Music Trade Review

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News Number
THE
REVIEW
VOL. 87. No. 13 Published Weekly.
Federated Business Publications, Inc., 420 Lexington AYC, New York, N. Y. Sept. 29,1928
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National Executives Meet With
No. Carolina Association
President C. J. Roberts and Executive Secretary Delbert L. Loomis,
Together With Other Prominent Members of Trade Attend
Special Meeting of State Body in Raleigh
ALEIGH, N. C, September 24.—An unusually interesting special meeting of the North
Carolina Music Merchants' Association was held in this city on Friday of this week, the
outstanding feature being the presence of a number of prominent guests from other sec-
tions of the country and particularly the President and Executive Secretary of the National Asso-
ciation of Music Merchants, who made a special trip to Raleigh to address the local dealers.
The meeting was confined to one day with morning and afternoon sessions, and was presided
over by Charles S. Andrews, of the Andrews
Music Store, Inc., Charlotte, president of the
association. Various b u s i n e s s discussions
marked the opening of the session at which
there were also a number of speakers.
Loomis Discusses Association
Delbert L. Loomis, executive secretary of the
National Association, had for his subject: "The
Value of the Association," and at the outset
made the point that the accomplishments of any
trade organization and tHe benefits to the mem-
bers thereof were to be measured largely by
what the individual members themselves put
into the Association, not alone in financial sup-
port, but in personal interest and effort. Those
who work for the organization benefit both
the trade as a whole and themselves.
Mr. Loomis paid high tribute to the manner
in which C. J. Roberts has handled his duties
as president, which resulted in his re-election '
last June, and called attention to the great
amount of promotional work that has been
launched by the National body. He stressed
particularly the work done in co-operation with
the National Bureau for the Advancement of
C. J. Roberts
Music and the Music Supervisors' National
In
the
matter
of general publicity, Mr.
Conference, looking towards the introduction of
group piano instruction in the public schools Loomis called attention to the great amount
of the country. He told of the meeting of the of newspaper comment following the broadcast-
Committee on Instrumental Affairs, of the ing of the speeches of John Erskine and Gov-
Supervisors' Conference in New York in Janu- ernor Ritchie of Maryland during the last con-
ary, and the adoption of the committee's report vention in New York, and to newspaper space
in favor of group instruction at the national given to other matters broached by the Asso-
conference in Chicago in April. That the in- ciation.
terest of the supervisors is real was indicated
The speaker referred to his visit to the con-
by the fact that in response to 16,000 letters vention of the Music Merchants' Association
sent out in July, 2,275 supervisors professed of Ohio the previous week, where he presented
their direct interest in group instruction and the compliments of the National president, and
requested copies of "The Guide For Conduct- listened "to the address of Frank J. Bayley of
ing Piano Classes in the Schools," which has Detroit on the need of radical changes in piano
been published by the Bureau.
construction to improve the tone and re-create
R
public interest. He also referred to the address
of John S. Gorman of the Gulbransen Co. at
the Ohio meeting, citing the need for many
more retail salesmen in the industry, which re-
sulted in the Ohio body passing a resolution
asking each member to hire and train at least
one new retail salesman during the coming year.
Mr. Loomis closed his address with a refer-
ence to the success of the Chicago Piano-Play-
ing Tournament, and a movement for the hold-
ing of a national tournament. This contest
work, he declared, was the province of the
National Bureau for the Advancement of Music,
but would be accorded full support by the Na-
tional Association of Music Merchants.
Mr. Loomis was followed by Mack E. Gillis,
of the Commercial Investment Trust, Inc., New
York, who talked to the dealers on the carrying
charge.
President Roberts Talks
After a special luncheon, at which a local ar-
tist entertained, the afternoon session opened
with an address by C. J. Roberts, president of
the National Association of Music Merchants,
who said in part:
The Future of the Music Business
"The future of the music business is assured
for the reason that it is based upon necessity.
Civilization is constantly advancing by ever-in-
creasing strides. There can be no true civiliza-
tion without art, and music is the greatest of
the arts. Music requires for its expression vari-
ous instruments which must in turn be con-
ceived by scientific minds and fashioned by ex-
pert technicians and artisans. An industry is
therefore necessary before art can find expres-
sion, and this includes the commercial branch
of industry—distribution. That is where the
music merchant comes in.
"In times past the merchandising of musical
instruments was specialized or divided to a
greater extent than now seems best for the .,
present and the future. The modern music *
store is a musical department store, and the '
merchant who now depends upon the sale of .
one class of musical instruments and ignores j
others is doomed to failure. There are excep- '
tions to all rules, of course, and there may \
and will be to this one, but it is safe to say !
that the progressive merchant who expects a
measure of real success must keep abreast of
the times and, in our case, this means that he
must be prepared to serve the musical tastes of
his customers, whether this be pianos—the basic