Dowd was indeed proud of that rosewood-veneered instrument. I worked for
Fritz Noack at the time. Fritz took his employees into Cambridge to
visit harpsichord makers, and  Lisa's new one was there. Indeed Lisa
played it for us to hear.

-- 
 Rodney Myrvaagnes
  [log in to unmask]

On Wed, Feb 10, 2016, at 09:33, Lisa Crawford wrote:
> When I first started studying the harpsichord as a freshman at Radcliffe
> in
> 1962, I didn't realize how lucky I was to be studying with David Fuller,
> not just because of his teaching but because he had a Dowd harpsichord,
> and
> the instrument I practiced on in the Harvard music department basement
> was
> a somewhat quirky Hubbard single Flemish.
> 
> Over the summer I went home to Ann Arbor and searched franticly for
> somewhere to practice.  I ended up finding a woman who had studied with
> Kirkpatrick and then moved to Ann Arbor (I think her husband was a med
> student).  She was happy to let me practice on her Newport Bach model,
> and
> I was so young and so completely entranced with the harpsichord that I
> loved it - AND, it was not expensive - I think about a third of the cost
> of
> a Dowd.  For all those bells and whistles!
> 
> Luckily for me, when I returned to Boston in the fall and told David
> about
> the Newport (my mother was possibly going to buy me a harpsichord), he
> was
> horrified, and absolutely forbade me to buy one.  So instead, by spring
> 1963, I had a lovely Dowd Taskin with rosewood veneer (gulp, yes, we have
> come a long way since then) in my college apartment, with Ralph
> Kirkpatrick
> coming to visit and play it because Bill Dowd considered it a
> breakthrough
> instrument (my college roommates hid under the window outside the living
> room to listen).
> 
> I have the impression that in Boston at that time, the harpsichord world
> was pretty evenly split between modern and historically based
> instruments.
> I doubt very much that I would have remained in love with harpsichord
> sound
> and touch had I not gone the historical route, thanks to David Fuller and
> Bill Dowd, who were my mentors throughout my undergraduate career.
> 
> Lisa Crawford
> 
> On Wed, Feb 10, 2016 at 3:57 AM, Kelzenberg, David C <
> [log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
> > If you want a really good laugh, check out harpsichords for sale on Ebay,
> > and look at the prices people think they will get for these things.
> >
> > dk
> >
> > ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
> > Note:  opinions  expressed on HPSCHD-L are those of the  individual con-
> > tributors and not necessarily  those of the list owners  nor of the Uni-
> > versity of Iowa.  For a brief  summary of list  commands, send mail to
> > [log in to unmask]  saying  HELP .
> > ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
> >
> 
> ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
> Note:  opinions  expressed on HPSCHD-L are those of the  individual con-
> tributors and not necessarily  those of the list owners  nor of the Uni-
> versity of Iowa.  For a brief  summary of list  commands, send mail to
> [log in to unmask]  saying  HELP .
> ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Note:  opinions  expressed on HPSCHD-L are those of the  individual con-
tributors and not necessarily  those of the list owners  nor of the Uni-
versity of Iowa.  For a brief  summary of list  commands, send mail to
[log in to unmask]  saying  HELP .
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::