Music Trade Review

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New Board of Control
Guiding National Bureau
hr ^ Advancement of Music
Committee of Nine, Representing the Music Industry,
Educators and Philanthropic Institutions, Now in Con-
trol of the Bureau With C. M. Tremaine as Director.
members of the Board of Control by the Pres-
ident of the Chamber the Board was organized
at a meeting- held Thursday, October 23, 1930,
at which C. M. Tremaine, whose resignation
from the National Bureau for the Advancement
of Music was formally accepted, was elected as
director of the reorganized National Bureau.
Miss Gertrude Borchard was made secretary
while Harry Meixell, general manager of Music
Industries Chamber of Commerce, was appointed
treasurer of the reorganized body.
At the same lime a sub-committee on wavs
Hermann Irion, Chairman
S announced exclusively in The Review
last month, the reorganization of the
National Bureau for the Advancement
of Music on a basis that provides for
the carrying on of the- work under the direction
of a board of control with equal representation
from the music industry, educators and philan-
thropic organizations has now been completed
and the Bureau is functioning on the new basis.
For the balance of the current fiscal year
of the Natiotial Bureau ending May 31, 1931,
I'resident C. Alfred Wagner, of the Chamber,
has made the following appointments to the
National Bureau's Board of Control:
Representatives of Music Industries—Her-
mann Irion, Chairman, Stein way & Sons; Luc-
ien Wulsin, Baldwin Co., and Alfred 1.. Smith,
C. G. Conn, Ltd.
Representatives of Musical Educators—Dr.
Joseph E. Maddy, General chairman of the
Committee on Instrumental Affairs of the Mu-
sic Supervisors National Conference; I'rofes-
sor in Department of Fine Arts in the L'niver-
sity of Michigan; I'resident and organizer of
the National High Sdmol Orchestra and Band
camp at Interlochen, Mich; Professor 1'eUr \\ .
Dykema, Professor oi public school music ed-
ucation. Teachers College, Columbia University.
He is ex-president of the Music Supervisors
National Conference, and has been one of
the dominant figures in that organiation for
the past ten or fifteen years, and Dr. Hollis
Danu, Professor of public school musical ed-
ucation at New York University, ex-president
or Music Supervisors National Conference. He.
is the author oi many school music books.
Representatives of Philanthropic Organiza-
tions—Dr. Howard Hanson, Director of the
Kastman School of Music, and one of the prom-
inent American composers; Dr. John Erskine,
I'resident of the Juilliard Musical Foundation,
Prof, of English Literature, Columbia Univer-
sity, well-known author and concert pianist, and
Dr. William F. Learned, Member of the Board
of the Carnegie Foundation.
A
Board of Control Effects Reorganization
Immediately upon the appointment of these
Lucien Wulsin
and means and budget consisting of Hermann
Irion, Chairman; Dr. John Erskine and Pro-
fessor Peter W. Dykema was created. A Sub-
Committee on By-Laws consisting of Dr. Jo-
seph E. Maddy, Chairman; Dr. Hollis Dann and
Harry Meixell was requested to formulate a
code of by-laws to govern the operation of the
reorganized National Bureau.
At this meeting" the work of the National
Bureau for the past fifteen years was reviewed
by the Chairman, who stated:
"For almost fifteen years, the National Bu-
reau for the Advancement of Music has been
an adjunct of Music Industries Chamber of
Commerce, and, during this period, has had
from the Chamber approximately $600,000 for
financing- its general music promotional activi-
ties, and many thousands of dollars additional
for coring for specialized promotional activities
which have grown out of the general work.
These sums do not include the special expen-
ditures made by such affiliations of the Cham-
ber as the National Piano Manufacturers' As-
sociation of America which, if added, would
bring the total of the industry's outlays for
music promotional work, both general and spe-
cial, to almost $1,000,000' during the time indi-
cated.
"This sum of money—relatively vast for an
industry as small as that devoted to the pro-
duction of musical instruments—has been spent
almost entirely in the pursuit of the idea of
the advancement of music in general and with-
out reference to the benefits which the success-
ful prosecution of the work might have directly
upon the fortunes of manufacturers of musical
instruments in general; manufacturers of any
particular types of musical instruments or the
fortunes of any one particular company. In-
deed, with few and slight exceptions which are
insignificant those musical instrument manufac-
turers giving these large sums of money to the
National Bureau for the Advancement of Music
have had no direct part in formulating the work
programs to be financed with their money and
no .prerogatives in formulating the policies
governing the carrying out of these work pro-
grams.
"Notwithstanding this fact there has been a
growing tendency on the part of some con-
tributors toward the work of the National
Bureau to demand direct specialized benefits
for their outlays of money. Especially does
this tendency manifest itself in times of busi-
ness stress and strain.
"With the National Bureau an adjunct of, in-
deed what might be termed a subsidiary of,
Music Industries Chamber of Commerce, and
Alfred L. Smith
under the Chamber's direct control, it is very
difficult to repel these demands for direct serv-
ice for financial backers, despite the fact that
from the very nature of the Bureau's work the
rendering of direct services is not alone un-
desirable but impossible. On the other hand,
it is extremely difficult if not almost impossible
to bring home this fact to would-be benefici-
aries of the National Bureau's work.
"Consequently, to forestall any further growth
of this attitude on the part of any branches,