Music Trade Review

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THE
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
APRIL 12, 1924
THE POINT OF REVIEW
A
N eventual production of 100,000 grand pianos annually!
That seems a figure quite beyond the comprehension of the
average piano man, yet Mark P. Campbell, president of the Bram-
bach Piano Co., and perhaps the best-posted man on this phase of
the industry, confidently made this prediction the other day, and
then proceeded to give a series of facts that placed it well within
the realm of probabilities. According to Mr. Campbell, the grand
production in 1922 was in the neighborhood of 45,000, that of 1923
approximately 58,000 and that of the present year will show a still
greater increase. He stated that there is no indication of any check
in this trend of public taste; in fact, the public demand for grand
pianos is as yet largely in its infancy and just beginning to show its
potentialities for growth.
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T T must be a fine thing for Mr. Campbell to discover his faith in
*• the grand type of instrument justified in this matter. For in the
development of the medium-priced grand, made and sold in quan-
tity, he unquestionably is the pioneer, and it was his faith in an
idea—or perhaps better an ideal—that made the present large
annual production of the Brambach Piano Co. a reality. Like
most pioneers, his was a voice in the wilderness in the beginning.
When he announced his plan the grand, outside of those made by
a few of the high-grade manufacturers, was distinctly a small phase
of the industry. Many manufacturers made a few each year,
largely for prestige purposes; many more made none at all, con-
fining themselves strictly to the upright form. To announce that
a large manufacturer would devote an entire plant to the production
of grands, that this grand would be a good instrument but would
be sold at a price well within the reach of the average American
family, was to depart from all accepted ideas in the piano industry
and was to strike out in a new field where there existed no experi-
ence or a guide and where everything made the plan a gigantic
experiment. New processes of manufacturing had to be developed ;
new methods of marketing had to be worked out; the average
retail dealer had to be convinced. All of this required time and
energy to accomplish.
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NE thing Mr. Campbell did not have to do. That was to create
a demand for the grand of this type, for that demand already
existed. In fact, it was the foresight which had sense enough to
feel that this demand existed which made possible the Brambach
Co. and what it stood for. The first twelve months that this plan
was being carried out was sufficient to demonstrate its soundness
and also sufficient to quiet those who had predicted failure. Never
was there a more rapid response from both dealers and public and
never had any such radical departure—for radical is alone the word
that fits it—a more striking success. So when Mr. Campbell pre-
dicts a production of 100,000 grands annually his words will be
listened to with respect and there will be found few in the industry
to dispute them. One hundred thousand grands in a year means
one-third of the production of pianos in a normal year, a large
proportion, it is true, but by no means too large, judging by present
conditions in the industry.
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¥ N putting on the market a series of minstrel rolls, the Vocalstyle
-*- Music Co. seems to have rendered a genuine service to those
who manufacture and sell player-pianos, for these new rolls are of
a type quite as likely to increase and continue interest in player-
piano music as are the classic and semi-classic rolls upon which so
much stress has been placed in the past. The beauty of these rolls
is that they appeal to two generations at least, for the music on
which this home minstrel show is based is that which was popular
at least a score of years ago and which has never lost its appeal to
the new generation. To the older folks, "Hello, Ma Baby," "Lindy,"
"Good-bye, My Blue Bell," "Where Did You Get That Hat?"
"Carry Me Back to Old Virginny," "Lazy Moon," "Sweet Adeline"
and "Sweet Marie" bring back distinctly pleasant memories of
older days, of home parties and the lure of minstrelsy—and min-
strelsy still has its lure. To the present generation the rolls will
appeal from the fact that they not only provide home entertainment
for large groups, something eminently to be desired to-day, but also
are music that still has its own appeal. Minstrel rolls, or, for that
matter, any unusual type of rolls, however clever, cannot be ex-
pected to solve the problem of the player-piano, but such rolls will
play a prominent part in reviving interest in the player with every
one in the family, which is surely an object worth while.
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5¥
jV/T USICAL instruments classed under the head of jewelry seems
*• *- a far-fetched way of levying a tax, but the ways of Congress
and tax officials are devious indeed, and it takes a first-class head
to follow them through their various intricacies. The tax has been
collected for some time. Then the House of Representatives, in
considering the new tax bill, took it off; now the Senate in its
infinite wisdom has put it back again. Whether or not it will be
taken out again in the conference between the two parts of the
nation's supreme legislature remains in the lap of the gods. The
only thing to do is to get busy with your Congressmen and your
Senators once more and let them know what they are really doing.
You can't make band instruments without gold and silver, but
neither of these precious metals is put there for adornment but
because of the strictest of necessity.
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NE of the striking things in the weekly reports which A.
Frederick Carter, Field Editor of The Review, is sending back
regarding his visits to the Southern section of the retail music trade
is the active part which the retail music merchants of that section
of the country are taking in the development of musical activities in
their respective communities. Mr. Carter has not visited a city or
town, it seems, where he has not found the music dealers active in
this direction and where there are not tangible results to show for
their activities. A decade or so ago such activity on the part of a
music merchant was the exception rather than the rule, and a decade
ago the popular interest in music bore no comparison to what exists
in every section of the country at the present time. We would not
go so far as to say that the music merchants are solely responsible
for this increase in interest, but it is beyond question that they have
played a predominating part in it, not only by their own individual
efforts but by their organized activity functioning through the
Bureau for the Advancement of Music. What the music merchant
has done is to bring a talent for business and organization to a
field which formerly was in the hands of people who possessed a
feeling for neither of these, and whose efforts, well intentioned as
they were, were largely lacking in practicability, coherency and
co-ordination. Placing this talent at the service of the community,
they have scored a number of successes which without it would
have been entirely impossible.
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IX
A NOTHER development which Mr. Carter's trip has brought
•^ *• out is the way in which local chambers of commerce and other
organizations of business men formed for civic improvement regard
music to-day as an asset of civic importance. No longer, as it was
in the past, do business men look upon music as something largely
confined to women and children; to-day, almost without exception,
they believe in organized musical activities and lend their hearty
support to them. In every city that Mr. Carter has visited he has
conferred with the secretary of the local chamber of commerce or
board of trade, as the case may be, upon organized activities along
these lines, and in every case he has met with an enthusiastic recep-
tion. It is here that the influence of the music merchant is appar-
ent, for nowhere can he exercise it to a greater or more efficient
degree than upon the organization of fellow merchants. Music
unquestionably makes a more attractive town or city, and those who
support it act distinctly in their own interests, for a more attractive
town or city is a better business city. It is enlightened self-interest,
however, the sort which has always created the great artistic periods
in the world's history.
T H E REVIEWER.