Music Trade Review

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
THE HUMAN EQUATION CAN'T BE IGNORED
(Continued from page 3.)
Consider our own industry. What is the best part of that industry, the part that lives, that makes it
possible for the rest of us to exist? Plainly it is the conservative, the honorable, the fine element which
is making the best goods it can, which sticks to the old principles of merit and honor. The great honorable
houses of East and West alike are the foundation and splendor of our industry. They are all efficient;
but they know what efficiency means. They know what they are trying to do.
You say they are trying to make money? Of course, they are! Money is power, and if you have not
money you have not power in the industrial world of which you are a part. But the end of efficiency is
not the mere piling up of money, because any efficiency system which has only that end in view is not
efficient. It is the plainest truth in the whole tangled history of the piano trade that the houses which have
tried the get-rich-quick game have gone to the wall, one and all.
The really efficient houses are—as they have always been—those whose efficiency engineering has been
thought out by themselves, and who have kept in mind the cardinal principle that the end and aim of real
business efficiency is to increase the opportunity one has to make something good for the world's service and
to make it so as to secure an adequate reward for the labor and capital alike invested in the enterprise.
Right here in New York we have a piano manufacturing institution run by bright business men. If
any business has a right to be called efficient, the branches of this great business have that right. Do
they use any patent profit-mill? Do they attempt to treat their plants like a collection of machines, human
and non-human alike? Do they have any thrillingly elaborate "systems" which are harder to handle than
the actual making of the goods? Not by a long shot!
Their system is beautifully simple. They treat their men and women decently, give them good
surroundings, fair pay, opportunity to make and profit by suggestions, chance of promotion, and a bonus
system based on a percentage of earned income without any reference to patent methods of "speeding."
What is the result? Well, it is evident in the success of the enterprise.
The following recipe for efficiency in business is worth considering: First, be sure you know what
you are trying to do. Then, remember that a business is a personality; not only has, but is a personality.
Therefore a business is more than a mere machine and shows its humanity by responding to kind treatment
meted out to the human atoms who compose it. Thirdly, know that friction is the great foe of efficiency,
that if the friction is sweetened away from the human element, that element will busy itself with great
pride in removing the physical and mechanical friction and lost motion. Fourthly, realize that one man's
meat is another man's poison, and that the treatment that is suited to John Smith's business may be
swift anesthesia for yours. Lastly, comprehend the simple fact that humans love kindness and a square
deal, and that when once assured of this, they soon prove the old truth that a man know x s his own business
best, and its converse, that those who are on the inside looking out know more of the interior than those
who are on the outside looking in.
The Growth of the Demand for the Grand Piano
HE musical season which is now coming to a close, has
T
been especially notable for the great number of pianists
who have been heard in concert and recital, due, of course, to
the fact that the war in Europe has forced many artists to
depend on this country for a livelihood. Never before in New
York, and we are sure the same condition exists throughout
the country, have there been a larger number of recitals in
which prominent pianists have figured.
That these recitals have stimulated interest in the piano is
inevitable. Hence the question arises, have piano merchants
having the representation of the various pianos thus exploited,
utilized the publicity value of these recitals in their towns, and
brought to the attention of the local purchasing public their
exact relation with the instrument, and thus gained the value
that may be derived from local exploitation?
We do know that in many cities this has been done with
increased profit and prestige for those dealers who have had
the enterprise to grasp this opportunity for dignified publicity.
Piano merchants should always be on the alert for oppor-
tunities like this, particularly when the piano which they rep-
resent is brought to the attention of the musical public by a
great artist, who has won a position of international celebrity.
Co-operation with the piano manufacturer and the artist
never fails to\be productive, and when utilized in conjunction
with local publicity is the most effective form of dignified and
profitable business building.
The increased demand for grand pianos, now so evident
throughout the country, can be attributed in a large measure
to the activity which prevailed in the concert field during the
present musical season. The manufacturers and dealers all
admit that at no time in their history has the grand piano made
such a strong appeal as to-day.
This is not surprising. With the betterment of the times,
and the increased circulation of money, the grand piano is the
ideal instrument for those who own their own homes; its artis-
tic design harmonizes more effectively with the general fur-
nishings of the music room than any other type of instrument.
In the large apartment buildings which are so novel a feature
of New York, particularly on the West Side, the music room
is considered a necessary part of the construction, and a great
many grands, particularly of the smaller type, have found their
way into these domestic palaces where countless families live.
Americans are notoriously partial to the best, and the grand
being the highest type of instrument, as well as the most
expensive, has an especial call upon their consideration, even
altogether apart from its intrinsic worth musically.
It must be admitted, however, that the increased musical
knowledge and appreciation which to-day prevail throughout
the United States, as compared with a quarter of a century ago,
as well as the increased wealth, have also been tremendous
factors in the selection of grands for home use. The cultivated
musician is not always satisfied with the upright and finds in the
grand piano that tone volume and quality, as well as action
mechanism, that satisfy his musical desires.