Presto

July 2, 1927.
PRESTO-TIMES
singing to others so that now let two or more
from any community get together anywhere
and there will be more home town songs.
The American Music Trade Weekly
The Rotarians at their recent convention in
Europe
must have gone in for a great deal of
Published Every Saturday at 417 South Dearborn
Street, Chicago, Illinois.
this get-together singing. A number of Amer-
icans who have been traveling abroad since the
C. A. DAN I ELL and FRANK D. ABBOTT • - Editors
convention have startled citizens of the cap-
Telephones, Local and Long Distance, Harrison 234
itals of Europe by assembling in odd spots as
Private Phones to all Departments. Cable Address (Com-
mercial Cable Co.'s Code), "PRESTO," Chicago.
the spirit moves them and bursting into song.
Staid Britons on the Thames embankment in
Entered as second-class matter Jan. 29, 1896, at
Post Office, Chicago, Illinois, under Act of March 3, I
London one day listened with consternation
Subscription, $2 a year; 6 months, $1; Foreign. f4.
when a group of Hoosiers made the welkin
Pay a Ma In advance. No extra charge in United States
possessions, Cuba and Mexico. Rates for advertising on
ring with the choral query: "What's the Mat-
application.
ter with Terry Hut?" Inquiry by the be-
Items of news and other matter are solicited and if wildered audience brought out the statement
of general interest to the music trade will be paid for
at space rates. Usually piano merchants or salesmen that "singing is a 100 per cent American
in the smaller cities are the best occasional corre- hobby."
spondents, and their assistance is invited.
There is nothing like a good rousing tune
Payment is not accepted for matter printed in the to put life into a show. No parade is worth
editorial or news columns of Presto-Times.
seeing without the inevitable brass band; and
Where half-tones are made the actual cost of pro- even movie theaters give the lie to their "silent
duction will be charged if of commercial character,
screen" by installing organs and expensive or-
or other than strictly news interest.
When electrotypes are sent for publication it is chestras. And the greatest pleasure in the
requested that their subjects and senders be carefully situation is that every chorus and tune is a
indicated.
boost for sheet music and musical instruments.
Forms close at noon every Thursday. News mat-
ter should be in not later than eleven o'clock on the
same day. Advertising copy should be in hand before
Tuesday, five p. m., to insure preferred position. Full
page display copy should be in hand by Monday noon
preceding publication day. Want advs. for current
week, to insure classification, must not be later than
Wednesday noon.
MUSIC TANGIBLE PROPERTY
The player music roll and the talking ma-
chine record may be said to have first con-
verted music into property. Now, radio has
Address all communtcatluns for the editorial or business
increased the volume of that property. All
departments to PRESTO PUBLISHING CO., 417 South
Dearborn Street, Chicago, III.
three have helped to create an entirely new
audience for music.
SATURDAY, JULY 2, 1927.
Although the art of the painter and sculptor
have always been considered property in
The last form of Presto-Times goes to press
at 11 a. m. Thursday. Any news transpiring America, music has always suffered from being
after that hour cannot be expected in the cur- intangible. Rich men bought fine pictures and
rent issue. Nothing received at the office that sculptures and installed them in their beautiful
is not strictly news of importance can have homes, where they were in the fullest sense
attention after 9 a. m. on Thursday. If they their property. Their friends came and ad-
concern the interests of manufacturers or
dealers such items will appear the week follow- mired the works of art and the words of praise
ing. Copy for advertising designed for the and admiration were the enjoyments of
current issue must reach the office not later ownership, evoking the proprietorial sense of
than Wednesday noon of each week.
elation.
Musical scores have offered no such induce-
ENCOURAGING SIGNS
ment. If a millionaire did buy a symphony
It is a gratifying thing for those ambitious from Percy Grainger, a march from John
to increase the study and uses of the piano and Phillip Sousa, or a tuneful ballad from Lee S.
thereby stimulate sales of the instrument, to Roberts, he practically bought nothing, for the
feel that America is in a musical mood. Every- compositions did not really exist until some-
where the importance of music is acknowl- body played it on his piano.
edged. Bands, orchestras, and choral groups
With the invention of the music roll, talk-
are features of social and civic life everywhere. ing machine record and radio broadcasting ap-
Indeed, it is considered that nothing so much paratus a subtle change came over the char-
marks the growing musical spirit of the coun- acter of musical works of art. Rich and alert
try as the desire to sing.
