Carl Greenleaf wrote that the development of the national school band movement was the most significant endeavor with which he, and consequently the Conn company, was ever connected. Although he was sensitive to the fact that some might view his involvement as self-serving—creating a new market for his products—in fact, a new market did emerge, one which would forever change the direction of the company. In 1923, Greenleaf helped organize the first National Band Contest in Chicago and, in 1928, committed the Conn company to supporting Joseph Maddy's establishment of the National Music Camp at Interlochen, Michigan. At Greenleaf's direction, C. G. Conn Ltd. contributed $10,000 in company funds to support the building of this camp. In addition, Greenleaf offered the resources of the Conn company in the initial publication of T. P. Giddings' Universal Teacher method for training young band musicians. Finally, to help prepare the nation's new band directors for the public school classroom, Greenleaf established the Conn National School of Music in Chicago in 1923, naming trombonist Frederick Neil Innes the first director.
High school band students tune their instruments to the Stroboconn, a chromatic tuner invented by the Conn company in 1936. The Stroboconn was commonly found in school band rooms between World War II and the 1960s. From a postcard in the Conn Archive at the National Music Museum. © 1997-2009 by The National Music Museum.
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