An Inspiring Teacher - A Personal Memorium

 An Inspiring Teacher - A Personal Memoriam

Robert McCuaig was a rare musician. He was a talented and disciplined performer on both woodwind (Clarinet, Saxophone, Flute and Oboe) and brass instruments (Trumpet). Largely self-taught he became good enough to turn professional at a young age and help support his family as a young man throughout the aftermath of the American Depression. He served in the military as a bandsman and revelled in the positions, unique in my experience, of both solo clarinet in the band and lead trumpet in the jazz band. He continued to perform and teacher privately throughout his life and he influenced many thousands of pupils during his tenure as a High School Band Director. I knew him as a private pupil myself and I credit him for instilling in me an appreciation for the art and craft of music making as well as the perseverance required to succeed.

Having heard that he was suffering an illness I was on my way to see him on a brief return to my home town from University aged 23 only to find an ambulance pulling away from his house. He had passed away an hour before I arrived and I was never to see him again. My tribute below was composed as soon as I arrived back home that day. It was my attempt to gain some solace and a way of thanking him for all he meant to me. I presented it to his widow and was humbled to later hear that she asked to have it read at his funeral.

Thomas Dryer-Beers

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A dear friend of mine died today. His death leaves a chasm in my heart and a responsibility for my future that I am feeling for the first time. I am not the only one who feels these sensations, but there won't be a crowd at his memorial service. His was a kind of gift people do not measure by its quantity but by its quality. This is not to say that there are not many people he touched, only that those who treasure his memory most fervently are unfortunately few in number.

Robert McCuaig was an old-fashioned man. His principles, his values and his style remained untainted by the passing of time. He was a musician, a director, a performer, but---most of all---a music teacher. He taught discipline and commitment, and music was his vehicle. Though couples throughout the Midwest danced to his music, he won't be remembered as an artist. And, though he reached thousands of students in area schools (both public and private), his prowess as a director will not be lauded. Only his private students will carry his memory with them.

His credentials as a teacher are not the kind that gets notice in these times. A professional musician in his teens, Bob McCuaig helped support his family by playing jobs during the depression. His reputation had him travelling all over the state (of Indiana, USA) to play with anyone who needed a player, and a player they got! His teaching philosophy came out of his experience: knowing what had to be learned, he taught the skills necessary to accomplish the task. And he taught practice. The desire to achieve and the devotion to music that he instilled cannot be taught in today's classrooms. These qualities require the guidance of someone who has met the demands of his profession and who retains the joy o learning. Such a man was Bob McCuaig. His long hours, patiently devoted to young students in the hope that he might spark then in their quest of music, will inspire me always.

I have been told that he thought of me as a son. That is indeed an honour. Like any child, I took what was give me with little realization of its value until long after the giving had ceased and the debt had grown too large to repay or even fully express. Bob McCuaig knew that I love him and how I came to treasure what I had shared with him. What he cannot see now is the way I put that experience to use. I hope that what happens in the future will be a fulfilment of his faith in me.

He was fond of saying that, in his life he never had to beg for a job nor seek out a single student. I hope I may someday earn the reputation for quality that leads to such a statement. In the process, I will have made my first down payment on an honest debt that I can never fully repay.

25th August 1980

The Value of Repairers

The Value of Repairers

It is all too easy to forget the value and importance of a good musical instrument repairer to ones experience of their beloved instrument. Repairers, good ones, will usually have completed a multi-year training course to learn the skills that the rest of us can only guess at. These courses often have a final project of making an instrument, often a clarinet or perhaps a trumpet, completely by hand so that all the related skills of wood and metal turnings, tone hole drilling, key work construction, plating, soldering, padding, springing, mounting of key work and finishing are experienced 'from the inside out'.

Learning the proper techniques and use of tools for dent removal, key work straightening and silencing, pad seating and the balancing of springs and mechanisms, crack repair and reconstruction following major damage is a lifelong and continuing effort and one where experiences gained from handling hundreds of instruments is vital. An inquisitive repairer will pay attention to and learn from all of the situations which he or she has encountered and then draw upon these experiences to both inform, improve and make more efficient subsequent repairs.

It is not unusual in many music shops for a senior repairer to over see the work of more junior repair staff for a number of years before the apprentices are truly competent to take on unsupervised repair work for customers.

The result of all this training, on the job experience and supervision, is a highly skilled individual who should be able assess the genuine cause of poor instrument performance and have the skills to repair the problems identified and thereby return an instrument to a top condition - often 'better than new' - as instrument manufacturers are usually producing instruments under such time pressure that final finishing stages are rushed and such time consuming personal attention is not feasible.

