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Music Trade Review

Issue: 1927 Vol. 84 N. 10 - Page 11

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Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
MARCH 5, 1927
The Music Trade Review
Campaign Being Undertaken to Have
Piano Owners Eliminate Old Instruments
A. G. Gulbran<=en, President of the Gur:ransen Co., Chicago, Tells of the Work Being
Done in This Direction and Its Benefit to the Piano Industry
11
panel. You see pianos that are oversize, large,
hideous, unattractive.
Why shouldn't their owners hold on to them
when the men who make them are authority
for the statement that they may be handed on
from generation to generation? One of the
things needed now is a strong, aggressive cam-
paign, to modernize the pianos in homes and
institutions. The accomplishment of this will
not only increase the volume of piano business,
but will do an incalculable amount of good in
putting over the piano as a modern musical in-
strument entitled to a just share of the family's
home furnishing funds.
' T ^ H E R E is a popular notion on the part of
that has lost all the musical quality it may have
-*• the people that there is practically no end possessed at one time. This is true of the most
to the life of a piano.
expensive as well as cheaper instruments.
It is regrettable that this is the case, but even
You see pianos with barely any varnish left
more regrettable that manufacturers and deal- on them, scuffed, scraped and with scroll work
ers themselves, are helping to keep that idea backed by a dusty piece of cloth in the upper
alive in the minds of the people. There has of
late, been a wave of advertising along the lines
of "you need never buy another piano"; "a
of artists is fast acquiring a wide reputation for
piano that you can hand down to future gen-
its chamber music and is a welcome addition to
erations," and so on.
the comparatively small number of organizations
1 have heard salesmen, without any necessity
specializing in such work.
at all, tell customers that "this piano will last Competent Group of Artists Is Fast Winning a
Reputation Among the Organizations Special-
a life-time."
izing in Chamber Music
How can we ever hope to increase the re-
placement of old pianos in the face of such
propaganda on the part of the trade itself?
The Musical Art Quartet, the members of
The Cline Music Co., Dallas, Tex., has been
How can we ever hope to get rid of the old which are Sascha Jacobsen, first violin; Bernard incorporated with an authorized capital of $10,-
pianos that are musically and architecturally a
curse to our business? How can we hope to
improve the musical ear of the nation if we
nurture and cherish the old pianos and permit
I hem to be accepted as the standard?
Even if it were possible to build a piano so
fine that it could be handed down to the next
generation without impairment of its musical
qualities, I feel that it would be a poor service
Musical
to our industry to do so. Heirlooms are not
Art
popular. The cry is for new things, new
models, improvements, changed appearance.
Quartet,
Every-day homes, office buildings, theatres
New
are torn down to make way for the new. The
old ones would probably do service for scores
Columbia
of years, but they have outlived their usefulness,
Artists
and so they must go.
Married folks make one, two, three or more
changes in their furniture over a period of ten
to fifteen years. From leather suites they go
to over-stuffed' suites, to mahogany trimmed
mohair suites, then to velour, then to some-
thing else. But always a change. It is part of
the spirit of progress of the American people.
Right now every discriminating woman either
has already, or hopes to have painted bedroom Oc.ko, second violin; Louis Kaufman, viola, and 000. The officers of the new company are Dur-
Marie Romaet-Rosanoff, 'cello, have recently re- ward J., J. L., and Ula J. Cline.
furniture.
The new company will handle a full line of
How can it be expected that lacquered pianos, corded some of their excellent interpretations
pianos of fancy design, small uprights, small for the Columbia Phonograph Co. This group musical instruments.
grands, roll-played pianos and all the other
modern pianos will meet with greater demand
as long as the thought is still kept alive that
pianos are different from anything else and
should go on looking like back-numbers in the
midst of their modern surroundings.
Progressive people, seeing old pianos in the
homes of friends, will get the idea that pianos
are way behind the times and will leave them
out of consideration altogether in the turnish-
ing of their own, modern homes.
I have said repeatedly: "Burn the old pianos."
1 am glad to say that our dealers, in many
places, have taken up the propaganda locally.
They have changed their attitude toward the
old pianos. They are shaming people out of
"donating"' their cast-off pianos to a defenseless,
church, orphan home or school. £tude maga-
zine has now taken up the subject with its
2()0,(XX) readers. It recognizes that the old
pianos are harming the cause of music and re-
tarding music progress. A campaign running
through the whole of 1927 has been worked out.
This is commendable. It represents progress in
See and hear the Ludwig line of Grands, Reproducing Pianos, Uprights and
the movement. And yet in our own trade adver-
Players.
tisers and salesmen continue to inculcate the
Especial attention is directed to our Grands, the artistic quality of tone being
thought that there is something reverential
readily apparent, as also are the attractive case models, so important to the dealer.
about age in a piano, that a person should
We believe the Ludwig line nearest to 100 per cent value of any make of pianos, and
crave the opportunity of proving it to you.
choose one witli one's great grandchildren in
mind.
In public places everywhere, in homes, you
hear pianos that grate on your ears. You hear
New York
Willow Ave. and 136th St.
singers say that it is a shame they are expected
to sing well to the accompaniment of a piano
Musical Art Quartet Now
Records for Columbia
Gline Music Go. Chartered
Mahogany
Mahogany
Width
54
Inches
Length
59
Inches
LUDWIG PIANOS
Ludwig & Company

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