Interviews: Ted Kurtz 1974
May 2, 1974
A transcription of the interview is available in PDF format below. Once you have the PDF file open you may search for specific content inside the file.
Open Interview Transcription
| Content | Start |
|---|---|
| Introductions and Kurtz's first instructor and instrument | 0:00 |
| Well-known players in Kurtz's youth. Playing with Mattatuck | 01:56 |
| Milford Grenadiers history. American Graphophone. Other smaller-name corps. Bob Saunders | 03:06 |
| Sturtze and the Montrose corps. Major Teta | 08:10 |
| Doc Wheeler. Began (sp?) brothers competing against Frank Fancher. Worcester Continentals and their fifes. Odell Chapman | 09:24 |
| Powder Dunn and the Dunn Brothers | 13:11 |
| The O'Neill's of Brooklyn. Ruth O'Neill | 13:57 |
| Dan English. Study with J Burns Moore | 14:31 |
| Morris Levy. The Steeplechase corps | 15:27 |
| Kurtz's definition of Ancient. "Monkey" bands. Ancient style | 19:50 |
| Derby Thunders | 22:26 |
| Riker Post GAR (Brooklyn) | 23:12 |
| Odell Chapman and Thread City corps. Frank Fancher. 1925 competition. Ludwig's involvement. Gus Moeller and Fancher working for Ludwig | 25:06 |
| Gus Moeller. His playing style vs. English/Moore | 28:46 |
| Eagle Moosup corps (Moosup, CT) | 30:43 |
| Side Break | 31:25 |
| TRANSCRIPTION STARTS | |
| Caliber of corps in the Bridgeport area | 31:36 |
| Mattatuck. Research on Wilcox. Charlie Miller. The Wolcott Drum Band. Rote learning. Moodus & Percival | 32:53 |
| Ancients in the Meriden area | 38:33 |
| Impression of NY/NJ corps. Ex-5th Regiment corps | 40:33 |
| NY vs CT contests. Use of Bruce Emmett vs Strube. CT adoption of Strube book | 42:47 |
| National Guard drum corps. 5th Maryland. Worcester Continentals. VCA. Regimental style | 47:07 |
| GAR corps and influence | 49:04 |
| New Haven/Branford area. Stony Creek | 50:51 |
| Mattatuck style | 53:49 |
| Old East Hampton corps. Dan Burns and pilgrimmage to the Brown family | 54:55 |
| Use of Martial music terms- field bands, drum corps, etc. | 56:20 |
| Bass Drum styles. Ray Brodeur's style. George Cook. BD mallet construction | 57:24 |
November 21, 1974
A transcription of the interview is available in PDF format below. Once you have the PDF file open you may search for specific content inside the file.
Open Interview Transcription
| Content | Start |
|---|---|
| [discussion already in progress] Discussing keys and transpositions when playing fife with other instruments [tape recorder movement/noise] | 00:00 |
| Charles Williams fifes. Cloos mass production. Fingering hole size and tuning | 3:50 |
| Kurtz on making a Double Bb Fife | 6:45 |
| Kurtz's early fife-making ventures. The uniforms of Modern Combination corps in NY | 7:30 |
| Kurtz and Olsen on writing for the Drum Corps Herald and other publications | 10:12 |
| The articles published by and about Sturtze around the 1940 World's Fair judging. Banter on articles Kurtz gave to Olsen | 13:50 |
| Correspondence. Kurtz criticising the Yanks. Charlie Poole's (Jnr?) proposal for a 90bpm competition class [tape issues last 30 seconds] | 16:16 |
Archival Notes
Interviewer: Ed Olsen and "Preston"
Dates: May 2, 1974 and Nov. 21, 1974
These recordings of a series of interviews with Ted Kurtz exist in the Company of Fifers & Drummers archive and is pieced together from several cassette tapes.
The May 2 transcription begins 31 mins into the recording, indicating that the first part of the recording was unavailable to the transcriber. The Nov. 21 interview is mis-labeled in the transcription itself.
The interview contains wide-ranging and often circular topics. The timings given are approximate, and it is best listened to as a whole, as sometimes topics are started, abandoned, and revisited in rapid succession.
Very little editing was done except to reduce tape noise and boost the volume of the voices.