The history of music was the focus of Saturdays Allen County Historical Societys annual meeting.
Dr. Jeff Anderson, music instructor at Allen Community College, explained the chalumeau, forerunner to the clarinet, which has significantly more keys.
The chalumeau had only lower notes until changes were made to eventually include the range of notes of the clarinet.
Anderson, who has his masters and doctorate degrees in the clarinet, demonstrated the tonal differentiation between the two. At the end of his presentation, he played a section of one of Mozarts pieces.
The meetings other main speaker, Mark Freimller, admitted he wasnt as talented as Anderson. After all, Freimiller is known locally for his ability to restore old cars at Model T Haven. But one of his passions is music.
Freimiller brought numerous old phonographs to demonstrate how they varied from each other. The needles, the size of the phonographs, and the roll or record were all different.
For more than an hour after their presentations, the speakers took questions from the audience and further explained their exhibits.
Prior to the start of the program,Jim Smith played several songs on a player piano he had given to the Historical Society.
