A Secretive Business

What do you prefer in a cymbal? A swish, a zing or a gong? A Dartmouth man can provide whatever you wish.

Robert Zildjian '45, sales manager of the Avedis Zildjian Company, which has a virtual world monopoly on making cymbals, shares with his father Avedis and brother Armand the 300-year-old secret for making these famed instruments, first manufactured by Zildjians in Constantinople in 1623. Only they know the special formula of copper, tin and silver handed down to the senior male next in line from one generation to another; and, like their ancestors before them, they do the actual casting themselves in a room whose door has a double lock. By tradition, all cymbals are stamped with the original Zildjian trademark and signed as well by the makers with pen and ink.

Although the plant in North Quincy, Mass., is today completely modern, the company has had historical adventures that ordinarily apply to the ups and downs of nations. With a remarkable vitality the Zildjians have adapted their product successfully to the demands of two civilizations, to musicians in Constantinople and the West, and to the exacting demands of

a Boston Symphony cymbalist as well as band players. These last, in the language of jive, are offered 14 kinds of cymbals, among them, fast, fast-crash, splash, swish, bounce, hi-hat, and so on.

There was a dramatic hiatus in the company's fortunes when it was transferred from Constantinople to this country. Aram Zildjian, who had no sons to whom he could leave the cymbal formula, realized how much the Civil War had popularized martial music in America. His nephew Avedis had come to this country and established a candy business near Boston. Aram, in the last years of his life and speaking no English, traveled to the United States to teach his nephew the highly skilled technique of casting, turning and hammering each variety of cymbal; training his ear to detect its quality; helping him to memorize the family formula; and, a major undertaking, build a factory.

Avedis and his two sons have proved admirable successors to the Zildjian fortunes. Robert Zildjian, in addition to casting the cymbals, is in charge of sales, advertising and promotion; he is the youngest member of the company.