organizations in competition enhance their
Since the World War there has been a great value. The roll and record particularly made
improvement in the ability of Americans to music tangible property. The man who buys
lift their voices in chorus when occasion calls a roll of a Mme. Sturkow-Ryder's recording
for that form of joyful expression. When the of a Liszt rhapsody buys a bit of tangible
young men of the country were called in 1917 property on which he collects dividends every
to become soldiers and sailors, and were as- time he plays it and becomes as susceptible
sembled in camps for training, it was dis- of praise as if he, not Liszt and Sturkow-
covered by the doctors of morale that re- Ryder between them, had made it. The roll
sponses to the requests of the appointed song and record heralded the end of the apathy of
leaders were without the necessary spirit. which many musicians had been complaining.
Most of them were bright chaps and under-
stood the inspiring value of the rollicking
The fear that America is losing its interest
chorus. But while they showed understand- in music, expressed by a few pessimistic ob-
ing of the War Department's requirements, servers who put too much importance on the
their early responses to the song leaders were prevalence of jazz, is not shared by those who
very poor. The majority of the conscripts had have witnessed organized piano playing con-
to be trained to sing in chorus.
tests. There is undoubtedly a greater interest-
The case is pleasantly different today. The in music of the best type than ever before in
ability to lift a stave Has been preserved by our history, a fact it must be admitted brought
the soldiers and sailors now back in civil life. about largely by the aid of radio. Although
They have disseminated the desire for choral this has led many music lovers to be satisfied
with the music they can hear comfortably at
home, others have become possessors of the
desire to emulate talented artists heard over
the radio. The success of the piano playing
contests is a reaction to the broadcasting of
fine music.
* * *
Last winter the ether was like a convention
of the old 'steenth ward regulars with the
rough-neck gang from back-o'-the-gashouse
noisily trying to force their man into the
chair. Now it is claimed the Babel is stilled
and it is actually possible to listen to the
symphony of one station without being dis-
turbed by the jazz of another. In reallocating
wave lengths the Federal Radio Commission
has brought order out of chaos—no mean ac-
complishment when it is considered that there
was no correct list of broadcasting stations in
existence soon after that scrambling for wave
lengths began which made regulation unavoid-
able. Radio has been saved from its own too
zealous self.
* * *
In England the music contest has led to the
creation of the British Federation of Musical
Competition Festivals. The Federation has
heretofore been mainly dependent on a series
of grants from the Carnegie Trust, but these,
in line with the policy of the trustees, will soon
cease, and donations and annual subscriptions
to make good this loss are sought from music-
lovers. A characteristic British means to that
end—a dinner at a London hotel—was em-
ployed last week. A guinea procured member-
ship in addition to a good dinner and several
noble lords as well as Lady Violet Astor told
how easy it is to get the funds for such a good
cause.
* * *
The poet has the power to stir the com-
poser. The Associated Glee Clubs of America
has announced a song-poem competition, a
contest which is in recognition of an urgent
need on the part of the glee clubs for a greater
working repertory than is now available. In-
asmuch as the composer of a song usually
finds his inspiration in a good poem, the asso-
ciation feels that in encouraging the writing
of poems worthy of musical setting, it is tak-
ing the first step toward this desired end.
* * *
The next big piano exhibition will be at the
Hotel Commodore, New York, August 8, 9,
10 and 11 in connection with the annual con-
vention of the National Association of Piano
Tuners. It will be an occasion when the en-
thusiastic young men from the factory and
sales forces in attendance at the various exhib-
its, will have to mind their technical p's and
q's, confronted with the experts quick to dif-
ferentiate between constructive facts and mere
generalities.
* * *
It is considered a remarkable tribute to the
vitality of music and the music trade that 400
delegates attended the recent convention of
the British Music Industries Association at
Folkestone, England.
* * *
In a feature page in Presto-Times this week
a collection of items makes clear the activities
of the piano trade in revitalizing piano sales
and the reaction of the public to their efforts.
* * *
In encouragement of the mood of piano
buyers, the Pearson Piano Co., Indianapolis,
this week is holding a special exhibit of period
models in grand pianos.
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