One Man’s Trash…

After having designed and built a few instruments of my own over the years (electric guitars and basses), I found this story fun and interesting and thought I’d share it with you. Recently in a New York dumpster (great way to start eh?) a woman came across an old, dirty, broken down harp with rusty strings and a tattered finish. The woman opted to bring it home and clean it up a bit. After using some wood floor soap and some elbow grease, the story goes on to say...
“ she discovered not only clusters of hand-painted gold shamrocks climbing the column and soundboard, but a brass plaque bearing the name of the instrument’s maker, John Egan, and an address on Dawson Road in Dublin.

Egan, who is thought to have made instruments from the late 1700s until about 1840, is seen by many as the father of the modern Irish harp. In the 19th century his instruments were used by nationalist balladeers, like the poet Thomas Moore, who wrote “The Harp that Once Through Tara’s Halls.” Today universities and museums collect them”.

It turns out that the instrument was previously owned by none other than Rose Augustine, the former president of the old Augustine guitar string factory in New York. She died in 2003. She, along with her husband, developed the first nylon classical guitar strings (there had to be a classical connection somewhere), anyway…these same strings where popularized in the 1940s by the great Spanish guitarist Andrés Segovia and soon became the standard for classical guitar player’s world wide. This lucky lady finally sold the harp which is believed to be from around 1820, for around $300 (not bad for a dumpster find) and was able to find a buyer who fell in love with the instrument and would have it restored by an expert. So… as the saying goes,
“One persons trash is truly another’s treasure”!!


Till next time, thanks for listening:

Mark Calder

Life for the Arts

A few day’s ago I came across an article in the Boston Globe that (in case you missed); I thought I’d highlight in this blog. It was a story about Stanley Drucker (now former) principal clarinetist of the New York Philharmonic (as of last month). I found it amazing that he’s been playing music for almost all of his 80 years, 60 of them with the N.Y. Philharmonic…48 as principal clarinet. During that time he played over 10 thousand concerts, as well, as almost 200 solo appearances and was fortunate to work under some of the worlds great conductors like the legendary Bruno Walter, a protégé of Gustav Mahler, who hired him in 1948, other’s included Leonard Bernstein, George Szell, Zubin Mehta and Kurt Masur. I’ve often wondered (being a musician myself)… if, when you “get on in your years”, would the desire still be there for music making as it is now? I suppose it’s a question only I can answer but a quote Mr. Drucker gave in the article was inspiring…he said ”See… if you can play, you never stop playing, it’s like a painter, they never stop painting if they can hold the brush”. Another quote he gave, went on to say “I have a full memory bank. It’s been my entire life since I was a teenager. It’s amazing-one never plans to spend 60 years in this kind of post, but it just happened, actually it feels like it happened very quickly. I remember vividly my 50th anniversary with the orchestra, and those last 10 years really flew”. Yes, the years really do seem to fly by don’t they, but for everyone who is, (or plans) to devote their life, to their art… “Hats Off”.


Till next time, thanks for listening:

Mark Calder

The Color of Music

Maybe you’ve encountered this yourself (maybe not), but it seems that every time I turn on the television news or read the paper or log onto news sites on the computer these days, there’s some rift between one person or another, some organization or another, often times involving accusations of racism or some other form of seemingly unsolvable intolerance.
Thankfully, music is a lot simpler; a collection of notes for anyone to assemble and for ALL to enjoy. It’s always been there in the back of my mind, but recently, I’ve been thinking a lot more about the vast variety of composers and musicians, from so many different backgrounds that we play for you here on WCRB. There’s nothing like getting lost in a soothing symphony, piano concerto, sonata or whatever, with little concern as to who may have composed the piece, where they’re from, what race they are or what they believe in, and simply enjoy the music from a gifted composer, performed by a talented orchestra, made up of individuals, from all walks of life, dedicated to one common goal…to play together with laser accuracy, the most beautiful music possible. Classical music, (all music for that matter’s) “true colors” are really found in the diversity of the people that create it, and once there in the air, a kaleidoscope of tones and textures, melody, rhythm and dynamics, blended and balanced into one brilliant harmonious hue.


Till next time, thanks for listening:

Mark Calder