Klarinet Archive - Posting 000439.txt from 2003/11

From: "DWH" <dhatfield@-----.org>
Subj: Re: [kl] Music Museum
Date: Thu, 27 Nov 2003 17:20:26 -0500

I can understand and agree a great deal with your thoughts. I live in the
largest city in WV, miniscule likely to many of you in other states...the
population of Charleston, WV is around 70,000. And while we have a rich
history and community of bluegrass, traditional and 'country' music,
Charleston boasts three community wind bands, each having 60+ members, and
two large traditional brass bands plus a brass band that plays only
Christian and gospel music. There is a local music store, family-owned and
operated since 1947, (the founder, still kicking at age 94, was a sales rep
for the HN White Co. in the late thirties and early forites before WWII, and
he was one of the first four people in the US to become a dealer for Vito
Pascucci and Leblanc instruments.after the war) with a private museum of
instruments that would rival anything you'll find in the one in SD. The
family has never tried to open it up to the general public, but a phone call
when you're in the area will get you 'the tour' of some incredible stuff:
anything from an 1840 Martin guitar to a trombone owned by Tommy Dorsey to a
HUGE sousaphone from the Sousa band to an alto saxophone made in WWII
Germany with a swastika on the bell to Wurlitzer clarinets that have been
rented by local hero Larry Combs for use in the CSO...to a couple of
thousand other incredible items. We also have a couple of local 'collectors'
who do business all over the world and have significant collections of their
own.

Actually at one time in this "teeming metropolis" there were seven...count
'em...seven large full-line band instrument dealers. There was more than
enough business here to go around, and still is. And I can tell you the
majority of members of the groups I mentioned are 45 and over, with many
members in their eighties. Charleston is not the same type of 'big city' as
NY or Chicago or even Columbus and smaller metro areas, much more low-key,
so I may have to agree with the notion of a quieter, more laid-back
atmosphere having something to do with it.

Don H.

>>> I hope I can offer a comment without offering an opinion (the truth is,
I don't have an opinion on this question, it's just something interesting to
think about).
Perhaps the issue is whether densely populated cities and old cities (and
the resources that accumulate in each of them) always stimulate 'cultural
significance' rather than hindering it.
Perhaps it is reasonable to argue the opposite --- namely, that some
(emphasis on 'some') authors of 'culturally significant things' flee
from the pressures of high-density population --- away from noise,
overcrowding, social pressure, regulations, the necessity to 'get along'
or perish, stifling traditions and prejudices, etc etc etc.
,,,well anyway, Happy Thanksgiving (come to think of it, the first
Thanksgiving celebration didn't happen in a traditional old metropolis, did
it?)<<<

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Klarinet is a service of Woodwind.Org, Inc. http://www.woodwind.org