 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Bill
Date: 2016-05-31 18:26
Have just read of Ed Cabarga's death in March 2015. In 2005, or thereabouts, when I was 45, he accepted me as a student. He struggled to know what to do with me, as I had never taken clarinet lessons (100% self-taught) and was, obviously, not preparing for a career in music.
The lessons lasted about 4 months and were not, in the strictest sense, successful. Yet I have good memories of driving over to Woodley Park or, on one occasion, biking over (through the zoo!). On that day I was late, and I rang the buzzer and heard him say "Oh ... so you *are* coming today." The family's pug dog, which they called "Bunny," often sat with us during lessons.
He had some sympathy for my "vintage mania" and that I had come to clarinet playing through the path of loving the instruments and mouthpieces themselves. Often of a phrase he would tell me "The math is wrong." Once I replied "Music is not math." Today I am quite the counter, and I have him to thank for that. He liked my tone.
He sold me, in two payment installments, the only Kaspar (Cicero) I am likely to ever have, from a lot of them he had acquired and refaced himself. He said they had been mauled and the tables rounded off at the edges, so that the mouthpieces were completely cylindrical. Yet somehow he was able to restore them, and my Cicero plays beautifully and takes a very firm reed. He also gave me a reverse Bonade ligature to which he had applied some sort of plastic (or teflon?) to the metal behind the screws so that it holds its shape and slides effortlessly over any mouthpiece. These items always make me think of that brief period when I took lessons. I think he was thankful to see me go! But he did admire my so-called bravery, at such a comparatively late age, for attempting the study.
I'm very sad to know he has died. Thanks (whoever reads this) for letting me remember him.
Bill Fogle
Ellsworth, Maine
(formerly Washington, DC)
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Author: LarryBocaner ★2017
Date: 2016-05-31 19:27
Thanks for your tribute to Ed's memory, Bill. Ed was my successor as National Symphony bass clarinetist and a good friend. He was a brilliant mind, a fine player and a kind and generous guy. On more than one occasion I would send a student to him for some mouthpiece work; I was always amazed to find out how much of his time he had spent with them and how little he charged for his time and materials.
He left us far too early and we all poorer for that!
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Author: sonicbang
Date: 2016-06-01 02:35
The very first vintage moutpieces I bought were two Sumner mouthpieces Ed refaced. Although I sold them some years later, the concept of those mouthpieces helped to open my mind to other possibilities. It was always a pleasure to discuss mouthpiece things with him via email. I was sad to learn he is no longer with us.
Mark
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Author: Lelia Loban ★2017
Date: 2016-06-02 17:50
Thank you for this thread. I never met Ed Cabarga but admired his playing. He was well-respected. His comment you quote, "The math is wrong," resonates with me. As a child, I hated and feared most of my mathematics classes until the revelation came from my piano teacher that music is audible math. I still hated algebra because nobody could ever explain to me what algebra *is*, but geometry and calculus and physics, yes -- we can hear them! We can play them!
Lelia
http://www.scoreexchange.com/profiles/Lelia_Loban
To hear the audio, click on the "Scorch Plug-In" box above the score.
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