 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Alseg
Date: 2004-08-31 05:17
OK. We know that Clinton blew a saxaphone.
Truman tickled the ivories.
Any other Presidential playahs ????
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Author: GBK
Date: 2004-08-31 05:59
John Quincy Adams - flute
Thomas Jefferson -clavichord, cello and violin (he owned an Amati)
John Tyler - violin
Chester Arthur - banjo
Warren Harding - cornet
Harry Truman - piano
Richard Nixon - piano and accordian
Bill Clinton - saxophone
I think Woodrow Wilson had some musical ability, but I'm not certain if he played an instrument (perhaps piano?)
[ Alseg has additionally noted that, while in office, Bill Clinton was given an anniversary edition saxophone by the LA Sax Company ]
...GBK
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Author: BobD
Date: 2004-08-31 13:25
......yes, the ear drum.
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Author: Terry Stibal
Date: 2004-08-31 13:43
Of those listed, Warren G. Harding was probably the closest to a "pro" in the music department. He both played a variety of brass instruments (cornet, baritone horn and helicorn tuba) and managed a "commercial" brass band for a number of years in his home town of Marion OH.
He "played for pay" for about ten years, if his biographers are to be believed, always as a part-time supplement to his occupation of newspaper editor. He did "commercial gigs" such as playing at the local roller rink (remember, this was in the days when anywhere that had music had to pay people to play it) and other such social functions on a regular basis until his election to the Ohio legislature.
He was good enough for he and his band to get called up to the state capital (thirty or so miles away) on a number of occasions for paying jobs when a group was needed for political rallies. And, his group was in demand for both his Republican Party AND the Democratic Party...an early example of bipartisanism.
However, I've never seen any mention of him being in AFM (which would have been in its start up phase during the period in question (1885-1900). As he was a staunch union man (he was a dues paying member of the Typographer's Union from about 1883 all the way to his death in 1922) and was notoriously "pro labor" in an era of screw the employees six ways from Sunday, it's certainly odd that he never joined up. It's likely that he was never in the "first tier" of musicians or he most certainly would have been a member. Then again, neither Clinton or Truman were in "the first tier" from what I've heard.
Warren G. also had a fascinating life with the ladies...his florid (and graphically detailed, from the three samples that I've seen illegally) love letters to one of his long term (and, in her day, drop dead gorgeous) mistresses are scheduled for public release in 2008 or thereabouts. But, what do you expect from a brass player?
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2004-08-31 14:36
Very good commentary, Terry, your union membership "thots" interest me, [a long time AFM'er]. It seems [should look it up] that the major musical/entertainment union activity began in the early 1900s, wasn't "our" loved/hated Petrillo most active in Chicago in the 1920's? I had to face up to "union, yes/no?" in the 30's [in Mich], but joined in the late '40's [in OK]. Working, in grocery stores and bands for college money, in an automobile town [turbulent union times] brings back many memories. WOW, Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
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Author: Don Poulsen
Date: 2004-08-31 15:43
This country is in a sorry state when we have never elected a clarinetist! Only when a clarinetist, or better yet, a bass clarinetist, is elected, will the country live up to its potential!
OK, which of you guys/gals is going to run?
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Author: ron b
Date: 2004-08-31 16:31
Contragirl, step up to the stand!
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2004-08-31 18:07
As our Brits say ."hear, here" ! Will be happy to have GK and CG flip coins for P and VP. Only, no more wars, please, now ! Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2004-08-31 18:16
Having heard a clip of Mr. Clinton playing sax, I have to conclude that the rigors of high political office leave little time for musical practice or lessons....
I too would vote for a GBK/Contragirl slate, except I know for a fact that CG does not meet the minimum age requirement of 35 years for the position. So GBK will have to look elsewhere for a running mate, I'm afraid!