In addition to all the time spent gaining knowledge and experience a repairer is providing a service that relies upon expensive tools, machinery and consumables (pads, corks, felts, screws etc.). A selection of woodwind pads of suitable sizes to handle most demands can cost thousands of pounds for each instrument. Brass dents tools and mandrels are very costly as well. Maintaining a workshop is a significant expense and of course, so are handling the inevitable questions of customers. Customers should be wary of 'cheap' repairs and my advice is to allow a repairer to do the job that they feel your instrument requires or deserves. This often ends up being the best way to ensure proper performance and ensure cost effectiveness. You should be encouraged to ask friends and colleagues or working professional for their recommendations for repairers. It is usually best advice to pay for good quality repairs and work to maintain the condition of your instrument afterwards.

A note to all players and teachers - 

  
All musicians are well advised to pay attention to the construction and function of their instruments and it does pay to learn some 'quick fix' skills for emergency situations. Teachers really should prepare themselves to be able to advise their pupils on the condition of their instruments and perhaps understand and execute simple key work regulation and explain proper handling, cleaning and lubrication as a part of the regular lesson process.

Even a little time spent understanding how instruments function is sure to prove very useful throughout a playing / teaching career and the knowledge gained is fascinating in itself - if for no reason than to better appreciate the further skills and resources provided by an actual repairer when a situation calls for their greater experience to solve more major problems or provide the more thorough servicing that will keep an instrument playing at its best.

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The thoughts and comments above are the result of many years of learning from and reliance upon the skills of repairers for my own and my pupils instruments. I am grateful for the help and service that I have received as well as the inspiration that I have drawn from my encounters with some very talented and dedicated professional repairers. It has been my privilege to have worked alongside many such repairers including Daniel Bangham, Brian Dent and Timothy Taylor from Woodwind & Reed, Cambridge ( www.wwr.co.uk ) and others in the UK and USA to whom I am indebted.

Thomas Dryer-Beers

And so it begins! My biographical background and the reason for blogging. Thomas Dryer-Beers

 Hello future readers - wind players all.

My name is Thomas Dryer-Beers. I am a woodwind player, a former working musician, soloist, ensemble performer, lecturer, author, private teacher, peripatetic teacher and ensemble coach. I am a product of the American band system having grown up in the state of Indiana and having begun my musical career playing recorder, violin, trombone in successive years before gravitating to the saxophone which finally 'took' and later adding all the other members of the woodwind family. I earned music degrees in Woodwind Performance at two major music schools in the USA, Indiana University (BMus) and University of North Texas (MMus), but have been living and working in the United Kingdom since the late 1980's. In the UK I carried on my teaching and performing but was introduced to the music industry through work with specialist music shops, most notably as a former Instrument Sales Manager Woodwind & Reed based in Cambridge ( www.wwr.co.uk ) and its associated mail order company Reeds Direct Cambridge ( www.reeds-direct.co.uk ) where I still work part time and serve as a consultant.

I have been a teacher and performer since the mid 1970's and have advised retail customers since 1988 till the present day. I have also been the principal consultant to Reeds Direct Cambridge since its beginnings and am responsible for the creation of the RDC Reed Strength Comparison Chart and author of many reed product descriptions. Customers throughout the UK and worldwide have relied upon this chart to help in assessing and selecting appropriate single reeds for their clarinets and saxophones.

Recently I have taken a more limited advisory role with Woodwind and Reed due to a permanent partial hearing loss that began to affect me several years ago. I do benefit from hearing aids that have been a great help for conversation but the technology is simply not advanced enough to allow me to hear clearly enough to advise customers as I once did. This change has been a bit of a shock to say the least but I am coping with it and looking forward to a different future than I previously imagined.

I have begun this web log, which I hope will be of interest to a wide range of woodwind and brass musicians, so that I might be able to share the experiences, insights and observations gathered in my over 40 years of playing and more than 25 years in the music industry. I have also been recently been asked to serve as a regular contributor corresponding as 'The Single Reed Doctor' for the Journal of the Clarinet & Saxophone Society of Great Britain (CASS). Writing contributions in this manner is my way of saying thank you to all the players, teachers, pupils both young and old, and the many customers whom I have met, advised, supported and most importantly from whom I have learned a great deal in the process of assisting them and attempting to answer their questions. I have no agenda except sharing what I consider to be useful thoughts, memories and accumulated knowledge though and products of interest. I will not hesitate to acknowledge individuals who have been significant to my development as a musician, cite where further information or products can be found when such citation is appropriate and direct my blog readers to where instruments, accessories or services may be experienced or purchased.

I wish to thank Daniel Bangham - proprietor, Tim Taylor - general manager, and the staff at Woodwind & Reed for encouraging me in this web blog project. I hope that readers will find the topics and information useful and if so please let others know in order to help disseminate the blog content as widely as possible. Please add your comments as they are welcome.

Thomas Dryer-Beers, August 2015