Music Trade Review

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Published by The Music Trade Review, 420 Lexington Avenue, New York
Greenleaf Again Heads
Band Instrumen t Makers
Karl B. Shinkman Elected Vice-President and Alfred L.
Smith, Secretary and Treasurer—Greater Expansion of
Promotional Work Is Urged by President in His Address
Carl D. Greenleaf
President Band Manufacturers' Association
T
H E Annual Convention of the National
Association of Band Instrument Manu-
facturers was called to order at the
Hotel Stevens on Tuesday afternoon with
President Carl D. Greenleaf in the chair. The
principal topic of discussion was the associa-
tion's promotion campaign and particularly the
further expansion of the school bands.
President Greenleaf presented his annual re-
port which follows:
"Business conditions in general are in a hesi-
tating mood. It seems probable that the
general level will be somewhat lower this year
than last. Some lines are naturally off more
than others. The music industry seems to be
one of those which are off more, rather than
less. Our particular branch of the industry
shows a slight decline from the recent peak,
but it is obviously very much better than some
other branches of the business.
"I believe that this is, at least to some ex-
tent, the result of our activities in promoting
the school bands. Anyone who has the oppoi-
tunity of witnessing one of these contests,
(ilher State or National, cannot fail to be im-
pressed with the growing interest and en-
thusiasm. It is impossible to escape the
conclusion that this development is just in its
infancy and is capable of an immense growth.
School Bands
"In addition to this, statistics which we have
recently gathered show that school bands are
increasing at a constantly accelerating ratio.
Our survey indicated that out of 394 bands
which were reported in a questionnaire recently
completed, 17 per cent were less than one year
old and 67.7 per cent had been organized within
the last six years. Out of 678 orchestras re-
ported, 5.8 per cent were less than one year
old and 37.4 per cent had been organized in
the last six years. This indicates that bands
are increasing at about twice the rate of or-
chestras and I think that this can be fairly
attributed to the school band promotional work
which has been carried on with the co-opera-
tion of the Bureau for the Advancement of
Music and the National Association of Music
Supervisors.
"I fully believe that this work, so well begun,
should be prosecuted even more vigorously.
Every opportunity should be taken advantage
of to impress upon the children, their parents,
school authorities and the general public the
advantages from a cultural, educational, physical
and social standpoint of playing a musical in-
strument. Not ohly this, but additional op-
portunities must be created for promoting these
ideas so important to our industry. This
means a real campaign of education. It is
slow, but we have a good start and are making
progress. The resolution adopted by the super-
intendents at the meeting of the National
Educational Association, at Dallas, recommend-
ing the inclusion of the study of instrumental
music in the public school curriculum on an
equality with other basic subjects is a step
of great importance. This movement should
continue to grow with increasing rapidity and
within a few years a very large percentage
of school children should be playing musical
instruments. This will make it much easier
to support all kinds of adult bands, as there
will be a constant flow of young people who
are proficient performers to supply the need
for municipal, factory and lodge bands.
State Band Laws
"There is another form of activity to which
we should give attention. There are twenty-six
States which at the present time have laws on
their statute books making it possible to levy
a tax for the support of municipal bands. Some
of these laws are much better than others.
Some should be changed so that their pro-
visions are more favorable, but none of these
laws are of any value until the individual
municipalities take definite action to avail
themselves of this opportunity. There is a
constantly growing sentiment in favor of
municipal bands, especially in places of smaller
and medium size. Nearly every such town feels
the necessity of having bandstand in most
cases, where there now are such bands, they
are supported by voluntary contributions of the
business men. It is naturally much more
equitable to have the burden distributed over
the community as a whole and the chambers
of commerce are practically universally favor-
able to such a movement. All it requires is
Karl B. Shinkman
a little concerted effort to crystallize the latent
interest and furnish the leadership which is
necessary to accomplish definite results. It
would be a comparatively simple and inex-
pensive task to stimulate such leadership in
these communities to furnish the legal forms
necessary for the petitions which are required
(Continued on page 5)