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Author: GBK
Date: 2004-08-31 18:44
To get back on track (sorry folks, that's my job here):
Bill Clinton did at one time make All State in high school as a saxophonist...GBK
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Author: Ralph G
Date: 2004-08-31 18:48
How competitive is/was Arkansas?
________________
Artistic talent is a gift from God and whoever discovers it in himself has a certain obligation: to know that he cannot waste this talent, but must develop it.
- Pope John Paul II
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Author: DavidBlumberg
Date: 2004-08-31 19:08
Bill Clinton did at one time make All State in high school as a saxophonist...GBK
---------------------------------------------------------
Yup - but it was Arkansas. Arkansas isn't Texas or NY, but it still represents that he was pretty good back then.
I taught Chelsea Clinton's Boyfriend Clarinet (her high school beau).
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Author: Terry Stibal
Date: 2004-09-01 03:00
That's what puzzles me about Warren G. and the union. The original AFL local in AFM was in Cincinnatti, Local 1 that was AFL chartered in 1897 (in the second tier of locals to join, despite the low number), and the midwest was well organized by the 1900's. Maybe he was a member; it would be of a piece with his other union brothership feelings. Yet, it's not mentioned in the standard bios of the man. And, in the other direction, most of his musical activities were before the Spanish American War; by the turn of the century, he was a successful businessman and starting into politics. I'll see if there's a database somewhere...
Other turn to middle of the last century thoughts on the AFM:
I forget just when was the absolute founding date of the American Federation of Musicians, but I do recall a number of things passed on by my grandfather, the amateur Bavarian clarinet player who came over here after World War I.
He started playing clarinet (and flute) in Saint Louis back in the 1920's so as to supplement his passable but small income with the fire department. He worked in the heyday of "livff moosic in motion picture teaters, high endt restaurants and souch" (as he would have said with his Hoch Deutch accent) and anywhere else someone wanted musical entertainment. (Remember, this was before the days of broadcast radio and the sort of play times and amplification that made recorded music a feasible proposition.)
Grampa Wilhelm pointed out that he made a nice tidy second income from playing three or four nights a week; light work (compared to his work with the fire department), plus he was doing something he enjoyed.
And then came the talkies...
Grampa said that between 1927 and 1930-ish, the union membership declined by over half in the local (Local 2, now amalgamated with the former black Local 197), with the big "cuts" coming when Vitaphone and the like was finally installed in the high end theaters. (The low end houses were already limited to a pianist/organist, so the impact did vary depending on the size.) Broadcast radio made some inroads as well, and hotel orchestras shifted from a full time fixture to something that only played during the evenings, but it was the talkies that really drove the stake.
Petrillo was a long time president through the "adjustment" period after recording and broadcast came along. Petrillo fought to try and retain as much of the wage pie as possible for an employee group that suddenly found its existence threatened by a technological innovation (recorded music). At one point, he actually pulled all musicians from performing due to the lack of agreements over performer's access to recording rights. (This was when the Mills Brothers and others made those "no musician" recordings.)
It was doomed to failure, of course. What was held onto isn't much, but it's better than nothing, and for that we have Petrillo to thank.
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Author: CPW
Date: 2004-09-01 04:10
Hey...Didn't Dick Cheney play with......Gerry and the PACEMAKERS?
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2004-09-01 13:32
Be cautious in "faint praise" of Arkansas musicians, my two [VG] Tulsa Band cohorts with whom I commute, came from that training. The father of one was a long-time band director, revered by many Arkies! Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
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Author: BobD
Date: 2004-09-01 16:27
Wasn't there actually a Clinton brand sax at one time?
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2004-09-01 16:36
BobD wrote:
> Wasn't there actually a Clinton brand sax at one time?
I believe so.
There was also a Clinton system clarinet.
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Author: LeeB
Date: 2004-09-01 18:42
Post Edited (2004-09-08 04:26)
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Author: GBK
Date: 2004-09-01 20:26
[ We are closing this thread because this list is probably as complete as it will be for now ... at least until the next few elections. - GBK ]
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