Klarinet Archive - Posting 000149.txt from 1994/06

From: 00smgeidel@-----.EDU
Subj: Jerry Pierce's kindness
Date: Wed, 29 Jun 1994 12:38:23 -0400

Friends,

As I read the wonderful stories being posted which tell of Jerry Pierce's kind,
helpful attitude to all his friends and acquaintances in the clarinet world, I
feel compelled to add one of my own.

A few years back, when I was preparing my write my doctoral dissertation on
Mozart's Trio for clarinet, viola, and piano, one of the first things I did was
to take a drive over to Jerry's house, which is about twenty minutes from my own
home here in Indiana. Let me digress...

For those of you who have never had the unique experience
of visiting Jerry's home, let me tell a bit about it. Jerry bought an old
restaurant--a place I'm sure he ate many meals at before he bought it!--and
converted it into a rather nice home. I honestly never asked Jerry exactly why
he bought the old restaurant--but given Jerry's love of eating, well, it seemed
exactly right that Jerry lived in an old restaurant! Anyway, when you walked
into Jerry's home, you walked directly into his office. The desk top was rarely
visible. Everytime I went there, it was the same story...piles and piles of
letters, packages (both opened and unopened)... I always teased Jerry about this
pile of correspondence. He always said, "Stan, it's all NEW MAIL...I just can't
keep up with it all." He was rather proud of his correspondences, which were
with musicians from all over the world. He loved these communications. From
Jerry's entry-way / office, you walked into his living room, which was not a
living room at all, but in fact was his famous library of clarinet music. The
first time I saw it I was overwhelmed. Jerry saw that I was flabbergasted, and
he said, "Well, Stan, that's about half of it! The rest is stashed all around
the house!" Which was TRUE! Jerry literally lived in a library of clarinet
music. Since I work in an academic library, I was anxious to look things over,
both from a musician's standpoint and from a library standpoint. Well, it
appeared to be complete chaos! I said to Jerry, "How on earth do you find
anything in here!!!" Believe me, he had complete recall of where everything
was. He simply could find anything you mentioned, in just a few moments. It
was amazing. I was dumbfounded. But, later I realized this was not really
surprising, since that was library was his heart and soul. And the content! It
was so comprehensive... I can't begin to tell you the treasures that were in
there. I believe it must be among the very greatest collections of clarinet
music in the world, and quite possibly the greatest of them all. It was Jerry's
pride and joy.

Back to my story of Jerry's kindness...as I said, I was preparing to begin
writing my dissertation on certain aspects of the Mozart Trio for clarinet,
viola, and piano. I went to Jerry's house, and we visited for a bit, and then I
asked him if I could borrow any editions he had of the Trio. He said, as he
always did, "Sure!" But then he added that he would like to do something
special for me, and if I could wait a few weeks, he would give me something
special. I said OK, I surely could wait a few weeks before I began writing, and
asked what he had in mind. He wouldn't say, he just smiled. Well, about six or
eight weeks went by, and Jerry called me to say that he wanted to get together.
We met, and he handed me a microfilm copy of Mozart's original manuscript. He
told me what it was, and I was completely floored by the fact the he had gone
through all the trouble and expense of obtaining it. He told me the story of
chasing it down for me--it was a copy he had known about, and he had finally
tracked it down in England! I asked him if I could pay his expenses, and all he
did was chuckle...he said, "Stan, I'm just glad to help you out." He then
simply got in his car and drove off, smiling all the while. That was Jerry.
He took so much pleasure in finding that manuscript for me. He did things like
this for so many people. Whenever I'd drop in on him, he'd show me letters from
all over the world, and he tell me about the music he was trying to locate for
those that wrote to him... Jerry was a unique and wonderful person.

Stan Geidel

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Dr. Stanley M. Geidel | Personal replies to:
University Libraries |
Ball State University | Internet: 00smgeidel@-----.edu
Muncie, IN 47306 | Bitnet: 00smgeidel@-----.bitnet
(317) 285-5143 |
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