Klarinet Archive - Posting 000375.txt from 2005/04

From: "Dan Leeson" <dnleeson@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] A splendid experience visitng Himie Voxman
Date: Sat, 23 Apr 2005 16:55:17 -0400

Today I drove from Ames, IA to Peoria, IL. On the way, I stopped in Iowa
City to meet the man who wrote my first book of clarinet lessons, Himie
Voxman. It was a wonderful visit. He is in good physical and intellectual
shape at 92 and it broke my heart to have to leave after only about 45
minutes. It is that we had a long drive behind and ahead of us.

My first book was the Rubank Elementary book of clarinet playing and Himie
had written and edited it in the 1930s. I have no idea how many other
clarinetists began with that book, but in Paterson, NJ, everybody used it.

Today was a very splendid experience. His house is so jammed with music that
he is in the position of giving lots and lots of it away, mostly to the
University, but even some to the local music store.

He spoke of how he studied the process of making metal reeds in the 1930s.
He said that the only one that worked well was the reed made of stainless
steel. But the problem with the reed was that it was so thin, it was as
sharp as a razor blade. After he played Stars and Stripes with it, he
received a passing grade in metttalurgy, and never returned to that
experiment again.

Dan Leeson
dnleeson@-----.net

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