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Re: Chalumeau maker Tomaszewicz?

Author: Simon Aldrich
Date: 2009-11-07 21:05

Thanks for the reply Ken

>The community of chalumeau makers is small.

And getting smaller it seems.

>Dan Deitch http://www.danieldeitch.com/eindex.html is a respected >chalumeau maker and is quite welcoming.

I read a post to earlyclarinet this past summer in which Dan wrote:
"I am sorry to have to say that I have given up making early clarinets and
chalumeaux. After having had a carpal tunnel syndrome operation
(successful, I am happy to say) due to building too many instruments
completely by hand, especially bassoons, the wrong way, I decided to give
them up. I managed to also give myself tennis elbow at the same time.
Making mouthpieces exacerbates the tennis elbow and the key-making recreates the conditions for the carpal tunnel syndrome. At this point I am just
making flutes, which take much less filing, scraping, etc."

I understand Moeck has discontinued making chalumeaux as well. From their Historical Woodwind Instruments page:
"After much consideration, we have ultimately decided after four decades, to close our department, "Renaissance and Baroque Woodwind Instruments".
Despite all our efforts, the number of customers and people interested in these unusual instruments has always remained small. Our idealism always weighed in favour of their production and keeping tradition alive as opposed to the dictates of economy.
However, both the employees entrusted with the making of these instruments are now taking their well-earned retirement. Thus the point in time has arrived where we are discontinuing the production of these instruments, which were always more admired rather than acquired.
We have not taken this decision lightly as the crumhorns, the shawns, the cornets, and all the other instruments represent more than 500 hundred years of European history of music and culture."

Thanks for pointing out Joel Robinson's site. I was not aware of him.

Am I wrong or is there no longer a chalumeau-maker in North America?

Simon

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