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
>
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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 .
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