in the world of sound
is doing for the amateur what Eastman's first Kodak did in
the visual world.
PLANT VISITORS
Mr. |ay Kraus. president of the Harmony Company, manu-
facturers of stringed musical instruments, 1748 Lawndale Ave.,
Chicago, reports that a large group of WPA persons interested
in music visited his plant on March 9th and were shown
through the entire plant. The leader of the group. Miss Wil-
liams, said the visit was one of a series for those who are
interested in general education.
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Enhanced content © 2008-2009 and presented by MBSI - The Musical Box Society International (www.mbsi.org) and the International Arcade Museum (www.arcade-museum.com).
All Rights Reserved. Digitized from the archives of the MBSI with support from NAMM - The International Music Products Association (www.namm.org).
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