Los Angeles herald., 1907-05-22
MUSIC TEACHERS
ON THE WARPA7H
COMBINE TO FIGHT MANDOLIN
SCHOOLS
Declare Public Is Imposed Upon by
Concerns Seeking to Sell Cheap
Instruments and Poor
Lessons


themselves together to wage wa
against what they term fake mandolin
schools.
The teachers who are representative
in their line in Los Angeles declare
that the mandolin as an instrument ha'
lost nearly all its former prestige be
cause it has been abused by people
who were not competent to teach it,
They claim that there are in opera
tion in this city two fake music schools
and that another is being started. 1t is
said that in these schools the in
structors make little pretense of teach
ing and that the only reason the schools
are conducted is that cheap mandolins
! may be sold at a great profit
1.-THE plan is this" said one of the
teachers, speaking for the nine.
Some people with slight knowledge
of the mandolin, and a better knowl-
edge of the weakness of gullible
humans, form school, give it good
sounding, name and advertise to teach
the mandolin. AS an inducement to
mothers to send their children they Of
fer to give a high grade mandolin,
which is a SO or 81 instrument marked
up to $3.50, free to the pupil who will
take a course of forty lessons at so
cents week, paying for them weekly.
Turns Out Inferior Players
"Some of them will even go so far
as to give course of thirty lessons
and a $50 mandolin or guitar all for the
sum of $50. The schools are not kept
up for the health of the teachers. AS
result of these schools, which have
been tried in every part of the coun-
try, there are hundreds of poor play
ers turned out every year and good
mandolin soloist is a rarity.
THE teachers are not competent in
the first place and in the second the
system is not feasible. The pupils are
herded into large class. Little chill
dren are taught with men and women,
some of them 60 years of age. All
reputable teachers know that a child
needs individual attention, and the best
that can be had, If he or she is ever
to become a good player. The child
can get no attention at all in such
class and what little is learned, has to
be unlearned if the pupil ever comes
into the hands of teacher who knows
his instrument.
Some time ago an order went over
the wire from one large city for twelve
string mandolins in lots of 500 to cost
81 cents. The factory that made these
instruments finally failed and the man
who bought them, who is at the head
of a network of these fake schools,
operating in the larger cities in Amer
lea, has made a fortune out of his
graft.
Few Finish the Term
mo member of one of these schools
Is permitted to enter the American
Guild of Banjoists, Mandolinists and
Guitarists, and no member of the guild
is permitted TO accept position with
any of the installment mandolin
schools.
MANY hard working, earnest and
conscientious teachers who have been
put down and out would be reinstated
if the vigorous treatment which was
given a school in Schenectady, N. Y,
would be tried all over the country.
"In that place the officers and teach
ers of a mandolin school were arrested
and imprisoned, and upon their re-
lease were given but few days to get
out of the city.
Few pupils finish their terms in
these schools. The older pupils be-
come disgusted with the methods and
give it up. But the pupils must pay
for the entire term of lessons or give
up his instrument, no matter how dis
gusted he may become.
1.-THE pupils usually become so dis
gusted with the study of music that
they doubt their own talent and never
want to take it up again."
The Los Angeles Association of Man.
dolin, Guitar and Banjo Teachers has
issued circular warning prospective
students of stringed instruments
against schools offering to give free
instruments with lessons. The circular
names two Los Angeles schools, which
they say practice this method of Sc
curing pupils.
Two Sides to Story
Teachers who have arrayed them
selves against the installment mando-
lin school in Los Angeles are the Bur-
lin schools in Los Angeles are the Bur-
Mitchell, Miss Ethel Lucretia Olcott,
Mrs. M. ]. C. Brinton, G. c. Lindsey,
Mrs. Alice C. Broughtan, c. S. DeLano,
A. V. Holmes and Miss Jessie NJ.
Parry.
There are two sides of the question
and just now the regular teachers are
pretty hard hit" said local music
dealer
"I cannot see that the installment
schools are really perpetrating such a
great fake. 1t is true the instruments
which they give are very cheap, but
they give instructions, such as they are,
and 1 think a great many people get
started taking music lessons who would
never do so otherwise"
e. A. Geissler, vice president and
secretary of the George ]. Birkel Music
company, said:
1--WE all realize that class instruc-
ton is not the best thing for pupils,
and in that way these schools are not
advantageous, but I do not think it
hurts the business of the other schools
as much as they imagine.
"This sort of instruction does not ap-
peal to the artistic and a person who
really wanted to become a musician of
the first rank would not seek a free
mandolin. There is underselling in
every line of business and bargain trad
ing goes on in music as we'll as every
where else. 1t comes hard on the peo-
pie who are doing a straight line of
business and offering a thoroughly hon
est proposition"
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