Music Trade Review

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THE
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
How Music Trade Institutions Have Helped Musical Art.
HE formal opening of the magnificent new concert hall in the
Aeolian Building on Saturday last, when Gottfried Galston,
the distinguished Munich pianist, was heard through the medium
of the Steinway piano, brings to mind how much indebted is the
musical public of New York to the great piano manufacturing insti-
tutions which from the earliest days of the industry have built
and maintained handsome concert halls where people may study
their needs musically, and where great artists of international fame
may be heard.
No one who has studied the development of music in New
York can overlook that we owe much to such notable institutions
as Steinway, Chickering, Steck, and now the Aeolian Co., for the
public spirited manner in which they have helped along the greater
knowledge of musical art. For it was 1 through the old Steinway
Hall on Fourteenth street that some of the most famous artists of
the world were introduced to the public of this country, and later
Chickering Hall was another important contributing factor along
these lines, where many American artists were also stimulated to
new achievements.
These old halls which so worthily upheld the traditions of the
music trade as patrons and stimulators of musical knowledge, and
its propagation, have long since disappeared, but a new, larger and
more palatial concert hall has now been dedicated to public uses
by the Aeolian Co., as they so gracefully put it: "As a partial
return for this support, as an acknowledgment of the obligation we
feel we owe, we have erected this new building. In its every detail
we have attempted to create a structure in harmony with the highest
ideals of musical art—an edifice of which New York could be justly
proud, and which would reflect this city's 1 cultured taste."
The men who chronicle passing events for the great newspapers
and who gladly pay tribute to the public spirited men who con-
tribute large sums of money for public buildings and enterprises
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that advance science and art, have absolutely overlooked how
greatly the American people are indebted to those music trade insti-
tutions that have inaugurated and maintained music halls and musi-?
cal salons, all of which have stimulated musical culture, giving en-
couragement to American artists and enabling us to hear the most
famous musicians of the world.
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When Carnegie Hall was dedicated the generosity of Andre??
Carnegie was extolled in pages of eulogy in the newspapers. But
when an institution affiliated with trade like the Aeolian Co. pre-
sents to the people of New York a hall that in many respects is
superior to Carnegie Hall because of its perfect acoustics and re-
markable pipe organ for public purposes, but a very meagre space,
comparatively, is given to this event in the New York papers.
This is hardly fair, and it seems to us that the work of a public
spirited institution like the Aeolian Co. should command as wide
a measure of appreciation and acknowledgment as that of any
private individual.
New York should be, and undoubtedly is, proud of Aeolian
Hall. It stands as one of the several important buildings that mark
the artistic progress of the metropolis. In design, in equipment,
it is as individual as it is artistic, and in no part of the world can
any similar structure be found devoted to the exploitation and
artistic advancement of musical instruments.
The dedication of the concert hall in the new Aeolian Building
opens to New Yorkers not only a most delightful home for orches-
tral and chamber music, which will be appreciated by music lovers,
but the magnitude of the enterprise of the Aeolian Co. has also
an uplifting influence on the music trade industry as a whole. It
places the piano business upon an artistic plane—the plane it should
occupy, and in this respect the widest acknowledgment is due the
Aeolian Co. for the erection and the dedication to music and the
trade of a building that is distinguished for beauty and completeness.
The Motion Picture and Music Trade Publicity.
I
N The Review recently reference was made to the progressive
move of Behr Bros. & Co., the prominent New York piano
manufacturers, who are branching out into a new form of adver-
tising campaign which is destined to be of material value in bring-
ing the merits of the Behr Bros, pianos in direct contact with
thousands of persons daily in a most interesting and impressive
=way.
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In this connection Behr Bros. & Co. have had prepared for the
jmoving picture machine a number of slides, all of which bear
forcible display matter, treating of the qualities and prestige of the
'Behr Bros, pianos which are to be supplied to representatives of
Behr Bros. & Co. with the object of being displayed every after-
noon and evening in the leading moving picture houses in'their
town at a cost which will, seem a mere trifle as compared with
advertising in the local newspapers.
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Since the announcement was made of this move Behr Bros.
i& Co. have received innumerable letters from dealers, not only
approving most heartily of this innovation in the matter of pub-
licity, but placing large orders for slides, which by the way are
prepared in a most artistic way in colors, and which not only feature
the Behr piano, and its record in the musical field, but the local
dealer also gets his share of the publicity as his name and address
appear at the bottom of each slide.
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Behr Bros. & Co. are certainly entitled to praise for their enter-
prise in grasping this thoroughly up-to-date method of bringing
their pianos in close relation with the general public.
This brings to mind that the motion picture machine is destined
to prove a commercial,factor of great importance in all lines of
industry in the near future. It has been so perfected that it can be
conveniently carried by a salesman on his travels, and where he is 1
supplied with slides by the manufacturer, all he has to do is to
enter an office, draw the shades on the window, attach a socket to
the electric light and commence to turn a crank, while the instru-
ments which he desires to sell are shown upon the screen in all
their natural colors—in fact, an exact facsimile of the original
product—bringing visually to dealers in faraway cities an exafct
facsimile of the instrument, who thus receive impressions of how
the styles may appeal to prospective customers.
This is supplementary work to the splendid publicity inaugu-
rated by Behr Bros'. & Co. just referred to. It means carrying tHe
moving picture idea into the manufacturing field, for it is possible
to get slides of the entire process of making a piano from the raj/r
product to the perfected instrument, and this material would cer-
tainly prove most interesting for use either by a local dealer in a
moving picture house, or form the basis of a lecture-recital in his
wareroom in connection with a display of the pianos or player-
pianos which he represents 1 . It would make a good illustrated taflc
on piano or player-piano construction, showing the innumerably
details connected with the production of these instruments, and tHe
extent of the plant of the manufacturer.
It constitutes the most educational kind of work if given serious
consideration by the manufacturer and the piano merchant, and it
is now made possible through the perfection of the motion-picture
machine. Through its aid the public is brought into personal rela-
tion with the manufacturing processes of the various articles in
which it is interested, and thus enthusiasm and interest are aroused
to a most unusual degree.
Behr Bros. & Co. are to be congratulated on becoming the
pioneers in the East in utilizing the motion picture for publicity
purposes in the piano trade. It demonstrates not only that they
are absolutely modern in their ideas of doing things, but that they
are most interested in means to help their representatives and pro-
vide them with a plan of augmenting public interest in the products
of the house.
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The co-operation of the representatives of Behr. Bros. & Co.
is manifested in the many letters received by this firm and it shows
that the new move is going to prove a great success and one of
mutual advantage.
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